Go Set a Watchman

I don’t often pay any heed to the reviews before reading a book myself, but in the case of Harper Lee’s new novel, Go Set a Watchman, it was hard not to. There was commentary in the news and on social media and, seemingly, everywhere. When my number came up, at last, and I checked out the book from the library I wasn’t even sure I wanted to read it. But, of course, I did.

By the time I was halfway through, I was seriously considering returning the book without completing it. Besides finding that Atticus had feet of clay (as those reviews had indicated) and that in twelve short years Scout had developed all the sensibilities about racism that it is taking most Southerners many decades to work through… but, besides all that, I didn’t think the book was well written. It seemed to be written in another voice – not Harper Lee’s.

To Kill a Mockingbird

The narrative didn’t flow easily; the story didn’t suck me in. Not like To Kill a Mockingbird does every time I read it. (Yes, it’s one of the books I read again and again. It’s just that kind of book.) It wasn’t until Part II (there are seven parts) that I began to recognize the familiar old characters. The reason was pretty obvious. Jean Louise Finch spent an entire chapter on a flashback to the Scout and Jem and Dill days. Suddenly the familiar cadences and out-loud-laughing humor were all in place and Harper Lee was recognizable once more. Though it took a while (I thought) for her voice to maintain consistency in this sequel, I persevered.

My personal jury was still out even as I approached the very end of the book. And then, when I least expected it, the tears came. It was only then that I realized what the book was really about – or at least what its importance was for me. When Atticus tells Scout, “…I’m proud of you” after the two of them have concluded an intellectually mortal battle, my tears came, free-flowing and unanticipated.

I’m sure that other people took away their own messages from the book. And isn’t that a measure of enduring literature? But for me, it was a story of family values and loyalty and love all done up in a metaphor of community tensions and disappearing lifestyles. Thanks, Harper Lee, for another great book! (And where is Gregory Peck when we need him?)