Wednesday, 9 December 2020

Review of 'Go Set a Watchman' by Harper Lee

 

Review of 'Go Set a Watchman' by Harper Lee

This is hands down the most disappointing book I've read all year, or in fact for quite some time. I read it almost back to back with To Kill A Mockingbird, and if you're thinking of doing the same I would really recommend not, because it completely retrospectively ruined it for me.

Go Set a Watchman takes place when Jean Louise is grown up. We learn that Jem has died (not a spoiler, this is shown right at the start) and that she's going back to her home town to see her dad and childhood friend. She's struggling to unite her modern life in New York with her understanding of what it's like to live in a small town again, and comes across challenges she never anticipated.

There are so many things that disappointed me about this book, and you can see why Harper Lee never wanted it published. For starters, Jem's death seemed like a bit of an easy write out? It was just announced and then Jean Louise never really mentioned that she missed him. Her love interest too was meant to be one of her best childhood friends and despite racking my brains over and over again I just couldn't remember him ever being mentioned in To Kill a Mockingbird. And then we have her relationship with her dad. The whole book basically works off the premise that Jean Louise finds out that Atticus isn't the good man she always thought he was, and this is really where I felt the original book was ruined. 

I have this one star and really wouldn't recommend reading it, especially if you're a Harper Lee fan.

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