Not what I had expected at all (To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee)

Member Name: Diane@home

Product:	To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Date:	16/05/02 (418 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A GCSE text, so educatonal, A very well written and enjoyable read.

Disadvantages: Not easy to get your kids to read this, Boo Radley is not Proffessor Dumbledore.

Harpers Lee's 'To Kill A Mocking Bird' was forced upon me as a GCSE text after reading the terrible 'Kes' (my opinion which conflicts with many is that this book is a form of child cruelty) I expected to hate this book as much if not more than I hated 'Kes'. At the age of fourteen I was reasonable well read and had very clear guidelines on those books I classed to be enjoyable and those I hated.

However I refuse to judge a book until I have read it twice and soaked up the nuance and feeling expressed in each chapter there in. I read 'To Kill a Mockingbird' three times over before we had finished it once in class its power to mesmerise me was so strong. I loved the sounds of the South as the echoed through Lee's words, the trial with in the book was possibly one of my first ever encounters with direct racism and it affected me profoundly. I found echoes of this in Grisham's 'A Time to Kill' but I have never found myself so swept away with a trial the way I was with 'Mockingbird'.

I read this book and understood Harper Lee's inability to write a sequel, how you top the Opus that is 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. What can you write after you have written a novel that deals with almost every existing 'ism' in today's society. Sexism, Racism, Ageism, and although the word doesn't exist Mental illness-ism. Boo Radley, Jem, Scout, the old Lady that Scout has to read to, the man accused of rape, each character screams with oppression and yet has their own crowning moment, their own turn to shine.

This novel is a must for every growing child, after reading this novel how could racism dwell in your mind, how you could ever wish to oppress any living creature is a mystery to me.

Read this novel it is an inspiration to the mind and if a child of fourteen can get the message so can you.

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