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specificwonderland 's review for:
Go Set a Watchman
by Harper Lee
Audiobook read by Reese Witherspoon, 7 hours.
I want to get this down while it's fresh in my mind. In one word, heartrending.
I read TKAM in school and started to reread it a year or two ago at a snail's pace, knowing Harper Lee's limited body of work, measuring it out in judicious doses. Hearing bits and pieces of this new work (including the idea that it might be a counterfeit in that Harper Lee didn't herself write it or that it was doctored up), all I knew was that Atticus was purported to be a racist in this new version. So if you can stomach that idea or are intrigued by exploring that notion, you might like this work.
Here's who I think this book is for: if you weren't SUPER obsessed with the original body of work. The characters are remain true to their past (this is set when Scout is 26). The past hasn't been altered and we're catching an update from Jean Louise herself.
I felt the style of TKAM came through but was exaggerated into a caricature of the original. I can see if someone wanted to write in Harper's voice, they could have ran a logarithm on the text, amplified the style, and duplicated it in the new text. That said, I laughed, I cried and I paid pretty close attention for an audiobook. I enjoyed Reese's voices and subtle shifts for characters, though with an audiobook it's sometimes hard to tell who is speaking and where the " should go between an ending quotation and a counterpoint or a narrative explanation. There's also some gospel singing in some church scenes. She did a good job.
The essence of Scout's personality stayed true. It questions something I think the last few books I've read have dealt with and that is this: seeing your parents as gods and having to realize they're humans or flawed or not omnicient and omnipotent. In Fire-Starter, King talks about how kids accept the law as children from their parents as from God. And in The Dream Life of Sukhanov, Grushin explores what legacy you leave for your children and how you see your own parents. This book explores critically examining your parent.
An interesting lens to view the election through, too. The idea that a bigot is someone who clings to their ideas no matter what (at either extreme of a spectrum), and tolerance and the ability to see more than one viewpoint makes you a better thinker and is an asset, rather that just being surrounded by a colony of your own ideas being reflected back at you. It takes courage, logic and patience to do this though.
I want to get this down while it's fresh in my mind. In one word, heartrending.
I read TKAM in school and started to reread it a year or two ago at a snail's pace, knowing Harper Lee's limited body of work, measuring it out in judicious doses. Hearing bits and pieces of this new work (including the idea that it might be a counterfeit in that Harper Lee didn't herself write it or that it was doctored up), all I knew was that Atticus was purported to be a racist in this new version. So if you can stomach that idea or are intrigued by exploring that notion, you might like this work.
Here's who I think this book is for: if you weren't SUPER obsessed with the original body of work. The characters are remain true to their past (this is set when Scout is 26). The past hasn't been altered and we're catching an update from Jean Louise herself.
I felt the style of TKAM came through but was exaggerated into a caricature of the original. I can see if someone wanted to write in Harper's voice, they could have ran a logarithm on the text, amplified the style, and duplicated it in the new text. That said, I laughed, I cried and I paid pretty close attention for an audiobook. I enjoyed Reese's voices and subtle shifts for characters, though with an audiobook it's sometimes hard to tell who is speaking and where the " should go between an ending quotation and a counterpoint or a narrative explanation. There's also some gospel singing in some church scenes. She did a good job.
The essence of Scout's personality stayed true. It questions something I think the last few books I've read have dealt with and that is this: seeing your parents as gods and having to realize they're humans or flawed or not omnicient and omnipotent. In Fire-Starter, King talks about how kids accept the law as children from their parents as from God. And in The Dream Life of Sukhanov, Grushin explores what legacy you leave for your children and how you see your own parents. This book explores critically examining your parent.
An interesting lens to view the election through, too. The idea that a bigot is someone who clings to their ideas no matter what (at either extreme of a spectrum), and tolerance and the ability to see more than one viewpoint makes you a better thinker and is an asset, rather that just being surrounded by a colony of your own ideas being reflected back at you. It takes courage, logic and patience to do this though.