Book review: “To Kill a Mockingbird ” by Harper Lee
September 2nd, 2005 at 11:39 amJean Louise (Scout), a 8 year old, and Jem, a 12 year old, are children of Atticus - a lawyer in a small town in Alabama. The story is told from the point of view of Scout, which in itself is quite unusual. I guess it’s not at all simple to “get into the shoes” of a 8 year old girl, and the author does it brilliantly (actually, I just discovered, after reading the book, that the author is a female, which probably makes it a little easier).
“To kill a Mockingbird” is a beautiful story with a lot to learn from, so it’s not surprising that it’s one of the required books in literature classes, even in school. The book deals with racism, class, growing up of children and the complex interactions between children and adults during adolescence. But most of all, I think, it tries to touch upon what’s right and what’s wrong, and it does so in a very unusual manner. The reader lears about values and “life” as if he’s a child learning it, from inside Scout. It’s difficult to describe but reading this book gives a very unique feeling of a child learning about the truths of life, in an accelerated pace.
While the other topics the books spends time on are not new in books, the theme of growing children and how children perceive the world is quite novel for me. It was very interesting to look into Scout’s and Jem’s thoughts. Maybe it’s just me, but either these two are extremely bright children, or I’m just way down-estimating children’s abilities (my wife once told me so, hmm….) I think I even learned something about how to treat my own children, once they’ll come to existence and reach that age.
All in all, I profoundly enjoyed this book. It is highly recommended.
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November 7th, 2006 at 3:42 pm
I just want to point out that Scout is six when the book begins. She’s a year younger than Dill.
February 28th, 2008 at 6:12 am
To Kill a Mockingbird was one of my favorite books a student… it is definitely required reading.
April 26th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
To Kill a Mockingbird is the best book ever. I read for my English project and it gave the book even more depth having to look everything up.
April 26th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
I would die if i didn’t have my own copy of this book to read occasionally
October 30th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
I guess i have to read this one. here in norway it isn’t something that a lot of people read, but judging by you i probably should. nice review btw.
November 4th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Nice review, it helped to understand the book from a different perspective