Go Set a Watchman- Harper Lee

I got it from the library just before Christmas, and I have to say I loved the writing, and most of the characters - but not Jean Louise (Scout) this time round. I found her and her attitudes towards the significant adults in her life rather immature. The vignettes of life in a small town in the Deep South, and the echoes of the earlier book, were excellent.

I got my copy from a charity shop, last year and read it just before Christmas. I loved it, and like you, wonder whether reviewers are reading the same book. Think I said something similar on a thread about What Are You Reading Now.

I bought it, but did not enjoy it. Sad to say I gave up half way. I could not engage with any of the characters. Big disappointment.

I enjoyed it. I wouldn't say I loved it although I was pleased to 'recognise' Scout as an adult. Her manner of speech hadn't changed, but it was a shock to read that Jem had died and I thought that his death was somewhat glossed over. Atticus's changing attitudes I thought were interesting, from the point of view of an older person displaying attitudes that were inherently ingrained, as a result of their society and only surfacing as old age crept in.

I enjoyed Harper Lee's style of storytelling & I think she was an excellent writer. I actually liked that Atticus isn't the person we thought he was - it just shows how complex the terrible racism of the time was. I liked Scout as an adult and I was glad she was still stubborn and scrappy.

I'll have to read Watchman again. As I was reading it, it occurred to me not that Atticus had changed, but perhaps he wasn't who I'd thought he was all along, which was a huge disappointment to me. I'd viewed Atticus as the embodiment of Harper Lee's views on racism. Did his change reflect Harper Lee's life experience? Had the case just been a professional challenge? Yet he treated Calpurnia as a member of the Finch family, gave her rights and demanded that the children treat her with respect, which made him my teenage hero in the 1960's. Mind you, Gregory Peck's Atticus had a lot to do with that!

I pre-ordered Go Set a Watchman as soon as publication was announced. The first copies had pages missing and I wondered whether some GNetters had one of those copies and that's why they didn't make much sense.

To Kill a Mockingbird is my all time favourite read and I treated myself to the anniversary edition of Cissy Spacek's superb recording, which I listen to repeatedly driving up and down the motorways.

I pre ordered my copy - do you know where the missing pages were from - I will gave an investigation as did mot know about it.

Sorry, it wasn't missing pages, it was two lines missing from six pages towards the end of the book. I pre-ordered mine from Amazon. Shortly afterwards I got an email informing me that early copies had a fault and they sent me another copy.

GSAW was not a sequel to Mockingbird! It was the first draft of a novel by Harper Lee and turned down for publication. She then rewrote it moving the timescale and changing the characters. That novel was To Kill a Mockingbird! Lee did not want Watchman published but by the time she was old and frail others saw the opportunity to make a lot of money! It should not be read as a sequel.

I enjoyed it and thought it was interesting both for its examination of racism in the 1960s but also because of the way it showed how the relationship between father and daughter changes and shifts. Atticus wasn't the man he was in To Kill but that man was always viewed through Scout's eyes. Part of growing up is accepting our parents have faults and I thought this really came through. I liked the little details about the sort of things that were acceptable in New York but simply not suitable for the South, like the clothes she wore.