• Welcome to BookAndReader!

    We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!

    Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.

Harper Lee: To Kill A Mockingbird

  • Thread starter Deleted member 6550
  • Start date
D

Deleted member 6550

Guest
Well, I've finally decided to start reading this book (I'll start tonight), and I was just wondering what people thought of this book. I know the critics loved it, but I was just wondering how you guys felt about it. Is it a good book? Does it deserve to be read?
 
Someone changed my title, ( :confused: ), but yeah, I'll do that. I just wanted to know how others thought of it. :)
 
mcilroga said:
I just wanted to know how others thought of it. :)
Click to expand...

Interestingly for such a popular book it never had a thread until you made one. There are views on Harper Lee - and perhaps on the book itself if you care to use the search function.

To Kill A Mockingbird is certainly one of those books I want to read and will aim to do so this year (it has been on my shelf for months) but given it's popularity I don't think you'll find many people that have read it and disliked it.

mcilroga said:
Someone changed my title
Click to expand...
I added the author's name, lest anyone mistake it for To Kill A Mockingbird by, er, someone else. ;)
 
I read To Kill a Mockingbird when I was a highschool sophmore, and I'm very glad I did. I loved it then, and I plan to reread it one of these days.
 
It's a great book. So great, in fact, that I enjoyed it even though I had to study it for GCSE English Literature.
 
I had to read this for my GSCE English Lit exam too. I loved the book, and I think we watched the film too. Defo worth reading IMO.
 
This was one of the few school reqired books that I really enjoyed. I reread it about a year ago and still enjoyed it just as much. I don't think I've seen the movie yet but I keep meaning to.
 
i just read it, seeing as the school is putting on the play, and i'd say it's great. i actually understood the moral quite well, and i've got to say this really is close to being a classic. although it's a bit dragged out in the end.
 
I loved this book since I first read it when I was about 10. I have re-read it a few times since then and I always enjoy it just as much. The lessons in life do not change....even though time does.
 
Finished this book today! Enjoyed reading it. Hoped all the way that the jury would do something controversional (bad spelling). Recommend it to others.
 
I'm realy impressed with the simple writing style. The language is not above the narrator-boy's education level and in that regard, Harper Lee did a smashing job. One of the main themses of this book is man's humanity to man and equality. Early on, the young boy asks a hired hand about her skin color and she gently takes him to task on that, reminding him of his social faux pas and to be more cautious about it in the future. After school, he comes across the poorest boy in town being pummeled by his sister and he stops the fight and asks the boy over. The boy oddly pours molasses over his meal and he can't help but call him on that. The hired hand again reminds him that while the boy is poor, he is a guest and as such, should be treated equally. As punishment, he is forced to eat in the kitchen.

The book does have some snippets of some humorous quips. Here is my personal favorite where the students are waiting to see if their young new teacher fits the stereotype of being a product of a neighboring northern county in Alabama.

The class murmured apprehensively, should she prove to harbor her share of the peculiarities indigenous to that region. (When Alabama seceded from the Union on January 11, 1861, Winston County seceded from Alabama, and every hcild in Maycomb COunty knew it.) North Alabama was full of Liquor Interests, Big Mules, steel companies, Republicans, professors, and other persons of no background.
Click to expand...


:D

I am by no means finished with it, will post again once I get through it.
 
I think one reason I love this book so much is the way I can hear my late great aunts in my head as I read. God love them, Southerners have a class all their own, and Harper Lee did a tremendous job expressing that in writing.
 
This is one of the few required books I enjoyed reading Sophomore year of high school. I haven't read it since, though I want to someday.
 
SFG75 said:
I'm realy impressed with the simple writing style. The language is not above the narrator-boy's education level and in that regard, Harper Lee did a smashing job. One of the main themses of this book is man's humanity to man and equality. Early on, the young boy asks a hired hand about her skin color and she gently takes him to task on that, reminding him of his social faux pas and to be more cautious about it in the future.


.
Click to expand...

Hi there SFG. It's really nice to see someone try to discuss a book in more detail for a change.

However, To Kill a Mockingbird is written in retrospect from an adult's point of view, and the narrator is a woman (then girl). The language is that of an adult, not a child.

I also would never call Calpurnia a 'hired hand.' Cal takes the place of the children's mother in most respects, which is abundantly clear in their relationship. They would never view her as a hired hand. It is Scout, the girl, whose manners she corrects.

I find the question of 'knowing one's place in the world' really interesting. Crossing boundaries is always dangerous in the book. Knowing your place is always important. Why does Atticus take the case? Not because he thinks it's right, but because he realizes nobody else will, and it's his place in that society to step into that dangerous and civilized breach.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top