To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee’s one and only novel has been hailed as one of the great­est clas­sics of our time. And I’m in agree­ment with that.

The story of Jean Louise Finch (a.k.a., Scout) and grow­ing up in 1930s Alabama is eas­ily one of the best that I’ve ever read.

Start­ing from the first chap­ter onward, To Kill a Mock­ing­bird describes the hard­ships of being a child and liv­ing dur­ing the Great Depression.

Scout, the main char­ac­ter, tells about her rela­tion­ships between her brother, Jeremy (Jem), her best friend Dill, and her father, Atti­cus. She also talks about the changes that occur nat­u­rally; going to school, learn­ing how to deal with class­mantes,  etc.

One of the story’s piv­otal moments is when Atti­cus, Myacomb’s attor­ney, is defend­ing a Negro by the name of Tom Robin­son. Tom has been charged with rap­ing the daugh­ter of Maycomb’s town drunk, Bob Ewell. Atti­cus does a very good job, and Jem is con­vinced that Tom will go free. I will not reveal the ver­dict, but it will sur­prise you.

While the trial is the main point of the story, what leads up to and fol­lows it is just as important.

This book, over forty years old, has cap­ti­vated my inter­est, and it is sure to do the same to you. My  per­sonal opin­ion is that To Kill a Mock­ing­bird, while the title may seem a lit­tle odd, is a gate­way into a won­der­ful world. It’s not just another piece of fic­tion. It is like a doc­u­men­tary, a book likely to be cat­e­go­rized in the his­tor­i­cal fic­tion genre.

I could go on and on for hours, but I will refrain. I highly sug­gest To Kill a Mock­ing­bird to any and all who are inter­ested. Enjoy!