Customer Reviews:
 Classic book September 8, 2008
This book is a classic. It was required reading for my fifteen year old daughter and she loved it.
READ IT! September 1, 2008
Few characters in all of literature are as captivating as Scout.
Read it just so you can know her.
 Stunned. August 19, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
You know what, I was about to put that book down and stop reading it. I heard so many people telling what a good book/movie it was so I was curious to find out why.
The first half of the book was really dragging and sometimes seemed irrelevant and boring, but it totally turned around starting at chapter 17 (I know, a loooong way to go, but don't give up). I was amazed at how well it ended, though.
I only give it 3 stars because of the slow-moving development of the plot. However, I still think it's worth reading.
Everyone's Favorite . . . August 16, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I honestly have no idea how many times I have read this book. I read it first as an assignment in the eighth grade; most recently, at the age of 41, I read it aloud to three of my children. As with the more recent readings that I recall, I choked up a bit at the end as Scout is experiencing the tragedy and love that surrounds her in the form of her conservatively eccentric father, her mythically reclusive neighbor, and the whole Depression-era, post-Reconstruction sugary gothic Alabama town of her home.
There seems so little to add in reviewing this book. I will say that even as I read it I ponder the strength of its charm. What is it that is so powerful? Scout is herself quite endearing, although even a casual reading should tell the reader that the first-person voice that is speaking is not the voice of the eight-year old Scout; Harper Lee somehow conveys a tone that retains the childlike innocence of Scout (the child), but the story told is mature and the vocabulary is college-educated. So is this Scout (or Jean Louise Finch) as an adult? I don't think so, as there is very little biographical/autobiographical information provided beyond the timeline of the story (e.g, did Scout grow up and marry?; what happened to Scout's mother?; does everyone live happily ever after?).
I read once that Harper Lee considered this to be a simple love story, or something like that. I've wondered who she was thinking about: Atticus and his kids, or Boo Radley and the kids, or some other pairing. I guess it is all of the above. It's a simple story of relatively normal children with an independently thinking father who all live in the politely racist South of the 1930's. The circumstances that confront this family (racism of the lowest order and ugly poverty and dysfunction from the underbelly of society) are really not abnormal until the violent climax. Blood is shed; much blood. But it is all presented with a humanity and Southern nostalgia that draw us into a world - as ugly as it is - that makes us wish we were there, and that we could have changed a few things.
Highly recommended, if you haven't read it yet.
 This Book Enhanced My Imagination August 14, 2008
4 out of 19 found this review helpful
If you think that the title and the star rating don't go well together, keep on reading...
To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel set in Alabama during the late 1930s. The novel has a first-person narrator who is a girl named Scout. The novel has two parts: Part 1 and Part 2.
In Part 1, Scout describes her ancestors, family at the time of the novel's setting, neighbors, early years in school, interactions with neighbors, and experiences with her brother Jem and her father Atticus.
In Part 2, a black man is accused of a serious crime and declared guilty by a white jury even though there did not appear to be any sound evidence that he was guilty. Atticus was the defendant's defense lawyer. I will not say what happens after this in case you want the climax to be a surprise.
Now, let's compare the two sections. Atticus denounces racism in both sections, and there are examples of racism in both sections. However, most of the characters mentioned in Part 1 do not have any involvement in the trial that I mentioned earlier, which I think is a key element of not only Part 2, but the entire novel. In Part 1, there was one particular character that got a few too many pages focused on her.. especially when taken into consideration that she died before Part 2 (the "important part").
Here is another problem: The novel is told from a child's perspective. Indeed, I did noticed well-presented character development in Scout's personality, but it's all about Scout. Everybody else is static. It is true that children have limited perception of adults, so the static presentation of the adult characters is definately realistic. However, this is not a "children's book;" there clearly are mature subject matters. The target audience would have to be teenagers or adults. With that in mind, the static presentation of adults does not correspond with the target audience.
Nontheless, my views of this novel are in a minority category. This book is a classic, and I can understand why. The author has an impressive understanding of the time and place in which this book is set. However, that does not mean that the book is a good NOVEL! A detailed setting is enough for expository text, but a NOVEL must take advantage of the elements of FICTION. When I said elements of FICTION, I meant a detailed, consistent plot, well-rounded characters, a broad range of perspectives, variation (but connections) in subject matter (all of which relates to the ENTIRE PLOT), a lot of characters that influence the outcome of the plot in their own, unique way, and so forth. To Kill a Mockingbird does not take advantage of the elements that NOVELS have to offer, and NOVELS can offer more than just a detailed setting. For this reason, I am going to give this novel a one star rating.
I also want to comment on the offensive language (mostly rude racial slurs). Yes, yes, I know, the language was realistic, and I am not trying to say that it makes the book innapropriate to read. However, realism does not eliminate the ability to offend people. Whether or not the language is a problem for you is not my decision to make, but just take this paragraph as a caution.
Now, as for the title of this review, the book did enhance my imagination. It inspired me to imagine... criticims.
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