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Harper Lee, Go Set a Watchman (London: William Heinemann, 2015)
Oh dear! The only positive thing I have to say about this book is that it encouraged me to reread Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), which I think is a truly wonderful book, filled with warmth and, while making its point about the unfairness of life (especially black Americans), it also shows a society that tries to be fair especially through the portrayal of Atticus Finch, a true Gentleman in every sense of the word. This latest novel, on the other hand, has no warmth and it even shows Atticus Finch adopting some quite racist attitudes. Written before To Kill a Mockingbird, it was submitted to the editor, Tay Hohoff, who saw its potential and encouraged Lee to rewrite, and from that came the later book.
I did not like the style of Watchman, which indulged in a lot of calling people ‘honey’ and ‘sweetheart’. The plot bored me and I did not feel any empathy for Atticus or Scout (in this book largely called Jean Louise and a twenty-six-year-old returning to Maycomb after living in New York). It explores the tensions over race between the more liberal North and the still racist South which wants to keep the black Americans well and truly underfoot. Scout is shocked to discover that Atticus is allowing people in an official council meeting to openly demand that the black Americans are kept in their place – a view Atticus supports since he believes that black Americans are not educated enough to vote and would, through their sheer voting numbers, put black men in governing positions. In the end Scout comes to agree with her father’s stance – something which I might have found disappointing if I had at all cared about her as a character.
The reviews of this book warn the reader not to read this as a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird. [SPOILER ALERT<] And it is hard to discover in this novel that Jem has dropped down dead from a heart attack and Dill is tramping around Europe after the trauma of the Second World War [>/SPOILER ALERT] but, if I just look at this book on its own, as I am encouraged to do, I would suggest that it is not good enough, and it should not have been published, doing great damage to Lee as a writer. Am I right in believing that there was a hint that Truman Capote helped Lee with To Kill a Mockingbird? If so, then perhaps this later novel had more to do with Capote than Lee. My mark would be 1 out of 10. I really could not see any reason to publish it or to read it.
Christine L Corton
I largely agree with Christine's assessment of this book, but I would probably give it two or three out of ten. And I *do* see a reason to read it, if only to open debate about the integrity of beloved fictional characters and authorial intent. It also raises ethical questions concerning Harper Lee's willingness (or even assent) to have this book published. I found it very poorly written in places and I was shocked by the racism, but also rather intrigued. Could this really be the same writer who wrote 'Mockingbird' and how much of a say (if any) did she have in having this darker side of her authorial identity revealed?
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