Friday, 4 September 2015

To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee




I don’t care if it was Harper Lee or Truman Capote who actually wrote the book (although the awful reviews that Go Set a Watchman is receiving might suggest it was actually the latter), I think it’s one of those books everybody should read. And if they don’t want to, they should be forced.

Atticus is the man everyone wants (or at least should) want to be, and that’s probably because, far from being perfect, he “does the right thing” (I am aware I’ve already used this expression – but hey I’m not a writer…). He might even have some racist traits, although he is clearly not proud of them, but in my opinion they can be put down to his surroundings (or maybe I can allow myself to do that, because I’m white).

For once, this is not a coming-of-age book that I wish I had read when I was 13 (i.e. when I was coming of age but was refusing to read anything). I feel that reading it when I was 28 ended up being perfect.

I just wish I had the liberty and luxury of having a mental picture of an Atticus that didn’t look exactly like Gregory Peck. Boo Radley, on the other hand, would have probably had the face of a young Robert Duvall even if I hadn’t watched the movie first.

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