To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird
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Book Summary Information

Author: Harper Lee
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1988-10-11
ISBN: 0446310786
Number of pages: 281
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
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Book Reviews of To Kill a Mockingbird

Book Review: Review of To Kill a Mockingbird
Summary: 5 Stars

Every time the name of this book came up, I would wrinkle my nose and shake my head "no" in response to the question "Have you read it?". It's amazing how false perceptions about things can keep something that really is good out of your life.

A few months ago I decided to finally start opening up and reading some of the books that have always been touted as "required reading" for schools. Being homeschooled, I was never required to read any particular books - and as I read quite voraciously, it was never really an issue.

A few months ago I read The Catcher in the Rye and did not see what the big issue was. It was okay, but not the best thing I'd ever read and I was far from astounded by it. With that further prejudice in mind I approached To Kill a Mockingbird with not a little bit of hesitation.

I was sucked in almost immediately though. I could picture the town, the setting. I could see Scout clearly and found myself catching my breath and blinking back tears more than a few times. I fell in love with Atticus - what an incredible man he was in this story. I loved the quirks and the twists, the "spooky" nature of Boo, I cried at the story of Tom Robinson and I cheered at the dismal ending to Bob Ewell.

But most of all, I felt ashamed of myself. Shame that I had let something silly like enjoying the shock people had when I told them I hadn't read this book - keep me from reading this book. Truth be told, I denied myself something pretty special and I plan to make up for it by reading this one again and again.

Summary of To Kill a Mockingbird

The explosion of racial hate in an Alabama town is viewed by a little girl whose father defends a black man accused of rape.
"When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.... When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out."

Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression, To Kill a Mockingbird follows three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus--three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Though her story explores big themes, Harper Lee chooses to tell it through the eyes of a child. The result is a tough and tender novel of race, class, justice, and the pain of growing up.

Like the slow-moving occupants of her fictional town, Lee takes her time getting to the heart of her tale; we first meet the Finches the summer before Scout's first year at school. She, her brother, and Dill Harris, a boy who spends the summers with his aunt in Maycomb, while away the hours reenacting scenes from Dracula and plotting ways to get a peek at the town bogeyman, Boo Radley. At first the circumstances surrounding the alleged rape of Mayella Ewell, the daughter of a drunk and violent white farmer, barely penetrate the children's consciousness. Then Atticus is called on to defend the accused, Tom Robinson, and soon Scout and Jem find themselves caught up in events beyond their understanding. During the trial, the town exhibits its ugly side, but Lee offers plenty of counterbalance as well--in the struggle of an elderly woman to overcome her morphine habit before she dies; in the heroism of Atticus Finch, standing up for what he knows is right; and finally in Scout's hard-won understanding that most people are essentially kind "when you really see them." By turns funny, wise, and heartbreaking, To Kill a Mockingbird is one classic that continues to speak to new generations, and deserves to be reread often. --Alix Wilber

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