Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee

The young Scout from To Kill A Mockingbird (TKAMB) has grown to Jean Louise in this book. So, if you’ve not read TKAMB, it might feel like the middle of nowhere, understanding nothing because you don’t know anything that happened before the beginning of this book.

               Still, the past recollections of the childhood by Jean are very immersing. Although, the answer to ‘what the story is about’ doesn’t become very clear till sometime in the middle. Then too, it’s hard to grasp the central idea, or what Jean is upset about. For that purpose, reading about ‘Brown v. Board Education’ would be a great help, to get the political details.

                It is only in the last few chapters that the mist finally lifts (but it does lift, and that’s why the book should be read till the end). But when it lifts, it calls for some serious thinking from the reader too. And it is hard to decide which of the two sides- Jean or Atticus- does one stand for.

                Another important thing that Harper Lee must be praised for is the characterization. Be it Aunt Alexandra, Uncle Jack, Hank, Jean Louise, or the perfect and admirable Atticus; all belong to a group different from each other and interesting at the same time. The only thing common between them is their sense of humor, which never fails to make the reader laugh. There are a total of seven to eight times in the novel, when this intelligent humor gives a hearty laugh.

              Again, like TKAMB, it is full of lessons (provided one looks for them) to deal with children, adults and life. Throughout the novel, even if there is nothing much that happens, there is a lot that happens!

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 My favorite quotes from the book:

·         “Women like their men to be masterful and at the same time remote, if you can pull the trick.”

·         “There are different kinds of love, certainly, but it’s you-do or you-don’t proposition with them all.”

·         “Human birth is most unpleasant. It’s messy, it’s extremely painful, sometimes it’s risky thing. It is always bloody. So it is with civilization.”

·         “It’s always easy to look back at what we were, yesterday, ten years ago. It is hard to see what we are.”

·         “The time your friends need you is when they’re wrong. They don’t need you when they’re right.”