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Smiling Shelves

My Thoughts on To Kill a Mockingbird

10/9/2013

6 Comments

 
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I finished To Kill a Mockingbird yesterday (well, last week, by the time you read this). My thoughts are still formulating, slowly and solemnly, so I'll just share some of the impressions that stuck with me as I read.

This is a book I'm glad I first experienced as an adult. I know many people first read it as a high school assignment. While I would have enjoyed the chance to discuss the book, I'm not sure a high school English class would have been the best place for that. This is a profound book, and required reading tends to ruin the impact a book can have on someone's life. As an adult, I could fully enjoy the many layers of this story without being forced to analyze. I'm also quite sure I understood more than I would have as a high schooler. And I fully plan to read this book again later in my life so I can delve even deeper into the layers of the story.
I never expected that it would be so difficult to put down. This book took me four days to read, but only because I had to go to work. The trial part especially drew me in and kept me reading after I should have laid the book down to get some work done. Many classics have the reputation of being drudgery to read, even if it's worth it at the end. This was not one of those books. Scout's voice captured me at the beginning and left me wanting more at the end.
It was a brilliant decision on Harper Lee's part to tell this story from Scout's point of view. She sees the world as it should be, without prejudice or other people's opinions to color her view. It also makes those times when Atticus explains something to her equally as brilliant because of the way he needs to explain them so she understands. Children see truth, right through the facades of adults. I don't believe this book would have such a powerful impact if it had been told from the viewpoint of another character. That being said, however, I would love to get inside Atticus' or Boo Radley's or Tom Robinson's head and see the story from their side.
I don't know why it took me so long to pick this book up, but I am incredibly glad that I did. These are characters that will stay with me for a very long time, living in a story that touches us even today. And what a poignant story it is.
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6 Comments
Joyful Reader link
10/9/2013 04:25:16 am

Don't you hate it when you have to go to work and can't read all day if that is what you want to do?! UGH! I am glad that you enjoyed TKAM so much! I was never required to read this in HS. I thoroughly enjoyed it as an adult and glad that I finally got it read!

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Julie @ Smiling Shelves link
10/10/2013 02:16:33 pm

I'd love to stay home all day and read, especially when it's such a good book like this!

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Isaiah Hartsock
3/23/2018 03:14:24 pm

Yall are like I love this book, but I'm looking at this rn bc I barley understand it

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Brona link
11/2/2013 12:47:57 pm

This is one of my all time favourites and I reread it recently for the CC too.
Even in Australia it's on the highschool syllabus and I'm so glad it is.
Up until TKAM I had only read lightweight, easy classics and popular books. This book introduced me to the bigger world of literature & books that can change that world - I haven't looked back since!

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Julie @ Smiling Shelves link
11/5/2013 01:03:10 pm

I love stories like this, and I can see how To Kill a Mockingbird can be the book that started it all! It certainly is an amazing book!

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Kayleigh
6/8/2020 06:39:12 pm

I was assigned this book this year and I was in 8th grade. A lot of the vocab was confusing, but in the end it was an amazing book and I really loved how it played out in the end.

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    My name is Julie, and I own a lot of books. As in, they are stacked on the floor because I've run out of room on the shelves. And those shelves? There are so many books on them that they smile -- not sag; smile. This blog will cover book reviews and all manner of other bookish things.

    You can contact me at julie@smilingshelves.com.

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