(No spoilers ahead)
As of page 55, Go Set a Watchman is messing with my mind. It was written before To Kill a Mockingbird – that’s what I know. It’s a rejected first draft, if you want to look at that way. But Go Set a Watchman feels very much like a sequel, with characters I loved from To Kill a Mockingbird showing up in cameos, as if Harper Lee is letting us know how they’re doing now. Calpurnia is retired, and has moved back to the Quarters. Dill is in Italy. Jem is no longer around.
So far, it’s not disappointing me. It’s actually pretty good.
As of page 55, it’s not as focused as To Kill a Mockingbird. There’s no Boo Radley or Tom Robinson (so to speak) yet. It’s just 26-year-old Jean Louise Finch (only Atticus and one other person has called her “Scout”, so far) visiting from New York, and going out with her long-term boyfriend, and childhood friend, Henry Clinton. But the story’s moving right along.
…
I’m on page 125. I opened this book only yesterday. I can’t put it down.
Jean Louise’s memories of her childhood, and the stories acted out by her and Jem and Dill, that would eventually be rewritten into a novel named To Kill a Mockingbird, have surfaced. She remembers the time Atticus defended a one-armed “Negro” accused of raping a white girl. (The details of the trial, as told in Go Set a Watchman, are slightly different from those in To Kill a Mockingbird.)
Atticus Finch is either a different sort of man, or a changed man – or it’s a misunderstanding. I don’t know yet. I won’t post it here when I do find out.
The title of this novel, by the way, comes from Isaiah 21:6.
The town of Maycomb, Alabama is using religious belief as a reason for disobeying a recent Supreme Court decision.
I’m thinking that this novel is very good. I’m thinking it would be interesting to read this novel without having first read To Kill a Mockingbird, or having see the movie.
…
I’m on page 135. Somehow, I’ve read only ten pages today – not because of the book, however. The latest issue of Entertainment Weekly arrived today. On the “Bullseye” page, Go Set a Watchman is way off in the far corner, completely missing the target, with the caption “Go set it in the trash”. I disagree. There’s a review in the issue, but I haven’t read it.
…
I’m on page 192. Go Set a Watchman has become ugly. It’s harder for me to read. I don’t mean this as a bad thing. To Kill a Mockingbird deals with racism in The South, in the 1930s, when the racial divide was an undercurrent of society, and too easy to ignore. Change came quietly or not at all. Go Set a Watchman deals with racism in The South, in the 1950s, when the racial divide was being forced to the surface, and society was forced into doing something about it – one way or another.
I’m feeling that Go Set a Watchman is hitting me over the head with its message. This really is a first draft, after all. It’s not nearly as elegant as To Kill a Mockingbird. And yet, in both books, Harper Lee is telling us that racism is not a “thing” – it’s a complex set of “things”,with many faces and many points of view. Harper Lee is brilliant.
…
You may have heard something about Atticus Finch, as he appears in Go Set a Watchman. It may be true. Or it may not be. It’s complicated.
Go Set a Watchman is not a perfect novel. It felt, to me, like the first novel by an author with a lot of things to say, trying to figure out how to say them. But, wow, it says some important things. The book messed with my mind at the beginning and then blew my mind at the end.
I liked Go Set a Watchman.
My advice to you is: If you choose to read it, go into it with an open mind. Push through the ugly parts. It may surprise you.
Feeding Squirrels On My Way To Work 