Book Thoughts: Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee

**If you are receiving this post via email, you may want to check out my actual site as the email throws off the formatting**

Go Set A Watchman is the sequel to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (you can read my review of To Go Kill a Mockingbird here). It is a short read, at fewer than 300 pages. This book takes place about 20 years after To Kill a Mockingbird, set in Maycomb, Alabama. Scout, the narrator of To Kill a Mockingbird returns home from New York during vacation and observes the changes that have taken place within Maycomb, and how Maycomb differs from New York.

Scout returns home to see her father, Atticus, aunt Alexandria and kind-of beau/perhaps future fiancé, Hank. Apparently, Scout and her brother Jem grew up with Hank and were close friends. I don’t recall Hank from To Kill a Mockingbird so it is strange that they were such close friends but Hank was never mentioned… Anyway, Scout catches Atticus and Hank at a citizen’s council meeting that espouses deeply racist thoughts. I don’t want to go into too much detail in case you want to read the book, but this event calls into question everything Scout thought she knew about her father, Hank and Maycomb as a town. Scout seeks counsel from her Uncle Jack and ultimately confronts Hank and Atticus. The narration focuses on the tensions between the North and the South in regards to race relations and states’ rights and the high racial tensions between White and Black residents of Maycomb.

I’ll be honest, I did not enjoy this book. The continuity between this book and To Kill a Mockingbird was off (e.g., there is no mention of Hank in To Kill a…) and it was full of pointless flashbacks (e.g., playtime to set up the relationship that supposedly existed between Scout, Jem and Hank). A lot of the storytelling felt forced or out of place. The book did not do enough to set up events or delve deeply into racial tensions that were growing during the Civil Rights Movement. I don’t think you’ll be missing anything if you skip Go Set A Watchman.

Disclaimer: All products are purchased by me or my lovely husband unless otherwise noted in the post. All opinions are 100% honest and my own. I do not provide positive reviews for payment. Products that work for me may not necessarily work for you. This post is not sponsored.

Referral Links:

ipsy: https://www.ipsy.com/r/ts6i8

Starlooks: https://subscriptions.starlooks.com/?refer=REF5869 / Subscriptions.Starlooks.com

POPSUGAR:  http://popsu.gr/uXzQ  Save $5 off your first box with the code REFER5

Ebates: http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=hbpGf26lDsl%2F2zOsOOaIRw%3D%3D&eeid=26471

Ibotta: https://ibotta.com/r/bthara

Birchbox: https://www.birchbox.com/invite/dqphm

Boxycharm: https://www.boxycharm.com/rewardsref/index/refer/id/41854/

                    at checkout enter the following code: M3d2Q1dTT21MR1RTNWJ0KzhRWUo0Z0lWWWtoRnVrZmk0NGNOVWY0MVBHRT0=

Book Thoughts: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

 **If you are receiving this post via email, you may want to check out my actual site as the email throws off the formatting**

In case you are unfamiliar with it, To Kill A Mockingbird is the classic novel by Harper Lee. It takes place is a small town in Alabama in the 1930s. This is one of those books you are supposed to read, but I never did so I decided better late than never, especially since a sequel,  Go Set A Watchman, was published this month. These are Harper Lee’s only two books, published 55 (!!) years apart.

This book centers around the Finch family; Attitcus, a lawyer, and his two children Scout (the younger sibling, and the book’s narrator) and Jem (the older sibling). Since Scout is the narrator, the world is framed from a child’s point of view which is obviously the point that Lee is trying to make. More on that later…

To me, there are three parts to this book. The first part set up the characters that live in the town and points out the differences between its inhabitants. During this section, Scout and Jem also wonder about Boo Radley, who lives on their street, and never comes out of his parents’ house. He is an enigma to them so they try to look inside the house, pass Boo notes, etc. This part of the book was very slow to me as it was mostly the children playing and going to school. I was getting impatient…

The second part of the novel picks up a bit and focuses on the trial of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman, with Atticus Finch appointed as Tom’s lawyer. In particular, the court scene and dialogue between lawyers and witnesses is what finally drew me in. Not only was the content interesting, but the novel really began to address racial inequality, tension and outright racism that was ingrained in the South. Don’t worry, I won’t give away the outcome if you haven’t read the book yet.

The third part of the novel dealt with the aftermath of the trial and served as commentary on race relations during the time. We also finally learn more about Boo Radley  bringing the book back around full circle.

This book was published in 1960 and seeing as race is still a sensitive topic in 2015,  I can’t even imagine the controversy and conversations it stirred when it was first published. To Kill A Mockingbird highlights a town’s struggling to overcome racism (well, some of the townspeople) and how prejudicial thoughts are passed through generations. In an especially poignant moment, Scout is talking to her brother Jem about how there is just one type of people in the world, not the various types that Jem thinks there are—essentially that we are all just people. Jem comments that he used to think that, too. Food for thought.

I would recommend this book, not only is it a classic but once you get through the first part of the book the writing is really well thought out. I will be reading Go Set A Watchman once I can get it from the library! I got my copy of To Kill A Mockingbird at the library--your local library will most likely have it since it is a classic novel.

Have you read To Kill a Mockingbird? Let me know your thoughts on the book if you’ve read it!

Disclaimer: All products are purchased by me or my lovely husband unless otherwise noted in the post. All opinions are 100% honest and my own. I do not provide positive reviews for payment. Products that work for me may not necessarily work for you. This post is not sponsored.

Referral Links:

Starlooks: https://subscriptions.starlooks.com/?refer=REF5869

ipsy: https://www.ipsy.com/r/ts6i8

POPSUGAR:  http://popsu.gr/uXzQ  Save $5 off your first box with the code REFER5

Ebates: http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=hbpGf26lDsl%2F2zOsOOaIRw%3D%3D&eeid=26471

Ibotta: https://ibotta.com/r/bthara

Birchbox: https://www.birchbox.com/invite/dqphm

Boxycharm: https://www.boxycharm.com/rewardsref/index/refer/id/41854/

                    at checkout enter the following code: M3d2Q1dTT21MR1RTNWJ0KzhRWUo0Z0lWWWtoRnVrZmk0NGNOVWY0MVBHRT0=

Book Thoughts: Life After Life and A God In Ruins by Kate Atkinson

**If you are receiving this post via email, you may want to check out the actual site as the email throws off the formatting**

I recently read Kate Atkinson’s two newest novels, Life After Life and A God In Ruins. These are described as “companion novels,” The two books take place during roughly the same time period (1900s, focusing on World War II) but A God In Ruins is not a sequel to Life After Life. Life After Life focuses on the life of Ursula Todd and A God In Ruins focuses on the life of Ursula’s brother, Teddy. Atkinson has a unique writing style that is very fresh and engaging. She also makes her characters seem really alive and every character (main or supporting) elicited some sort of response from me.

Life After Life

Took me a minute to get into, couldn’t quite figure out where she was going with the writing style. The main character, Ursula Todd, repeatedly dies and her life starts over again, with a different outcomes (sometimes) à la a butterfly effect. There is a lot of repetition for the first third or so of the book, but then it picks up. I’ve never read a book like this so I enjoyed it. Ursula is vaguely aware that something is not “normal” about her. She realizes that if she takes an action (say, pushing someone down the stairs) the end result (that person not dying) will be better. It’s interesting to read the multiple paths her life could/did take depending on her actions.

A God In Ruins

I liked this book better than Life After Life. It too deals with the choices that people make and the subsequent consequences. It really gets at how we humans are an imperfect species and how the past shapes the future. This book follows Teddy, Ursula’s brother, through his life and the life of his child and grandchildren. The sequencing of the story was a little confusing at times, but what I think is the main message of the book came across: life is fickle. The ending was very poetic, but in a non-cheesy way.

I would really recommend these books, but read them back to back or you might be a little lost in the second book—there are references to things that happen in the first book and the characters’ backgrounds that you learn in the first book aren’t recapped in the second.

Disclaimer: All products are purchased by me or my lovely husband unless otherwise noted in the post. All opinions are 100% honest and my own. I do not provide positive reviews for payment. Products that work for me may not necessarily work for you. This post is not sponsored.

Referral Links:

Starlooks: https://subscriptions.starlooks.com/?refer=REF5869

ipsy: https://www.ipsy.com/r/ts6i8

POPSUGAR:  http://popsu.gr/uXzQ  Save $5 off your first box with the code REFER5

Ebates: http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=hbpGf26lDsl%2F2zOsOOaIRw%3D%3D&eeid=26471

Ibotta: https://ibotta.com/r/bthara

Birchbox: https://www.birchbox.com/invite/dqphm

Boxycharm: https://www.boxycharm.com/rewardsref/index/refer/id/41854/

                      at checkout enter the following code: M3d2Q1dTT21MR1RTNWJ0KzhRWUo0Z0lWWWtoRnVrZmk0NGNOVWY0MVBHRT0=