Harper Lee - To Kill A Mockingbird

The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic.

Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, To Kill A Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior—to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos. Now with over 18 million copies in print and translated into forty languages, this regional story by a young Alabama woman claims universal appeal. Harper Lee always considered her book to be a simple love story. Today it is regarded as a masterpiece of American literature.  




This book is so idyllic and the protagonist so naive it is almost painful.
But we shouldn't forget that the book is written from a child's perspective over the course of several (I'm not sure if it was three or four) years. Scout was not older than 9 years old at the time the events happened, so I don't think it is fair to say that she is naive. She is a child.
This is also a part of my 2016 Classics Challenge

WHEN I Discovered This Classic
I first heard about this book last year in the London Underground where the billboards where advertising Harper Lee's second book - Go Set a Watchman. They had both of her books in one binding and so I became interested in it. Being German I seriously hadn't heard about it before.

WHY I Chose to Read It
I chose to read it because I was interested in the racial conflicts in the 1960s. Because this book is set in the 1960s (and I knew it contained a serious amount of racism) I was reluctant to read it at first, but then I discovered I would jump right into it, regardless of what the author had to say about the issue.

WHAT Makes It A Classic
Just like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, this book is written from a child's perspective. I am of the opinion that children do often have a different view on things than adults and I was very interested in what a little girl had to say. It is also a classic because this book does not judge. Atticus Finch sees to that.

WHAT I Thought of This Classic
I loved it. I loved the characters, I loved the way the children were portrayed, the trial itself was very interesting and the fact that Atticus Finch is one of the deepest characters that I have ever read made it so fantastic.

WILL It Stay A Classic
Yes, indeed. Because of Atticus Finch's personality and morals.

WHO I’d Recommend It To
Everyone having dealt with racism and those who are not (yet) educated about the racial system in the United States in the 1960s and before that. Shoutout to my fellow Europeans!