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A review by gourireads
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
4.0
To Kill a Mockingbird is set in Alabama in 1930s and is said to be loosely based on Lee's life. It's narrated by Scout or Jean Louise Finch, daughter to a single father and lawyer Atticus Finch and younger sister to Jeremy "Jem" Finch. The book mostly discusses the narrator's childhood and her neighbours in the first part and then the second part is mainly about a case that Atticus takes up. The defendant that he represents is a black man named Tom Robinson who is wrongly accused of raping a white girl in the county.
I loved Atticus Finch's character. He's been blamed for being made a white hero or a saviour. But I think it comes down to the reader to decide what he is. To me he was just a man who wanted change but was not a radical. He is a reformist who practices what he preaches but is at the same time incapable of doing many or most things that a revolutionary would do. He is definitely a good man by 1930s white men standards but he would definitely be not enough now. I loved his relationship with the children. I also like Scout's narration. It made me laugh out loud many times.
The book represents the differences in class, the discrimination against black people as well as the relationships between the neighbours in the county (which might be enough for a book in the 1930s? I am no one to say). It has a lot of black characters (my favourite is definitely Calpurnia, the cook) but not many of them are given a voice. Most of these characters are sidelined. (Keep in mind that Lee herself is a white woman) At the time of it's release the book was so popular that it was taken up as a part of the curriculum in United States and even represented as Black Literature in certain cases. This is actually really bad. I wish Tom Robinson was given a voice. Even at times Calpurnia, who is one of the major black characters, felt like she was made to push the plot forward.
I am definitely glad to have read this book. That being said there are things I did not like about it as well. This is definitely not the book that should be read at a time like this.
I would recommend this book to anyone who has not read it yet but I wouldn't recommend this to someone who is reading this to look at racial issues in the past through fiction as there are a lot of factual errors and misrepresentation involved.
I loved Atticus Finch's character. He's been blamed for being made a white hero or a saviour. But I think it comes down to the reader to decide what he is. To me he was just a man who wanted change but was not a radical. He is a reformist who practices what he preaches but is at the same time incapable of doing many or most things that a revolutionary would do. He is definitely a good man by 1930s white men standards but he would definitely be not enough now. I loved his relationship with the children. I also like Scout's narration. It made me laugh out loud many times.
The book represents the differences in class, the discrimination against black people as well as the relationships between the neighbours in the county (which might be enough for a book in the 1930s? I am no one to say). It has a lot of black characters (my favourite is definitely Calpurnia, the cook) but not many of them are given a voice. Most of these characters are sidelined. (Keep in mind that Lee herself is a white woman) At the time of it's release the book was so popular that it was taken up as a part of the curriculum in United States and even represented as Black Literature in certain cases. This is actually really bad. I wish Tom Robinson was given a voice. Even at times Calpurnia, who is one of the major black characters, felt like she was made to push the plot forward.
I am definitely glad to have read this book. That being said there are things I did not like about it as well. This is definitely not the book that should be read at a time like this.
I would recommend this book to anyone who has not read it yet but I wouldn't recommend this to someone who is reading this to look at racial issues in the past through fiction as there are a lot of factual errors and misrepresentation involved.