Goodreads Synopsis:
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. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic.
Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply 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. Now with over 18 million copies in print and translated into forty languages, 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.
Book Review:
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”
Many of you must have read this book in high school or middle school as a part of your curriculum. But I got a chance to read this book in my 20’s and I am glad I finally read this book. It is one of the best classic books of all time. As the title suggests otherwise, this book does not discuss mockingbird or how to kill it. It is mainly about different human behavior in the historical era. The location of the story is set in a small town called Maycomb County. The families that live in this town have been living there for a few generation, so everybody knows eachother very well. The whole story is based upon the day to day life of the Finch family as well as their neighbour.
I got really attached to the main characters (Atticus, Jem and Scout). They were so different from the other people living in the town. I loved Scout’s and Jem’s bravery as well as their thirst for knowledge. They kept asking questions and they just tried to be their true selves. And thats what their dad Atticus taught them to be. There was a lot of discrimination going on, throughout the story. Specially, how in that era negro people were treated very poorly by the white people.
“As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it—whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash”
Atticus did not believe in discrimination and thats why he decided to fight the case of Tom Robbinson who was a negro and an innocent. This was a biggest hurdle, the Finch family faced.
There was a little mystery about their neighbour, Boo Radley which is revealed at the end of the story. I actually loved how the story ended.
Overall, it was actually very intriguing to read about the human behaviours of that era. Like how life unfolded day to day in Maycomb county. I would recommend everyone to read this book in their 20’s. Believe me, you will have an entirely different experience of reading this book.
Ratings: 4.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐