Well, I’ve succumbed and finally read Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman. I’m not sure if I have anything to add to the multitudes of publicity and conversation around the “sequel” except that It. Was. Terrible.
The only reason I gave this book two stars out of five on Goodreads is because I think it’s a fascinating as a historical document. No other published book has given us as readers the chance to look into the past and see what terrible writing editors are first given and then turn into masterpieces.
Because let’s be honest: this is not a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird and although I’m sure Harper Lee wrote it, it was never supposed to be published. Don't really care what Harper Collins claims about "discovering the manuscript"- it was not a ready-for-print draft.
What publisher in their right minds (besides knowing this would make a bajillion dollars) would advertise a sequel so blatantly inconsistent with the original piece and ignore the stylistic inconsistencies of writing in present and past tense and needlessly switching between first and third person?!
Gah.
The biggest disagreement I had with fellow reviewers is about Jean Louise (aka our beloved Scout). While many saw her as a selfish, narcissistic twenty-something, I guess the selfish, narcissistic twenty-something in me related to her a bit more than the average New York Times reviewer. She seemed to me to be the most consistent character from To Kill a Mockingbird and I loved that her feisty and at times bratty personality was still full-fledged as an adult. You go Scout (even if you sound just a little racist while trying to tell your dad that he’s racist)!
Even with the glimmer of tomboy Scout in its pages, Go Set a Watchman has little plot and long rambling flashbacks with zero connection to the main conflict and I would not recommend it to anyone anytime soon.
End rant.
