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A review by sandrareilly513
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
5.0
I am well-aware of the hype around this novel's release and I can honestly say that I feel the hullabaloo was all for naught. It is an amazing story that should accompany any reading of its prequel, To Kill A Mockingbird.
Yes, Atticus is revealed to be racist, and that is a huge deal because, like the adolescent Scout, we made him an icon of goodness and righteousness in our real world -- most of us during adolescence ourselves. However, this reveal is just a catalyst in this novel. This is not a story of an aged Atticus running around Maycomb with a white hood over his head, spouting white supremacist filth, as many reviews I have heard and read in the media leading up to its release would have readers believe. Instead, it is a story about a young woman coming to terms with humanity and humility, and the point in our lives when we realize that our idols might not belong on the pedestals we've placed them on. Many of us have been there -- we experience their fall as if it were our own, and it can take years (sometimes a lifetime) to recover from.
It is also a story about how there may be times when we put aside our own beliefs for what we strongly feel is for the greater good, and about the struggle of deeply loving someone whose beliefs you hate. Jean Louise, or Scout as we've come to love her, is coming of age at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. She's not quite ready for it, nor is most of Maycomb, apparently. Her little town is much different than she remembers, as are the people in it. Readers will come to care for these characters, gaining an understanding for their struggles and their thought processes and being appalled by their ignorance all at the same time...
Ignore the hype. Read the novel and decide for yourself...
Yes, Atticus is revealed to be racist, and that is a huge deal because, like the adolescent Scout, we made him an icon of goodness and righteousness in our real world -- most of us during adolescence ourselves. However, this reveal is just a catalyst in this novel. This is not a story of an aged Atticus running around Maycomb with a white hood over his head, spouting white supremacist filth, as many reviews I have heard and read in the media leading up to its release would have readers believe. Instead, it is a story about a young woman coming to terms with humanity and humility, and the point in our lives when we realize that our idols might not belong on the pedestals we've placed them on. Many of us have been there -- we experience their fall as if it were our own, and it can take years (sometimes a lifetime) to recover from.
It is also a story about how there may be times when we put aside our own beliefs for what we strongly feel is for the greater good, and about the struggle of deeply loving someone whose beliefs you hate. Jean Louise, or Scout as we've come to love her, is coming of age at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. She's not quite ready for it, nor is most of Maycomb, apparently. Her little town is much different than she remembers, as are the people in it. Readers will come to care for these characters, gaining an understanding for their struggles and their thought processes and being appalled by their ignorance all at the same time...
Ignore the hype. Read the novel and decide for yourself...