To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee || Book Review

Hey Guys! It is Max here and today, I will be doing a book review for ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee. I bet most of you or maybe all of you knew or have read this book because it is so well-known. If you do not have the general idea of what this book is about, I will be giving you a very brief summary of what this book is about now.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a classical fiction following our protagonist- Jean Louise (also known as Scout) and Scout’s brother named Jem as their father, Atticus and them went through a series of mocks, attacks and more for defending an innocent black man who was accused of raping a white girl.

So, without further ado, let us get into the book review!

*Note: All thoughts and opinions are on my own and this is a spoiler-free review!*

“Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”- To kill a mockingbird, Harper Lee

Synopsis:

A lawyer’s advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee’s classic novel – a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the thirties. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man’s struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming-of-age story, an anti-racist novel, a historical drama of the Great Depression and a sublime example of the Southern writing tradition.

My thoughts: Introduction

Let us start off with the topics that had been tackled down in this book. Topics such as: Racism and respecting other people. I will be talking about every one of them down below.

Racism. I loved how racism was portrayed in this book. It was really heart-breaking to read about a race that is going through all these ugly things. We should look at how ugly racism is instead of just brushing it off our shoulders or wherever you can think of. Also, we should treat other races EQUALLY! It is not like this specific race is the superior of other races, we are created equally not… like I have said earlier, this specific race is the superior of other races. Anyway, I loved how the story wrapped up on adults attitude towards other races.

Respecting other people. You might be asking, “Max, what do you mean?” Well, what I meant was to respect other people even if they are rich or poor or anything else you can think of, just respect them. To gain one’s respect is to respect that person first. Thus, it is important to respect other people which I really loved how the book portrayed on this topic.

Now that I have finished the topics that were tackled down by the book. Let us move on to the atmosphere, the plot, the pacing and more that were surrounded in this book.

The pacing. Although I enjoyed almost all of the parts in this book, I did not enjoy the pacing that was put into this book. I know, it was meant to build up what happened before Mr. Ewells… [Spoiler removed]. But I really did not like the pacing. It was slow and the book could have been 50 pages shorter! Nevertheless, I enjoyed this book like.. a ton!

The atmosphere. The atmosphere around this book felt so real! When I was reading this book, it felt like I was back in the country side, walking along at the side of the road while silently watching everything that was happening. It’s just… a beautiful, humorous yet heartbreaking atmosphere to be in. 

World-building. The world-building in this book is perfect! I mean, it is set on earth.. So, of course it is perfect. Okay, well.. Even though the story is set on earth, the places that were mentioned in the book are fictional and therefore, the world-building is fantastic! 

The plot. How do I start? The plot for this book was fantastic! It is about an innocent black man being accused of raping a white girl and it is also about how a lawyer defended the innocent man! I loved how well this book was thought out. Nothing in this book is confusing and if it does, it will be explained by the end of the book. But, I doubt the story will confuse you because this book, in my personal opinion, is very easy to read. 

The relationships. The relationship between Scout and Jem is beautiful. I loved how siblings relationships are included in the story and also, the relationship between Scout and Atticus- her father is also very, very engaging! I loved how Harper connected all of these beautiful characters together! 

Now, let us get into the writing style section!

Writing Style:

“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.”- To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee.

The writing style for this book was enchantingly elegant! The writing style was everything from articulate to crisp and finally, to emphatic. It was emphatic because it showed what the author was trying to voice, trying to speak about the topics that she wanted to speak of. So, yes. Beautiful writing style.

Also, I really liked how Harper had written the flashbacks of some characters, such as Scout and Jem! The flashbacks were clear and it did not confuse me in any way and those flashbacks were great additions to the story. It helps the reader to get to know more about the characters! 

Furthermore, there were different tones that were added to the story which I really liked about. Tones such as sadness, happiness, angry tone and more. I just loved how strong and solid the tones were when I was reading the book and those tones gave me the feelsss.

Finally, I loved how Harper’s writing style wrapped the atmosphere around the book. The atmosphere was written so powerfully that the story came into life. Everything felt so real, like what I have said earlier, it felt like I was walking along at the side of the road while silently watching everything that was happening. At times, the atmosphere felt so real that it made me think, “This cannot be fictional, right?” But, unfortunately, it is. 

Well, that’s the end of this section! Now, let us move on to the characters section!

Characters:

“They’re certainly entitled to think that, and they’re entitled to full respect for their opinions… but before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.”- To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee.

Jean Louise (Also known as ‘Scout’): I loved her. She was so adorable that I felt the need to pinch her face when she did something wrong. Aside from her cuteness, she was very brave when she faced [Spoiler removed] and she also learned from her mistakes which I really loved when a character learned from her/his mistake. For her character growth, I would say she had an intense growth in her character! 

Jem Finch: I did not like him that much in the beginning because he bullied his sister. But as the story progressed overtime, I began to like him and eventually he made his way up to my favourite character list! I loved how headstrong and brave he was! He would protect his father from all those bad men. His character growth for this book was fantastic! I wished to read more about him in the sequel to ‘To Kill A Mockingbird‘!

Atticus Finch: I loved him! He was compassionate to his children and he did not raise his voice at them for being naughty or whatever. He was also determinant. He was determined to defend and save the innocent man! I really loved how great his character is. I would not say that his character growth shot upwards because his character growth remained constant.. in a good way.

Mr. Ewells: Oh my goodness! I hate him to the mud. I do not wish to spoil you guys so I am going to keep this short. He is one of the most hateful character I have ever laid my eyes on, even Maven from Red Queen is better than him. Well, I hate Maven but not as much as Mr. Ewells. Okay, guys. That is all.

Overall:

I am giving this book a 91.75% rating. I did enjoy everything that was presented in this book but unfortunately, I did not enjoy the pacing.

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This is the end of my spoiler-free review for To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee! I hope you all enjoyed it and follow me with your email/wordpress account to get notifications when I post a new article! Bye!