#1 New York Times Bestseller“Go Set a Watchman is such an important book, perhaps the most important novel on race to come out of the white South in decades.” — New York Times A landmark novel by Harper Lee, set two decades after her beloved Pulitzer Prize–winning masterpiece, To Kill a Mockingbird.Twenty-six-year-old Jean Louise Finch—“Scout”—returns home to Maycomb, Alabama from New York City … Mockingbird.
Twenty-six-year-old Jean Louise Finch—“Scout”—returns home to Maycomb, Alabama from New York City to visit her aging father, Atticus. Set against the backdrop of the civil rights tensions and political turmoil that were transforming the South, Jean Louise’s homecoming turns bittersweet when she learns disturbing truths about her close-knit family, the town, and the people dearest to her. Memories from her childhood flood back, and her values and assumptions are thrown into doubt. Featuring many of the iconic characters from To Kill a Mockingbird, Go Set a Watchman perfectly captures a young woman, and a world, in painful yet necessary transition out of the illusions of the past—a journey that can only be guided by one’s own conscience.
Written in the mid-1950s, Go Set a Watchman imparts a fuller, richer understanding and appreciation of the late Harper Lee. Here is an unforgettable novel of wisdom, humanity, passion, humor, and effortless precision—a profoundly affecting work of art that is both wonderfully evocative of another era and relevant to our own times. It not only confirms the enduring brilliance of To Kill a Mockingbird, but also serves as its essential companion, adding depth, context, and new meaning to an American classic.
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I SO wanted it to live up to the standards of To Kill A Mockingbird. Very disappointed.
The writing here is as good as the towering original, “To Kill a Mockingbird.” It’s just that this story is much, much smaller, with less at stake. The characters are still interesting, Harper’s powers of observation as sharp as ever, and the flavor is exquisite as always. But there’s no riveting courtroom drama here, no unforgettable lines like Atticus Finch’s imploring: “For God’s sake, do your duty.”
The other reality is that the last third or so of the book is essentially a collection of sermons, as Scout, Atticus, and his brother pontificate about the nature of man and race relations. It’s all good stuff and very eloquent, but it all has an Aaron-Sorkiny flavor to it. Broadway speeches shoehorned into a book and pretending to be real folks talking over lunch.
I couldn’t get past the first 20 pages. If you loved To Kill A Mockingbird – skip this book!
not as important as To Kill a Mockingbird, but adds a perspective to understanding American history
Not as good as “To Kill A Mockingbird”
disapointing I could not figure out if it was a sequel or written before “To Kill a Mockingbird”
Go Set a Watchman, Harper Lee’s sequel/prequel to To Catch a Mockingbird, is probably the most anticipated release of the year, if not longer. So much has already been written about it – Say it ain’t so: Atticus Finch, a racist!? – that it’s difficult to know how to begin.
But first, a summary: sometime circa 1954, 26-year-old Jean Louise “Scout” Finch returns home to Maycomb, Alabama, to visit her ill and aging father, Atticus. (Jem, we learn, has died suddenly of a heart condition two years earlier.) The visit, and Jean Louise’s very identity, are thrown into turmoil by the revelation that her esteemed father is a member of the citizen’s council, a less-than-august body with the goal of reversing the progress of the Civil Rights Movement. Jean Louise, now a wise New Yorker, is unable to accept the explanation she is given for her father’s participation, chiefly that not to belong would jeopardize his standing and work within the community.
My thoughts: People are way to overwrought about this. I didn’t come away with the impression that Atticus was a raging racist, unlike many of his time and place. I did come away with the impression that he was sick and old and somewhat resistant to change, but by no means radically so.
In many ways, I was glad of the controversy, as it kept me reading, searching for the “smoking gun” when I might otherwise have given up: Go Set a Watchman is mediocre at best. The character’s feel half-developed, the plot seesaws between Jean Louise’s present visit and various, somewhat random, memories of her childhood, and perhaps most irritating, the first person and third person, sometimes within the same paragraph and almost always without warning. Why was her uncle sometimes “Uncle Jack” and sometimes “Dr. Finch?” Did she really call her father “Atticus?” Did an editor/publisher really reject this half a century ago and, if so, how did they have so much more sense than the current one? (I know the answer to this last question: the publisher is laughing all the way to the bank.)
On a star scale, this gets a two, because it wasn’t actually dreck. Just really boring and somewhat sloppily written. It won’t be making any appearances on my best of list later this year, that’s for sure.
(This review was originally published at http://www.thisyearinbooks.com/2015/09/go-set-watchman.html)
I didn’t think the story flowed or that the plot was that well defined. Disappointing.
To those who have already read To Kill a Mockingbird, I do not recommend this book. “While some memories of Scout’s childhood and descriptions of certain characters are interesting, by itself, Go Set a Watchman is not a full novel. Besides the fact that the reader will be as disappointed in Atticus Finch’s outlook on racial segregation as his daughter is, the book is preachy and tends to drag in many spots. I do not believe Harper Lee intended for this to be a published novel separate from To Kill a Mockingbird.
I don’t recommend this book. What a tremendous disappointment. Save your money.
The reader must always remember while reading this book, that it was originally written in the late fifties. The racism can be appalling, as to the incidence of a beloved uncle hitting his niece in the mouth so as to cause bleeding and swelling and then the two of them continuing their discussion as though it was a matter of course. Harper Lee was a great writer with a wonderful turn of phrase, but this book probably should have stayed in the archives rather than being published in the 21st century.
Same “Scout,” grown up & totally self absorbed. I kept reading, hoping it wouldn’t get interesting.
Apparently not published during Harper Lee’s lifetime, because she knew it wasn’t up to the standard she set in “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
Horrible mess of a book. Clearly Harper Lee was exploited by money-grubbers. This early manuscript should never have been published. Shame. Shame.
Boring
I wish I’d saved the money. This book was so disappointing. I know it must have been incredibly hard to follow a Pulitzer Prize winning debut book, but come on, Ms. Lee should have settled with being a one-hit wonder. I had such great hopes for this book after reading and loving “Mockingbird” my entire life, but I really regret wasting the time it took to read it. While it may be more realistic and reflective of the times, it just wasn’t the follow up I’d always expected and hoped she’d deliver.
Loved every page. It was hard to put down. It was great to know something about the characters growth from “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
Scout was always my favorite character and was in Harper Lee’s sequel.
There were times that I couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Those parts were not what I was expecting, but they made the book so much more enjoyable.
Harper Lee is a master at putting the right words together to create the most amazing stories. I want more!
Absolutely fantastic. A Must Read!!
Trust me. This is a good book. Enlightening, especially for an older Southern woman like me who grew up in that same time time period. Her superb story telling is way better than a lot of books these days. It was good to read a great five star book again.
It puts you back into the South when black people were supposed to be equal, but were not quite looked as such by most. It shows both sides of the coin.
I had a difficult time getting into this book because I have always been hooked on “To Kill a Mocking Bird”. Once I pushed past the premise and got to an older “Scout”, it was a fairly quick read and follow-up. It was interesting but in some ways not as “full” as the other book. Seemed like the characters were lacking more depth and insight.