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A review by casebounder
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
3.0
Sigh.
I did really enjoy the aspects of returning to a childhood home after gaining some maturity and disillusionment. This definitely speaks to me at this point in my life. Going home can be disorienting and odd in so many ways (how did these countertops get so short?), and then you remember you're still not done growing, understanding, and changing.
However - sadly - GSaW reads mostly as fan fiction. Or like a short story that doesn't give you all the background information you're curious about. The book relies so heavily on TKaM for it's depth of characters that it feels terribly incomplete. The racial ideologies in the book are so outdated, I can't help but question the editor who claimed the document barely needed editing.
To that end, the racism. Oy. Our hero is to be applauded because she's not as vitriolically racist as other characters. Atticus is still a good (and finally imperfect) man because he will follow the law, despite his deep racism. Lee's outdated 1950's views on African Americans have been bizarrely preserved for 2015 readers hungry for more of the same feel-good justice found in TKaM (or The Help, or Remember the Titans, or The Blind Side...). Those readers will be disappointed. And I'm afraid this whole business has marred a legacy that, while flawed, had true social impact in the US.
I did really enjoy the aspects of returning to a childhood home after gaining some maturity and disillusionment. This definitely speaks to me at this point in my life. Going home can be disorienting and odd in so many ways (how did these countertops get so short?), and then you remember you're still not done growing, understanding, and changing.
However - sadly - GSaW reads mostly as fan fiction. Or like a short story that doesn't give you all the background information you're curious about. The book relies so heavily on TKaM for it's depth of characters that it feels terribly incomplete. The racial ideologies in the book are so outdated, I can't help but question the editor who claimed the document barely needed editing.
To that end, the racism. Oy. Our hero is to be applauded because she's not as vitriolically racist as other characters. Atticus is still a good (and finally imperfect) man because he will follow the law, despite his deep racism. Lee's outdated 1950's views on African Americans have been bizarrely preserved for 2015 readers hungry for more of the same feel-good justice found in TKaM (or The Help, or Remember the Titans, or The Blind Side...). Those readers will be disappointed. And I'm afraid this whole business has marred a legacy that, while flawed, had true social impact in the US.