(To Kill a Mockingbird #1)
Series Sunday is a bookish meme hosted by Literary Marie of
Precision Reviews. I encourage all of my fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along.
- Read an installment of a series.
- Share your review/recommendation below.
- Include the title, author and series name.
My Series Sunday pick is
To Kill a Mockingbird, the classic book by Harper Lee. The story goes a little something like this: a lawyer, Atticus Finch, defends a black man charged with raping a white girl in the South of the 1930s. It is told from the point of view of his young daughter, Scout. It appears that Atticus has a distaste for the justice system and criminal law practice in Maycomb County, Alabama.
I first read
TKAM in middle school then "again" in high school. Although in high school, I didn't really re-read it in its entirety but was lazy and read the CliffNotes. There were far more other fiction books I rather have read than to re-read a "boring but good message" classic novel. I remembered the gist of the story but not deets so I decided to re-read the classic immediately before reading the new novel released by Harper Lee. In lieu of a review, I will share my live tweets (in bold) inspired by quotes from the novel as I re-read.
@LiteraryMarie
I'm starting this novel backward. I want to hear Cicely Tyson read chapter one via audio eBook then watch videos of Oprah and others' reaction to this classic.
Maycomb was a tired old town. No wonder Atticus had a distaste for the practice of criminal law.
"Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." ~ pg. 2
Versus a sin to wrongly accuse and convict an innocent man. Versus a sin to purposely discriminate. Versus a sin to not treat all wo(men) equal.
Clearly the Radley's don't want visitors on Sundays.
The Radley's house is the one you walk across the street to pass. But there's always that one little boy that is mischievious (Dill).
Boo Radley is that one creepy neighbor on the street that no one ever sees. Yet his height (6'5") is exaggerated and he eats raw animals.
"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing." ~ pg. 16
Oh, Scout. If you only understood the kind of love and appreciation you'll gain from reading.
"Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets." ~ pg. 38
Oh? Not according to negative reviews of Go Set a Watchman.
"Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don't pretend to understand..." ~ pg. 70
So it's okay for Atticus to let his two kids (Scout and Jem) run wild but it's his being a "nigger lover" that shames the Finch family.
"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy." ~ pg. 71
There really weren't any tunes or music mentioned otherwise. Hmmm...
"Way back about nineteen-twenty there was a Klan, but it was a political organization more than anything. The Ku Klux's gone. It'll never come back." ~ pg. 113
Famous last words from Atticus. Is this the same Klan that he supposedly attended a meeting for in Go Set a Watchman?
"It takes a woman to do that kind of work." ~ pg. 104
"So it took an eight-year-old child to bring 'em to their senses, didn't it?" ~ pg. 122
Scout was not over-exposed to the ways of the Deep South. I liked how Atticus didn't keep her sheltered and gave advice or explanations throughout the book to his kids. More parents should treat their children with the same intellectual respect.
"In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins. They're ugly, but those are the facts of life." ~ pg. 170
When Tom stands in courtroom and you learn of his handicap...I already doubted Ewell's testimony but that is the moment it became so clear.
Ah, the mad dog madness chapter. Atticus wasted no time shooting when it was coming his way threatening his family. This is symbolic of how he handled justice in court.
"Keep your mouth shut or talk their language." ~ pg. 97
Wise words, Cal. Let's drop the mic here.
Title:
To Kill a Mockingbird
Author: Harper Lee
Published: 1960
Pages: 217
Edition: Special Edition eBook
Challenge: Popsugar Popular Author's First Book; Supposed to Read in School but Didn't
Rating: ♥♥♥♥