I first bought this when I was 16 and I suddenly realised I should read it properly. I still have my old copy so just pulled it off my shelf and started. To be honest I haven't got many memories of reading this. I really don't think I ever managed to read it all! ( I think the boring cover and small print affected my judgement and I found the opening Boo Radley storyline a bit hard going.) But reading it again this week it has blown me away. What a fantastic book. I have been in tears every day on the bus this week because of the beautiful, honest writing and the clarity of the story. ( at least my unpopular train replacement bus is fairly empty so no one has seen what a state I have got myself into!)
Harper Lee's winning formula is writing this from the perspective of a young girl who has lots of spirit, bravado and love of live. The characters who live in Maycomb, Alabama in 1935 are so well described by Scout I could almost smell them. All types of people are described: white trash, the desperately poor, snobs, gossips, mentally ill people, drug addicts, liars, violent drunks, lonely people, the honest and the brave and then there is the disenfranchised black community( who live in a tight community behind the rubbish dump.) A group of people in which the majority can't read. A group of people who are almost universally looked down upon and feared by their white neighbours.
Cleverly nobody is judged in this book because as Harper Lee says the only way you understand people is by trying to 'stand in their shoes'.
Atticus Finch's defence of Tom Robinson , a young black guy who is accused of raping a 19 year old white girl ,is the main focus of the central part of this book but to me this was just one section of amazing insights into the hypocrisy and petty minded fears of humans. The court room scene is electrifying and it is so obvious that everyone knows that Tom Robinson is innocent but as he is black he just has to be found guilty. Atticus having to deal with the strong belief that he will fight for Tom even though he knows it will be a lost cause is so sad, yet also so empowering , because in the end the town's conscience is put into the spot light and everyone knows they have all been judged and all found guilty.
Having the story told from the perspective of a funny, lively tomboy keeps this book fresh. It's funny and totally free of sentimentality. Scout sees things as they are and tells things as they are. Atticus is just so lovely to his kids too. What a super star of a dad!
The attack at the end is particularly grim yet also uplifting. All I can say is thank god Scout was wearing a Halloween costume, a piece of reinforced metal bacon, which managed to protect her! Later Scout said she was never afraid while it was happening and that it is only in books and in our imaginations where really scary things happen. A great example of what Maycomb County had just been told, that it had nothing to fear but fear itself.
I sure am not going to wait 28 years before I read this again! Question is will I go and buy Go Set a Watchman now? Ummm.
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