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Summary: So easy, so beautiful
Review: Reading this book was like falling over backwards into a soft bed. Easy to read, well-written, and memorable, I couldn't find anything wrong with it. It's a cliche to say "classic" but that's what it is. And the movie's not half bad either!Also recommended: McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD
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Summary: A Parody of our intolerant behavior
Review: To Kill A Mockingbird is told in the first person by a six-year-old girl with the prose style of a well-educated adult. The book's setting is a small town in Alabama, and the action behind Scout's tale is her father's determination, as a lawyer, liberal, and honest man, to defend a Negro accused of raping a white girl. The most important theme of To Kill a Mockingbird is the book's exploration of the moral nature of human beings-that is, whether people are essentially good or essentially evil. The novel approaches this question by dramatizing Scout's and Jem's transition from a perspective of childhood innocence, in which they assume that people are good because they have never seen evil, to a more adult perspective, in which they have confronted evil and must incorporate it into their understanding of the world. As a result of this portrayal of the transition from innocence to experience, one of the book's important subthemes involves the threat that hatred, prejudice, and ignorance pose to the innocent: people such as Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are not prepared for the evil that they encounter, and, as a result, they are destroyed. Even Jem is victimized to an extent by his discovery of the evil of racism during and after the trial. Whereas Scout is able to maintain her basic faith in human nature despite Tom's conviction, Jem's faith in justice and in humanity is badly damaged, and he retreats into a state of disillusionment. The moral voice of To Kill a Mockingbird is Atticus Finch, who has experienced and understood evil without losing his faith in the human capacity for goodness. Atticus understands that, rather than being simply creatures of good or creatures of evil, most people have both good and bad qualities. The important thing is to appreciate the good qualities and understand the bad qualities by treating others with sympathy and trying to see life from their perspective. He tries to teach this ultimate moral lesson to Jem and Scout to show them that it is possible to live with conscience without losing hope or becoming cynical. In this way, Atticus is able to admire Mrs. Dubose's courage even while deploring her racism. Scout's progress as a character in the novel is defined by her gradual development toward understanding Atticus's lessons. There is a maturity in Scouts observation as she finds contradiction in Mrs. Faust's intolerable racist manners towards blacks, but utmost compassion towards Jews massacre by Hitler.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful and Touching Book
Review: This is an absolutely wonderful book. I especially love the child's perspective it is written from. Somehow, putting it that way makes the racism and cruelty portrayed all the more horrific.
The characters are very realistic (which is a big issue with me!) and the plot, while simple, is very intriguing. This is a sad story for the most part, but it also has great hope, because it shows that there are courageous people in the world who are willing to stand against culture and fight for the rights of those whom no one cares about.
If you have not read this book, you must; it is well worth it.
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Summary: Who has not read or seen?
Review: Who has not read or seen this classic. The movie was fantastic, as is the book. While the book has some more scenes and background, the movie follows things pretty much like the book. Lee's MOCKINGBIRD still resonates after all these years--it's poetry and realism combine to form a one-of-a-kind literary experience. Also recommended: Fried Green Tomatoes and Bark of the Dogwood by McCrae
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Summary: to kill a mocking bird
Review: when you first get to kill a mocking bird you say what a dumb book this is. but when you start reading it you want to go on and on until you get to the end of the book. this book grabs your attention in the second chapter and never lest your mind go. so if you think to kill a mocking bird is boring think again.
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Summary: The mockingbird analogy
Review: I read "To Kill a Mockingbird" when I was 16 for my GCSE exams in England. Then, I liked it, but I wonder how much of that was my teacher's opinion, not mine. My sister is approaching 16 now, and apparently about to start studying it, so I said I would re-read it to see if I could help her with it at all. My mum re-read it too, so we could compare notes.
In a way, I wish I hadn't read it when I was 16: I wonder whether putting this book on a syllabus for 16 year olds is a mistake. Harper Lee, after all, never intended the book to be studied by children.
I couldn't put it down this time. I was at that stage where you almost remember what happens, but don't quite, so the story is just as engrossing the second time. This time, I was struck by the mockingbird analogy more than ever. It is a beautiful metaphor and actually applies to many of the characters in the book: not just Boo Radley, but Tom Robinson and Jem too. When you think about that the whole way through, it gives the book a whole new depth and meaning that is not immediately evident on the surface. I think before, when I read the line "it's a sin to kill a mockingbird" I fell into that trap of thinking "oh good, that's the title of the book mentioned at last". It's easy to attribute the metaphor solely to Boo Radley because of Scout's (very insightful) comment at the end of the book "it'd be kinda like shooting a mockingbird,wouldn't it?", but I think that is just scratching the surface of this wonderfully written novel. I hope every 16 year old reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" has a wonderful teacher willing to give them everything it has to offer.
Highly recommended.
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Summary: A book that unites us all
Review: The book was perhaps the greatest I've ever read. The way that it showed you how prejudice is never going to be the way out of your problems. I liked how the main charcater Scout, at the end finds out that rasism is never going to be the way out of your problems. I also like how it showed you how things are back in the 60's and gives you an idea of how it would be if you lived in that time. The way that they put out the plot line was great, I will definetlly recommend this book to a friend.
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Summary: It's a sin to kill a Mockingbird
Review: To Kill A Mockingbird is a good book. Tom Robison was covicted of a crime in which he did not committ. the case was based on the unjustful opinion of the whites in the south during the 1930's. I like this book because it tells the truths of racist whites of the south.My closing statement is, this book was very enjoyable,when you read it, it gets very interesting.
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Summary: " A Book Of Reality Of The South"
Review: To kill a Mockingbird is a book based on the time period of the 1930's. It tells the truth behind the walls of lies. The characters are perfect for a child's view of racism, growing up, and the ways of life. The book is set in Maycomb, Alabama in the poor area for the whites. In this town blacks are treatd fairly by some and unrighteously by others who feel they have a overbearing superiority . White women had meetings in which they gossiped about blacks. The town in my opinion is too close and they tend to know people all to well. They pass so much judgement that some tell lies that are not intended to benefit them just so they can be left alone. In my closing statement I say, " This book is a great depiction of the unjustful ways of the 1930's."
- Jasmine Meriwether
Rating: 
Summary: Half-Good
Review: This is a pretty good book. The plot isn't that bad. It would have been much better if the author had left race out of the book. I like court cases and books about them, but I don't really care too much when the moral of the story is "don't be racist." We've come far enough, there is very little racism out there. High school students should get to read contemporary fiction, things that apply to us now-adays, not about racism that only a small minority feel now-adays. Besides, black people are more racist than whites in this day and age.
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