To Kill a Mockingbird

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Summary: I Surprised myself by loving it.
Review: I read this book as a class assignment a while ago and, for that reason, I was fully prepared to hate it. However, To Kill A Mockingbird managed to break down this barrier. I loved this book because it had everything that makes a book worth reading. Besides the obvious plot, that of a young girl growing up in a small Alabama town, there is the deeper, more complicated story of overcoming racism. This is a book that anyone can enjoy, whether you want a good mystery or a book that comments on our society today. I would recomment it to anyone of any age.

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Summary: one of the best pieces of american literature ever written
Review: Simply marvelous in both technique and content. Brilliantly written in first person as only a master of her craft could possibly accomplish. This was Lee's only novel, and when you've done it right, one may just be enough. Recommended reading for anyone, especially those of us from the South. This is who we were, and who we still are under the surface veneer of only sixty years of attempt to change perceptions of people. Outstanding book.

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Summary: Atticus Finch has always been my hero!
Review: To Kill a Mockingbird was published when I was a young girl. After reading Nancy Drew books and candy striper novels, and becoming a "hooked" reader, I finally understood what reading was all about when I discovered Harper Lee. How disappointed I was to learn that Ms. Lee wrote one masterpiece and then no more. But she made me understand the makings of this man, Atticus Finch, who defends the poor and undefended -- a man who is as deeply committed a parent as I have ever seen. Atticus is a gentle soul, and a compassionate and tender father to his motherless children. He calmly explains to Scout, and by his deeds demonstrates to her, that an individual can't capitulate to the violence and ignorance that surrounds him or her because then that person becomes part of the problem and not part of the solution. I can't be really sure, since it has been so many years since my first reading of this remarkable book, but somewhere along the line, I decided to become an attorney and become a voice for the voiceless. I have a feeling Atticus Finch had a lot to do with my choice. I don't think it was by chance that, many years after my initial read of To Kill a Mockingbird, my son, at age thirteen, not exactly a "hooked" reader as I am, was assigned this book and fell in love with Scout and Atticus. He didn't complain about reading it and we discussed the content of the book, realizing that, thirty five years later, the story still had enormous meaning and relevance. And I found myself compelled to read the book again. It was more wonderful the second and third time around as it was when I was ten. I don't know how many books I have read in my life (probably hundreds and hundreds) but this little book still makes me feel and think and resolve to do just a little bit better.

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Summary: Pure genius!
Review: Nothing does this book justice other than reading it and experiencing it for yourself. I cannot believe that I had not been introduced to this book sooner in life. If you must read this book for a class, like myself, an incoming law school student, please actually take the 12 hours to read it. Do not waste time with the movie, because it leaves out too many important details. It is very light reading, so you will have no problem with finishing it in a timely manner. Plus, you will never want to put it down.

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Summary: No one should avoid it
Review: Absolutely brilliant - the characterisation, the plot, and best of all, the symbolism. Excellent. I've read it four times in the space of a year.

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Summary: An Undisputed Classic. Dissenters Need Not Apply.
Review: I first read To Kill A Mockingbird in high school, sophomore year. I was required to. When I finished it, I turned back to the front and read it again. I am from the South, and I KNOW these people. This is us, whether we like it or not. A beautiful novel, and a great novel of childhood, with the likes of A Prayer For Owen Meany, and Stephen King's novella "The Body." Sure, in many ways it is racist in its views, but THIS IS PRE WORLD WAR II SOUTHERN AMERICA! Like it or not, people actually thought like this. I've never understood those people who want to rewrite history for their own ends. It just proves that they're not paying attention. Atticus Finch is one of the great American characters of fiction, and the morality of this book shines through. The naysayers will fall into the past and be forgotten; this book never will. By the way, Boo Radley is not an outdated plot device. Boo Radley is Reginald Denny. Boo Radley is Oscar Schindler. Boo Radley is the lone man who stood in front of the tank in Tianammen Square. Boo Radley is, quite simply, us. The best of us.

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Summary: A terrific, inspiring read!
Review: I read To Kill A Mockingbird for the first time in the sixth grade, and I've read it many times since then. I majored in English in college, and there has yet to be a book that touched me in the way that this one has. As many times as I've read it, I get something new from it every time. It is a beautiful story of childhood innocence, and the prejudice and racism that corrupts that innocence. There are also quite a few humorous parts. If I could only read one book for the rest of my life, this would be the one!

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Summary: An extremely powerful work of literature
Review: To say that this classic moved me would be an magnificient understatement. At age 12, it opened my eyes and soul to a period that was previously shrouded in generalities. At age 21, it still continues to grip me with Lee's chilling displays of ignorance and blind hate. It's my personal #1 favorite and recommended reading to anyone!

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Summary: Am I the only one who thinks this book stinks?
Review: Now I'm not one of those negative people that go around bashing everything just for the pleasure of making everyone else miserable, so please do not make that assumption. I was made to read this book for and English class and I absolutely hated it! I'm not rascist at all, so don't make that assumption either. The whole time I was reading this I kept thinking how much this whole thing sounds like it was written by a 5th grader! Not just when the kids were speaking either. The writing style overall just seemed very juvenile to me. This "great American classic" just seemed to be replaying the old boring rascism vs. humanity theme that we've all seen time and time and time again. But this time it just has an even dumber ending! Everyone says how "deep" this novel is and how much thought it takes to really know and love the story. When actually, there are only a few tiny little moments when you have to know on your own what's really going on and decide for yourself. The plot goes absolutely nowhere! Yes a few things change, but by the end of the story, basiclly the same thing is happening that was happening when the story first begins! This novel was BORING! Not because I don't understand it, but because it has a lack of any real depth to it at all. It was about as inspirational and moving as "The Cat in the Hat".

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Summary: Open your eyes and see this book for what it is...
Review: Let's face it. There's nothing great about To Kill a Mockingbird. Nothing at all. It is is an American classic simply because America felt the need to call a book about itself a classic, and this happened along, blindly, stupidly, to be that book. From a technical standpoint, there's nothing wrong--Lee writes coherently, and although her book shifts topic suddenly, without cause or warning, she tends to stay on topic. There are so many American writers that came shortly before Lee or were actually contemporaries of her that do not get recognition despite their far superior work. Henry Miller offered a REAL view of America, ugliness and all, and it wasn't what Americans were looking for, to the point that they banned his writing. Someone should ban Lee's book because we tell our students that this is an ideal of literature whereas it is really just a regular old novel, like anything else the paperback racks had to offer at the time. There was nothing great here. I could write a novel that had notecard characters--even the narrator seemed a little hollow, and Boo Radley was just deus ex machina with a clever, sleepy-southern-town name--and no one would care. The mystery remains, why did anyone care about this?