A review by juju109
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Now, that’s a good book. Boy oh boy, where do I even start. I expected something dry and dull, but I was mistaken. Narrative structure is outstanding, I was hooked from the start. There’s enough material to pull you in and make you bond with the characters without getting into the thick of it too fast, which is already impressive. It tackles intense topics with sense and sensibility, shows the flawed nature of human kind through the story while remaining incredibly nuanced and hopeful  through the characters of Atticus Finch, Scout and Jem. I rarely enjoy a book or movie with children in it because I find that they are almost always poorly written: they’re supposed to be regular kids but they’re written as absolute geniuses, and that gets on my nerves. But Harper Lee managed to write believable children, and that to me is quite the accomplishment. All characters have their own personality, some are deeply unlikeable but they’re still treated as whole human beings and that’s rare. I think Atticus Finch is a character I won’t forget. Now surely, the book elevates him and it would have benefitted from the perspective of Black people, and of course many novels center on white people with Black folks only in the background or in the place of victims. I acknowledge that and I’d like to hear the opinions of Black people who’ve read this book. As far as I’m concerned, it is a story that needed to be told in 1960 - had it been written in 2020, that would be a different story. I deeply enjoyed the Southern atmosphere, by which I mean the slang and idioms plus the rendering of speech (final -t dropped, "yawl" which we write "y’all" these days, "them" almost always shortened to "'em", and so on) as well as descriptions of the weather and of the town (the people in the town, the Finches’ neighbors, school-life, social events). It’s a very interesting look at Alabama in the 30s. Less enjoyable part of the Southern atmosphere but informative and most likely very on the nose, is the treatment of Black people by white folks. Coming back to the structure, I found it really compelling to have Boo Radley come out (of his house) at the end, it wrapped up the story so beautifully. What started as kind of a horror story to children becomes this strong novel on racism and ends like a horrific tale again. Finally, I like what I’ve read on Harper Lee as a person and what she did of her immense success, that she didn’t publish anything else (except one novel late in her life and she may have been forced to). Overall I really loved this book and I’m so glad to have read it. I would most definitely read it again. 
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