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Summary: Greatest virtues are those most useful to others...
Review: We've all grown up in worlds we didn't understand; the dos and don'ts us grown-ups define for our children's lives are projected through the innocent eyes of a six-year old girl trying to figure out our world. The book starts with a rough portrayed picture of the American South during the Depression years through the eyes of a child, who though surprisingly intelligent and far beyond her years, is still too young and too innocent to comprehend the world as it is. As we proceed through the pages, the facade drops only to reveal that, what lies beneath is a world of hypocrisy, social lies, prejudice, and ignorance. A handful of ideas occupy the reader's mind while at reading the book: innocence, education, bravery, prejudice, fear and justice. Education is the weapon through which the widowed father arms his children to fight society. He treats them as equals, adults and of a certain level, thus producing a charming yet troublesome duo... It soon becomes clear why he thinks education is so important. Education is the key to unlocking the ignorance that causes such prejudice. Lessons regarding bravery and cowardice are also taught in an effective way and in a much wide spectrum than not just children but also adults would think of. Atticus's children find out quite early in their young lives that guns do not make men brave and that any fascination with guns is unfounded. Instead, fighting with one's misfortunes, especially when the battle is by fact lost, is the way of making true men, men of honour. His children learn that it takes more bravery and self-restraint to avoid a fistfight than succumb to the temptation of going through with it. Some adults never do... The most important issue of the book is prejudice in all of its forms. Through the eyes of Scout, her father is the liberal approach to human relations and her aunt is the respective conservative. Gender roles, class distinctions and skin colour are the facts imposed on the children growing up in the average southern town of yesteryears. The belief that a cast of people are better, is confronted by the father's stand, that one should sympathize with others and "walk in their skin" before judging or criticizing them. Innocence. As hunters kill mockingbirds for sport, people kill innocence, or other people who are innocent, without any remorse about what they are doing. Killing innocence is like amputating the spirit, projecting to the young hopeful minds of tomorrow that all is vanity, thus killing any hope in their minds and hearts, and wiping out any chances that our society might have to adopt, adapt and improve... Then comes fear. Small town folks fear that they should adhere to what others think they should do, act within the margins the social rules command, or be isolated. " Cursed is the mutant by God and men..." Even nowadays, fear of rejection dictates the social status quo and keeps individuals from standing up for that which they believe. Coming from a Greek society, I have been many times confronted by my immediate or wider environment about things I felt, thought or imagined of being right. I think that the lesson learned here is that until we are able to comprehend and absorb other people's ways, we are just slaves of our own prejudice, fear and hypocrisy... ...
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Summary: You either love it....or you hate it!
Review: I am 15 years old, and I just read this story about a week ago for my tenth grade english class. Most of the kids didn't like the story and they didn't catch all of the wonderful lessons and morals that came along with it. They didn't understand that this book could teach you a lot about life. It taught me a bundle. I realized all of the racist remarks that go on at school everyday, and I learned that courage is definatly not an action that doesn't involve brains. Please, read this book with an open mind and experience the new outlooks on life that even a 7 year old girl and see. If she can do it, you can!
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Summary: One of the best books you will ever read!
Review: I never read this in High School or College or any of those opportunities when you read "the classics". But I've gone back and read many of the classics and this is easily in my top 10 best books ever! Not only is the story entertaining, but the emotion and the action of the book is fantastic. You'll laugh, you'll cry... And if you are a fan of the movie (which I am...Gregory Peck at his best...) you'll really love reading the book! If the movie is one of the best movies ever made, the book exceeds it simply based on the fact that it is twice the story of the movie! The movie sticks to the story very closely, but they edit out about half of what happens in the book! The trial happens about half-way through the book, rather than toward the very end, like in the movie. And after reading the book, several scenes in the movie make much more sense! This one is definitely five-star book and I'd say it is one of the best books out ever written! Don't hesitate to read this one!
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Summary: timeless
Review: I suggest everybody read this book. And if you've read it before read it again because I know you'll find something that you didn't notice before.
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Summary: One of the Best Books I Have Ever Read
Review: To Kill A Mockingbird is set in the quiet town of Maycomb, Alabama. The town is rocked by a trial in court concerning a black man, and the town's most disrespected whites. Scout Finch, an eight year old girl and the narrator of the story, experiences the heat of predjudice with her brother Jem for the first time. Their father,lawyer Atticus Finch, a man wise beyond his years, boldy defends the black man, who has been wrongly accused of raping a white woman. As the story ends, the whole town learns that any kind of predjudice is the worst kind of opression of all. This story gets better every time you read it. It's awesome!!!
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Summary: response
Review: one thing to the person who called this one of the worst books he/she has ever read.. simply because the novel centers around an 8 year old does not mean the prose is infantile.. and in many ways, i'm sure a story told by an 8 year old would be better than a story told by this reviewer. the book is far from repetitive, and if the reviewer believes that this is another case of a bad book being held up as a classic, i suggest that that person go back to school and find out what a classic really is. how dare this person criticize classics when he/she obviously has no idea of what that word means. perhaps spending more time in the library and spending more time actually READING books and finding the depth in them would help.
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Summary: teenage point of view
Review: In my house this book is held with more reverence than the bible. I have heard the plotline from my mom at least a million times but i have never had the determination and the will to read it until now. This book is every bit as well written and classic as everyone I talk to believes it to be. Its masterful use of a child's perspective on the wrongs of our world is breathtaking. Read it... I did and I'm only 16...to think people say the youth of our nation has no appreciation for great literature.
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Summary: Classic
Review: They say that "The Adventures of Huck Finn" is the classic American tale of racism. Huck Finn seems to be about how rare an island of innocence is in a world beset with wickedness. To Kill a Mockingbird seems to me to be a re-working of that same story but with a different underbelly. This novel believes that there is real goodness, it offers hope in the face of wickedness. You can stay in one place and watch what you thought was so evil evolve into something good. You yourself can find courage you didn't know you had. You might find that you are better than you realized. This book has true humanity in it's core. It's a beautiful story and it is finely crafted as well. The scene at the end with Scout and that person she'd never met but had known all along killed me.
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Summary: Perfect
Review: I wanted to read thsi book because it is said to be in top 100 best books. And it is really worth it.
I am not familar with racicism but I liked the book.
It is very well written in a kid's point of view.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the worst books I have ever read.
Review: I can't say enough negative things about this book. It takes place in the South, shortly after the slaves were freed. It's told from the point of view of an 8-year-old (that alone should tell you how stupid this book is) and is written as she would talk. In other words, the writing style is infantile and uninteresting, bland, and pathetic. Instead of writing, "Atticus put on his coat; he opened the door departed," it would say "Atticus put on his coat. Atticus opened the door. Atticus departed." Repetitive and boring. Overrated. What is up with all these poorly written books being held as classics? It only proves the mass opinion is one that should always be questioned.
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