Review: To Kill A Mockingbird

Book title: To Kill A Mockingbird
Author: Harper Lee
Pages: 374
Published: October 11th, 1988

The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960.
Compassionate, dramatic, and deepyly moving, To Kill A Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior - to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos...This regional story by a young Alabama woman claims universal appeal. Harper Lee always considered her book to be a simple love story. Today it is regarded as a masterpiece of American literature.

General Overview: This book took me a week to read. A week. Books hardly ever take me that long to finish. I did, however, very much enjoy it.

Characters: Although I enjoyed Scout's narrative, I thought she seemed too mature and insightful for her age -- she's supposed to be eight, yet she sounds like she's at least sixteen. I did think that she was extremely perceptive and wise, and I really enjoyed that for a change, instead of girls who are somewhat ditzy and clueless. It was also interesting to read from the POV of such a young character, at an age where not much of the world is yet seen or understood. My favorite character by far, however, was Atticus. I loved his shrewdness and his intelligence, and I liked how he was so very capable of standing up for himself and for his family. He seemed, to me, to have the personality and mannerisms that most men should aspire to also possess.

Plot: Okay, this book is a classic, and I can understand why. The book addresses serious issues such as racial discrimination, though also moral values such as family and trust. Though this book has its light moments, it is, for the most part, a somber book, and I don't think it is to be taken lightly. Half of this book revolves around introducing the children, Jem and Scout, and their obsession with a reclusive man named Boo Radley. The second is about a case their father, a lawyer, has taken on about a man named Tom Robinson. The majority of this book is not centered around Tom Robinson's case -- it's centered around how the children grow and how they act, and their family and the environment they grew up in.

Writing: It might be a little hard to understand, as are all classics. But once you do, you jump right in. Lee's writing is absorbing and clear, and I very much enjoyed her style of writing.

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars