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Loading... To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)by Harper Lee
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![]() ![]() What impressed me most about this nearly perfect novel is how well Harper Lee pulls off one of the most difficult tricks in writing: to write a story for adults told through the eyes of a child. Scout, the narrator, is eight to ten years old in the two years covered by this story, and almost everything she recounts is told in a way that a precocious tomboy would have experienced it and in words she would use. I rarely came across something I doubted a child would have noticed at the time or told in the words of an adult reflecting. I’ve seen the movie at least twice, but one of the blessings of age is that I didn’t recall the plot perfectly. One thing I did remember was Gregory Peck’s portrayal of Atticus Finch. To drive that out of my mind, I pictured my great-grandfather, justice of the peace, as well as almost everything else in a small Southern town, with gray hair, a blind eye, and a deep voice. My mother would have been about the same age as Scout, so that helped complete the picture. How long is the list of stories that were excellent both as a novel and a movie? This certainly belongs on it. In my ongoing project of catching up on books I've missed I have just read Harper Lee's To kill a mockingbird. I was on the Southbank the other week and just over the millennium bridge a man was selling battered paperbacks and I picked up a copy for £2.50. I started reading it the other week and since my unforeseen circumstances kicked in have been able to complete it already. Its reputation as a fine novel is deserved. Because it is written through a child's eyes it is understandably a GCSE favourite. Set in the thirties in the southern states it first appeared in 1963. I had assumed it would be tackling the whole race question head on but is much more powerful for being very oblique. Perhaps the most powerful moment is when a racist woman denounces Hitler. The mockingbird theme is done very lightly and the Boo Radley theme keeps interest while at the same time giving the treatment of the subject breadth. A Shakespeare moment indeed. Belongs to Publisher SeriesIs contained inHas the adaptationIs abridged inReader's Digest Best Sellers: To Kill a Mockingbird | Agony and the Ecstasy | Winter of our Discontent | Fate is the Hunter by Reader's Digest Reader's Digest Best Sellers: To Kill a Mockingbird | Shoes of the Fisherman | Seven Days in May | To Catch an Angel by Reader's Digest InspiredHas as a reference guide/companionHas as a studyHas as a commentary on the textHas as a student's study guideHas as a teacher's guideAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
The explosion of racial hate in an Alabama town is viewed by a little girl whose father defends a black man accused of rape. No library descriptions found.
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![]() GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature American literature in English American fiction in English 1900-1999 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:![]()
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