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kahn_johnson 's review for:
Go Set a Watchman
by Harper Lee
Once the excitement had died down, there was an outcry - Harper had done something to a much loved character, changed them, and oh how the people weren't happy.
Only she hadn't. That was the character. We just met Atticus first in his younger days, Harper having already mapped out his latter days in her first book. Which, thanks to a publisher with a good idea, was to become her second.
To Kill A Mockingbird is rightly regarded as a classic, and now even more so because with Go Set A Watchman we are actually given an insight into how that book came into being.
Go Set A Watchman, set when Scout has grown up and moved to New York, is a tale of fallen idols, of reality meeting memory, of how people and places change at different speeds, about growing up and finding your space in the world.
And it's a wonderfully poetic journey.
It's not perfect, by any means, but by reading it you get to see Harper grow as a writer as you read.
There is a clear gear change about a third of the way through Watchman when the Harper we already know finds her stride, and the more naive writing of the early pages clearly morphs into the more assured prose we know her for.
It's not perfect (yes, I know it's been given five stars), with the flashback sequences not always sitting comfortably within the narrative, but that actually forms part of this book's loving charm.
Where it comes into its own is in the final third, when Scout's angst and passion leap off the page and envelope you, wrapping you in the story and - at times - shocking you.
There's also a rich irony at the outcry over Atticus' perceived character change, given Scout's reaction to the same subject. It's pretty much what the book's about.
I'm just sad it had to end.
Only she hadn't. That was the character. We just met Atticus first in his younger days, Harper having already mapped out his latter days in her first book. Which, thanks to a publisher with a good idea, was to become her second.
To Kill A Mockingbird is rightly regarded as a classic, and now even more so because with Go Set A Watchman we are actually given an insight into how that book came into being.
Go Set A Watchman, set when Scout has grown up and moved to New York, is a tale of fallen idols, of reality meeting memory, of how people and places change at different speeds, about growing up and finding your space in the world.
And it's a wonderfully poetic journey.
It's not perfect, by any means, but by reading it you get to see Harper grow as a writer as you read.
There is a clear gear change about a third of the way through Watchman when the Harper we already know finds her stride, and the more naive writing of the early pages clearly morphs into the more assured prose we know her for.
It's not perfect (yes, I know it's been given five stars), with the flashback sequences not always sitting comfortably within the narrative, but that actually forms part of this book's loving charm.
Where it comes into its own is in the final third, when Scout's angst and passion leap off the page and envelope you, wrapping you in the story and - at times - shocking you.
There's also a rich irony at the outcry over Atticus' perceived character change, given Scout's reaction to the same subject. It's pretty much what the book's about.
I'm just sad it had to end.