Totally agree! It was awful! I was able to totally separate it from my love of TKAMB but it also made me realize why she did not publish it, rewrote her characters and hid the Watchman in a trunk!! It should never have been published!
This has to be my favorite book, and, like so many of you, reading has always been a huge part of my life. Somehow I missed this book when I was in school. I did read it a few years ago and couldn’t believe how good it was. I had seen the movie many times, but the book is much better. Unfortunately, it’s been hard to find anything that’s nearly as compelling as that since.
I’ve read several times, for a change-up, I listened to the audiobook. I agree, Sissy Spacek’s narration was great. I recommend everyone listening to the audiobook version at least once.
I agree you need to wait a few weeks. In my opinion, “Go Set the Watchman” is Scouts view as an adult of her beloved hometown. Things are different when you see them through eyes that are no longer innocent. Harper Lee wrote this book first, but it was rejected. Then, she wrote “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
@Shelly I understand….you were probably expecting something similar to Mockingbird….it took me 3 times before I got past 30 pages…but the 3 rd time I kept reading and I’m glad I did….sorry it didn’t work out for you.
SPOILER ALERT: This is my Go Set a Watchman review! Read at your own risk!
Yes, I read Go Set a Watchman. Of course I did; how could I not? For twelve years of my life I read To Kill a Mockingbird out loud between three and six times a year to somewhere around a thousand eighth graders. It’s safe to say I have read it aloud at least forty times. I know that book inside-out, upside down, and sideways. I love It like no other.
Of course I read Go Set a Watchman.
Did I love it? No. Did I learn from it? Absolutely. Bu t what I learned was not that Atticus Finch was a racist, because we all know that’s not true. The Atticus Finch we meet in Watchman is not our Atticus Finch. They share a few similarities, so we’ll say he is the precursor to Atticus Finch; the ghost of Atticus Finch future. Anyone who says otherwise is unclear about the timeline of these books’ creation or does not understand the creative process of writing fiction. It was clear from page one that this was not a sequel or a “new” novel from Harper Lee: even if I had been gullible enough to fall for that marketing ploy, within the first few pages I found myself reading a paragraph here, a paragraph there– (at one point it went on for a page and a half!) of verbatim description of Aunt Alexandra from TKAM.
I’ve read it aloud forty-some times, y’all, I know of what I speak.
My take away learning from Go Set a Watchman is this: Harper Lee is a writer. Plain and simple. She was a young woman who had some truths she needed to share about the time and place she lived in, and maybe a few things about some people, too. So she wrote a book about it. And then she set it aside for a while, and when she looked again she knew it wasn’t the right way to tell her story– it wasn’t engaging enough, the characters weren’t fully developed, and none were really lovable… Maybe she should change the POV and make the narrator a child… There were a few useful bits, some good description–so she harvested those and tried again.
WOW! GREAT REVIEW! Thank you so much–I totally agree with you–I believe this was her “dress rehearsal”. TKAM is definitely one of the best books I ever read, no contest.
@Margy Thank you for your comments. Go Set a Watchman was so devastating to me. I took it as a sequel (well Scout is much older) and the portrayal of Atticus broke my heart. Your comments make me feel better.
@Lynne You’re welcome. I think a lot of people thought that way- but the exact description from TKAM (which most would not recognize) made it clear that it came first and was SENSIBLY shelved by Miss Lee. It makes me angry that someone took advantage of her in her diminished state at the end and made her sign the release for Watchman. I’m sure it’s not what she would have done in full acuity.
I DIDN’T LIKE THE FIRST HALF…THEN THE SECOND HALF EXPLAINED THE BOOK…A GOOD READ….SOMETHING EVERYONE SHOULD READ…ATTICUS DID ALL THRU’ THE BOOK..TEACH HIS CHILDREN HOW TO TREAT OTHERS AND LIVE LIFE…
It was the Oscars ceremony of books> I just wonder what Nelle Harper Lee would have thought about her book being #1. I wish she could have lived to see this!!
This was the book that led me to the love of reading….it was my Genesis.❤
Mine as well, and will always be
Another good one is the Lilac Girls!! Loved it.
One of the greats and as timely as ever.
I agree!
May the world be filled with Atticus Finchs!
What a lovely thought
Agree
It’s the best!
Yep! ❤️
Loved also anyone read This Much Is True by Wally Lamb? Great book!
Probably in my Top 5 of all time. Just don’t read Go Set a Watchman! I absolutely did NOT LIKE! Almost ruined TKAMB for me!
Totally agree! It was awful! I was able to totally separate it from my love of TKAMB but it also made me realize why she did not publish it, rewrote her characters and hid the Watchman in a trunk!! It should never have been published!
@Sheryl AGREED! They should have respected her wishes and not publish.
Such a wonderful book
I’m ready for a re-read.
Fave book of all time. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
One of my all time favorite s
Read it several times.
I think that no matter how many books you read this book is always on the favorite list
Loved teaching this text.
Just watched the American Masters episode. Great programming, and great insight into Harper Lee.
It is a great book!!
Best book ever written and definitely the best movie EVER!
Absolutely one of my all-time favorites!
Definitely one of the best books ever, and well deserving of it’s popularity and top of the list status. I am reading it again!
Fantastic book, made a great movie.
One of the few movies who gave the book justice.
This has to be my favorite book, and, like so many of you, reading has always been a huge part of my life. Somehow I missed this book when I was in school. I did read it a few years ago and couldn’t believe how good it was. I had seen the movie many times, but the book is much better. Unfortunately, it’s been hard to find anything that’s nearly as compelling as that since.
I’m almost finished reading “A Tale of Two Cities”
I truly hope To Kill a Mockingbird will be number 1 in the Great American Read!
Me too!
Me too!
Read this again myself last week. Amazing!
The top of my Favorites list!
My fav.
How can anyone NOT !!!! My go -to, No. #1 Book!?
I knew you would!
I’ve read this not enough times. My all time favorite book.
This one got my vote!!!
Unforgettable characters.
One of my top ten!
I have it. Found it at Goodwill . Gonna read it on vacation at North Myrtle beach in October
There is a reason it is a classic. ?
One of my all time favorite reads.
The movie is on Netflix right now as well.
LOOKS LIKE THATS GOING TO BE THE BEST READ BOOK OF THE YR…ON AMERICAS REAS…LOVE TH MOVIE
OR RATHER THE MOST POPULAR OF THE BOOKS THAT HAVE BEEN READ…OUT OF ONE HUNDRED…THRU THIS SURVEY…FOR ALL TIME
I vote for Mockingbird every chance I get! I love Scout, Boo, and Atticus!
Don’t forget Dill…the instigator and thought to be based on Truman Capote, who seemed to have a non-idyllic life.
Going to see it on broadway next
My absolute fave
One of my faves!
Was just thinking this morning I should read again ??????
Just finished a reread – well, a listen. Sissy Spacek narrated, and she did a bang-up job as Scout.
I’ve read several times, for a change-up, I listened to the audiobook. I agree, Sissy Spacek’s narration was great. I recommend everyone listening to the audiobook version at least once.
Read it in high school and then read it fifty years later. Still great. That’s how you know it is a “great” book ?. In fact I keep voting for it.
Timeless ?
Reading the second book Go set a watchman. Third of the way in and its really slow but something finally happened so hopefully it will pick up.
One of the best ever
My favorite book of all time!
The film was fantastic and I watch it every year but he book had more parts not in the film Just a great read
I know it is cliché, but that is my favorite book ever!!!!
One of my all time favorites! 🙂
Certainly one of the best
Wonderful book- must have read about 1965.
The best of the best!
I watched all about Nelle on America Masters. Then I began reading TKaM out loud to spouse who isn’t a reader. Pure mastery
An American and world game changer
WWAD – What would Atticus do? ❤️
Just revisited that old friend in August. I reread that one every summer?
One of my all time favorites!
I’m happy for you. Reading that book is a gift to yourself.
After all these years it still has the ability to make us think.
My favorite book of all time!!!! Read ” Go Set A Watchman” but wait a few weeks…it has a different angled view of Atticus. But it’s a great read !
Karyn Gillispie I have had such a hard time warming up to that book! I’ve started it and put it down twice. Is it worth pushing myself through it?
@Romy if you can forget about Mockingbird….they are very different books…..you can enjoy Watchman. LOL! Keep trying….
Yes I want to try Watchman!!!!
I agree you need to wait a few weeks. In my opinion, “Go Set the Watchman” is Scouts view as an adult of her beloved hometown. Things are different when you see them through eyes that are no longer innocent. Harper Lee wrote this book first, but it was rejected. Then, she wrote “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
I got about 100 Pages into GO SET A WATCHMAN, put it down, then gave it away. It was a horrible disappointment.
@Shelly I understand….you were probably expecting something similar to Mockingbird….it took me 3 times before I got past 30 pages…but the 3 rd time I kept reading and I’m glad I did….sorry it didn’t work out for you.
Read it the 1st time in 10th grade. I think I’ve read it about 50 times since!
Cream of Crop !
Awesome Read !!!! My special favorite !!!!❣️?
My favorite of all time.
Mine too
I think this is my all time favorite. Loved the movie and now there is a Broadway play.
I just got tickets for the Broadway show!!! Ticket sales right now are open through March. Previews are soon. SOOOO excited.
@Natalie I hope to get tickets! Enjoy!!
One of my favorites!
My literal favorite book ever! ❤
mine too!
Absolute Fav❤️❤️❤️
My favorite
I think this is one of my all time favorite! Loved it!!!
One of the very few books that I’ve read more than once …
Best book ever!
Try Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee
I Love To Kill a Mockingbird and hated Go Set a Watchman. She ruined Atticus.
Lol She did My guess is this was orinigal manuscript before To Kill A Mockingbird..Go Set seemed too amueturish to me
@Stephanie I was so excited when Go Set A Watchman come out and then it was just awful.
I was too and then I read it Made me wonder how To Kill was so awesome and sequel was so blah..like it didn’t have any substance to it
I think the answer lies in the importance of a good editor and re-writes.
Jeff Daniels will be on Broadway as Atticus Finch!
Wow just WOW!!!!
One of the best books I have ever read.
My favorite
I think this one is going to win The Great American Read
One of the greatest books ever written.
Loved it!!!!! Read it a mandatory. Then again in College! Loved it each time…
Classic
My favorite book of all time. The Gregory Peck movie is very faithful to the book
I am very interested. Thank you, Jenny!
The best?
Now go read to go set a Watchman and that will totally change To Kill a Mockingbird
I named my daughter scout
Couldn’t put it down. Great book.
Currently reading Little Women
It’s my favorite book!!!
It us such a good book. One of my favorites!
Favorite book, favorite movie
Me too.
Timeless, right?
My fave❤️
I wrote this when Go Set a Watchman came out:
SPOILER ALERT: This is my Go Set a Watchman review! Read at your own risk!
Yes, I read Go Set a Watchman. Of course I did; how could I not? For twelve years of my life I read To Kill a Mockingbird out loud between three and six times a year to somewhere around a thousand eighth graders. It’s safe to say I have read it aloud at least forty times. I know that book inside-out, upside down, and sideways. I love It like no other.
Of course I read Go Set a Watchman.
Did I love it? No. Did I learn from it? Absolutely. Bu t what I learned was not that Atticus Finch was a racist, because we all know that’s not true. The Atticus Finch we meet in Watchman is not our Atticus Finch. They share a few similarities, so we’ll say he is the precursor to Atticus Finch; the ghost of Atticus Finch future. Anyone who says otherwise is unclear about the timeline of these books’ creation or does not understand the creative process of writing fiction. It was clear from page one that this was not a sequel or a “new” novel from Harper Lee: even if I had been gullible enough to fall for that marketing ploy, within the first few pages I found myself reading a paragraph here, a paragraph there– (at one point it went on for a page and a half!) of verbatim description of Aunt Alexandra from TKAM.
I’ve read it aloud forty-some times, y’all, I know of what I speak.
My take away learning from Go Set a Watchman is this: Harper Lee is a writer. Plain and simple. She was a young woman who had some truths she needed to share about the time and place she lived in, and maybe a few things about some people, too. So she wrote a book about it. And then she set it aside for a while, and when she looked again she knew it wasn’t the right way to tell her story– it wasn’t engaging enough, the characters weren’t fully developed, and none were really lovable… Maybe she should change the POV and make the narrator a child… There were a few useful bits, some good description–so she harvested those and tried again.
I for one Thank God she did.
WOW! GREAT REVIEW! Thank you so much–I totally agree with you–I believe this was her “dress rehearsal”. TKAM is definitely one of the best books I ever read, no contest.
@Cynthia Thank you. And yes. That was clear from chapter one.
@Margy Thank you for your comments. Go Set a Watchman was so devastating to me. I took it as a sequel (well Scout is much older) and the portrayal of Atticus broke my heart. Your comments make me feel better.
@Lynne You’re welcome. I think a lot of people thought that way- but the exact description from TKAM (which most would not recognize) made it clear that it came first and was SENSIBLY shelved by Miss Lee.
It makes me angry that someone took advantage of her in her diminished state at the end and made her sign the release for Watchman. I’m sure it’s not what she would have done in full acuity.
Awesome! ??
My husband had a copy and highly recommend it. I am so glad that I read it!
Beautifully written. A favorite of mine.
Favorite to read and one of my favorites to teach!
I’m part of the To Kill A Mockingbird favorite book club, too!
My favorite too
All time fav?
❤️❤️
Love it!
One of my favorites!
Classic.
It’s my favourite..tooo
I also love that book!
Favorite of mine.
Actually i didn’t get thru the book….but the movie was so good…that i voted for it…
Try listening to the audio version with Sissy Spacek It’s amazing!
That is an awesome book!
My favorite book of all time. Still so relevant today
My favorite book of all time
Atticus Finch
Atticus Finch is so awesome! I want a man just like him: strong, compassionate, honest, and understanding!
Yes! He is awesome in the movie…me swooning over Gregory Peck?
@Linda yeah, me too! We gave such good taste!! Lol
One of the best books I’ve ever read.
one of my favorites!!!
All who have read it feel the same.
One of my all time favorites definitely book over movie?
I felt like a grown up when I read that novel as a young teen.
I can’t believe I’ve never read this book, or seen the whole movie. I just ordered the book and can’t wait to receive it
I DIDN’T LIKE THE FIRST HALF…THEN THE SECOND HALF EXPLAINED THE BOOK…A GOOD READ….SOMETHING EVERYONE SHOULD READ…ATTICUS DID ALL THRU’ THE BOOK..TEACH HIS CHILDREN HOW TO TREAT OTHERS AND LIVE LIFE…
One of my favorite books of all times have read it 3 times
It was the Oscars ceremony of books> I just wonder what Nelle Harper Lee would have thought about her book being #1. I wish she could have lived to see this!!