Name: Jenny Engel's review of Go set a watchman by Harper Lee
Item: Go set a watchman
Rating: 3.5
Author: Jenny Engel

Harper Lee

Twenty years after the trial of Tom Robinson, Jean Louise Finch--Scout--returns home to Maycomb to visit her father. She struggles with personal and political issues as her small Alabama town adjusts to the turbulent events beginning to transform the United States in the mid-1950s.

Go set a watchman

StaticWaffle

An historic literary event: the publication of a newly discovered novel, the earliest known work from Harper Lee, the beloved, bestselling author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, To Kill a Mockingbird. Originally written in the mid-1950s, Go Set a Watchman was the novel Harper Lee first submitted to her publishers before To Kill a Mockingbird. Assumed to have been lost, the manuscript was discovered in late 2014. Go Set a Watchman features many of the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird some twenty years later. Returning home to Maycomb to visit her father, Jean Louise Finch—Scout—struggles with issues both personal and political, involving Atticus, society, and the small Alabama town that shaped her. Exploring how the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird are adjusting to the turbulent events transforming mid-1950s America, Go Set a Watchman casts a fascinating new light on Harper Lee’s enduring classic. Moving, funny and compelling, it stands as a magnificent novel in its own right.

A Novel

Go Set a Watchman

Lots of introspection, soul searching, and talk of morals. Good to read, and still has real world impact in this age, though heart breaking / frustrating at times.

Jenny Engel

Brishti Basu

Don't read this if you want to preserve your memory of the beloved Finches from To Kill A Mockingbird...

#1 New York Times Bestseller “Go Set a Watchman is such an important book, perhaps the most important novel on race to come out of the white South in decades." — New York Times A landmark novel by Harper Lee, set two decades after her beloved Pulitzer Prize–winning masterpiece, To Kill a Mockingbird. Twenty-six-year-old Jean Louise Finch—“Scout”—returns home to Maycomb, Alabama from New York City to visit her aging father, Atticus. Set against the backdrop of the civil rights tensions and political turmoil that were transforming the South, Jean Louise’s homecoming turns bittersweet when she learns disturbing truths about her close-knit family, the town, and the people dearest to her. Memories from her childhood flood back, and her values and assumptions are thrown into doubt. Featuring many of the iconic characters from To Kill a Mockingbird, Go Set a Watchman perfectly captures a young woman, and a world, in painful yet necessary transition out of the illusions of the past—a journey that can only be guided by one’s own conscience. Written in the mid-1950s, Go Set a Watchman imparts a fuller, richer understanding and appreciation of the late Harper Lee. Here is an unforgettable novel of wisdom, humanity, passion, humor, and effortless precision—a profoundly affecting work of art that is both wonderfully evocative of another era and relevant to our own times. It not only confirms the enduring brilliance of To Kill a Mockingbird, but also serves as its essential companion, adding depth, context, and new meaning to an American classic.

taryn

2.5 

Lee never wanted to publish another book, so it's suspicious that this one was published when her health started declining. 


It does remove a lot of characters from the pedestals and I also just wanted more from it? I had to keep reminding myself while reading that it was written in the 50s.

Melissa Palmer

Book #91 Read in 2015
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

I worried about reading this book as To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my all-time favorites; I even have a cat named BooBerry Radley. Hearing all the buzz about the book, I was hoping that I wouldn't end up hating Atticus Finch, one of the greatest characters ever. I am happy to say that I did not end up hating Atticus and overall I enjoyed the book. While not, in my opinion, as well written and developed as Mockingbird, this book was a good, quick read. Scout is now known as Jean Louise and is in her twenties and returning to Maycomb for her annual visit from New York City. Looking at Maycomb and its people and happening through adult eyes makes Jean Louise question if anything she believed during her childhood was true. 

Jean Louise has grown up but she's still spunky and feisty. Aunt Alexandra is more developed in this book than in Mockingbird. I enjoyed the references to other characters from the other book. It was a nice visit to Maycomb. I borrowed this book from my town library.

http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com

Amy Place

Charlsy Sekyere

⭐️1.5

This book is a 1.5 star read that leans heavily towards 1 star. I couldn't give this book 1 star purely because I still have a great deal of respect for 'To Kill A Mockingbird', which I consider one of my favourite classics.

However, 'Go Set A Watchman' is painfully dull and uneventful. The characters are unbearably boring. The plot is non-existent and the writing is inconsistent, and amateurish.

There is no sense of what this book is about, or why it's being written. Having read other reviews, this book was never meant to be published in the first place, and quite frankly, it should never have been published at all.

It is difficult for me to understand what the book was trying to accomplish, but whatever it was, it failed miserably.

Luke Stamps

Not as gripping but more morally complex than Mockingbird. That's what makes it work. So don't trust the critics who have panned it. Yes, Atticus' character is tarnished, but that makes for a more authentic portrayal of the race problem in the 20th century American South. The moral: "The time your friends need you is when they're wrong, Jean Louise. They don't need you when they're right--" (273).

Jonathan Tysick

Having recently read "To Kill A Mockingbird," I wasn't impressed by the several passages that were copied verbatim. Overall, it was okay. A slow build, with an interesting ending. My favourite parts were Jean Louise's chats with uncle Jack, including this gem: "You said, in effect, ‘I don’t like the way these people do, so I have no time for them.’ You’d better take time for ’em, honey, otherwise you’ll never grow. You'll be the same now as you are at 60.”

Colleen

Warning: This review does contain some spoilers!

I can't recall the last time I was so conflicted about a book. Sometimes I like to ruminate for a day or two between when I finish book and when I write the review. But since I have now past the two week mark, I'll admit that I have been firmly procrastinating about writing my review of Go Set a Watchman.

The bottom line is that this book should never have been published. Obviously there is a lot of controversy surrounding this "long lost manuscript." Everything I've read on the topic has me resolutely convinced that Harper Lee was taken advantage of and that this was only published as a money grabbing stunt. The timing of everything was just too cosmically convenient. Setting aside shady ethics for the moment, if this "recently rediscovered" manuscript had been written by anyone less famous, it would never have seen the light of day. Oh, but controversy sells! The cynical part of my nature wonders if this publication was a bit of a revenge. Harper Lee frustrated and bamboozled the world of literature by writing one of this country's most famous novels and then never publishing again. The publishers and critics responded to this blatant refusal to play the publicity game by spending years theorizing that the master hand behind To Kill a Mockingbird was Truman Capote. Now that the vultures have fresh bones to pick at, the arising theory now seems to be that Lee's editor, Tay Hohoff, was the brains behind the famous Pulitzer Prize winner. Which leaves me wondering why on Earth is everyone so hell-bent on discrediting Harper Lee??

However, the topic has been blogged to death, so I will try to restrict the rest of this review to the actual content of the book.

But I do want to reiterate that this book is definitely NOT A SEQUEL. Certainly, it is a little confusing that the manuscript that was written first occurs some twenty years after the book with which most people are familiar. I've heard a lot of people referring to this as the sequel of To Kill a Mockingbird. (If anything, To Kill a Mockingbird is a prequel to Go Set a Watchman.) But it is important to make that distinction. In a sequel, one expects that the author will take the ideas and characters from the first book and build upon them and (ideally) use the experience they garnered to create something even better than the original work. But in this rare case, the experience is flowing the opposite way of the chronology of these books' events. Lee did indeed take the characters and themes from her first manuscript and refine them into something amazing. And that result is the American classic that so many love. But if one is unaware of that and opens this book expecting it to be even more remarkable than To Kill a Mockingbird, then they will undoubtedly be left disappointed. This is a rare case in which we get to see a work in progress and follow trail that lead to such a great work. But no one’s first drafts are masterpieces. Nor the second draft. Or third draft. Ernest Hemingway once reported that he rewrote the ending to A Farewell to Arms thirty-nine times. There is a very good reason that authors keep early works hidden away: No one likes to be judged by them. 

Ok, ok. Now onto reviewing the actual book. (For real this time!)

As I mentioned in the beginning of this review, I have very mixed feelings about this book. There were things that I enjoyed and was intrigued by, but there were also things that made me cringe a little. 

The setting of the book is straightforward: a young woman is returning from New York to her small Southern hometown. Once there, she must reconcile herself to changes that have occurred and deal with internal struggle. It is very much a coming of age story. I would say the book deals with three different struggles: The first is dealing with her grief. The second is reconciling herself to the changes that have occurred both in herself, her hometown, and the people in her life. The third is dealing with the racism and racial conflict rapidly coming to a breaking point in her hometown. 

BIG SPOILER: (view spoiler)[The first of those struggles (dealing with grief) came as a shock. Only a few pages into the story, the reader is unceremoniously presented with the information that her brother Jem is dead. Details on his death are not given until much later in the book. So to anyone who read To Kill a Mockingbird and was fond of Jem, it comes as a smack in the face. I definitely had a “What the hell do mean ‘dead’?!? Why? HOW?” moment. But as I read on, I understood better. This is another point when it is critical to remember that as Lee originally intended, the reader would have no idea who Jem was. It would be as simply as “Oh, the main character had a brother, but he’s dead now.” Then as the story progressed and Scout reminisced about her brother, you would gradually get to know him and understand her pain. This part of the story was what I liked best. Scout is dealing with the typical coming of age issues. However, I felt that much of what held her in the past was not a childish refusal to accept a change of view, but her difficulty in moving on from her brother’s death. She has in a way run from her grief. Her return to her hometown floods her with memories and emotions. While she is silently and internally mourning the death of her only sibling, the rest of the people in her life have seemingly moved on. And they pressure her to move on as well, to quietly acquiesce to the role of proper southern lady. I think this raw struggle is something powerful that many people have overlooked in this book because they automatically expected it to focus on racism. But Lee captured the grief very well. (On a side note, so much of both stories carry strong autobiographical themes that I couldn’t help but wonder who she lost in real life to inspire making this loss and grief a main focus of the story.) I think one of the best scenes of the book is when Scout returns to the place where her childhood home once stood but is now torn down. (Lots of symbolism there!)

”Hell is eternal apartness. What had she done that she must spend the rest of her years reaching out with yearning for them, making secret trips to long ago, making no journey to the present? I am their blood and bones, I have dug in this ground, this is my home. But I am not their blood, the ground doesn’t care who digs it, I am a stranger at a cocktail party.”

The second thread of the story is Scout’s journey of figuring out who she is and where her place in the world is. She has rebelled against falling into society’s expectations that she become a proper Southern lady. And while she still has more than a healthy dose of the stubborn hotheadedness of her youth, she also expresses conflict about leaving her home and family to pursue her own life. Upon her return home, she is rapidly confronted with the disillusionment of adulthood and robbed of her childhood idealism and “colorblindness.” The most monumental of these realizations being that her father is not the paragon of saintly virtue that she had always viewed his as. Her uncle sums it up best:

”Now you, Miss, born with your own conscience, somewhere along the line fastened it like a barnacle onto your father’s. As you grew up, when you were grown, totally unknown to yourself, you confused your father with God. You never saw him as a man with a man’s heart, and a man’s failings ̶̶̶̶ ̶ I’ll grant you it may have been hard to see, he makes so few mistakes, but he makes ‘em like all of us. You were an emotional cripple, leaning on him, getting the answers from him, assuming that your answers would always be his answers.” 

I didn’t feel the blow of Atticus losing his brass crown of moral perfection as badly as some people -perhaps because I didn’t read To Kill a Mockingbird at as young an age. But though many of the thoughts expressed by characters were distressing and obviously racist, I did appreciate Lee’s more honest portrayal of the sentiments of that time. 

Which leads me to the third point of the book: the racism. It was expected that this book would also deal with the racial tension of the time. And it did to a degree. But it seems that it was merely a part of the coming of age struggle of Scout rather than the main focus of the story. I do think that both books maintained a point of asking readers to consider that, well, racists are people too. NOT TO CONDONE THEIR ACTIONS OR THOUGHTS IN ANY WAY, but to ask people to remember that hating the racists will not cure other hatred. To remember that those sentiments are driven by fear and ignorance. As Scout thinks while having to sit through a horrible ladies luncheon:

You are fascinated with yourself. You will say anything that occurs to you, but what I can’t understand are the things that do occur to you. I should like to take your head apart, put a fact in it, and watch it go its way through the runnels of your brain until it comes out of your mouth. We were both born here, we went to the same schools, we were taught the same things. I wonder what you saw and heard.”

This is a part where it is interesting to consider both books together. There are certainly parallels between both stories. I think that Lee kept her original message of Go Set a Watchman strong in her mind as she rewrote it into what became To Kill a Mockingbird. Though many aspects changed as she developed the character, plot, and her own writing ability, she must have always kept in her mind where these characters would end up. So the two stories intertwine into a confusing but fascinating time loop. Looking back, I can see that it is hinted in To Kill a Mockingbird that Jem went through the same disillusionment that Scout would go through years later in this story. So though there are many things wrong with this book, it was also the start of something great.  (hide spoiler)]

On the down side, there is not much plot. The story is clearly character driven, and since this version was eventually abandoned for its companion version, it was never fully developed. Scout’s romance with Henry had a saccharine feel and the conversations full of “Oh Honey!” were a tad nauseating. The writing is rough at times. The tones and tenses are inconsistent. This is a writer feeling out her style and finding her voice. Knowing the end result though, I’m inclined to overlook some of that. While I was fascinated to read this, I still maintain that it was a discredit to Lee in many ways to publish this work. So it is important to remember that she wrote this first manuscript in about a year, but after her editor asked her to rewrite and focus on Scout’s childhood, Lee spent another two and half years developing the story into To Kill a Mockingbird. I think that if her editor had simply suggested she rework her current version, Lee would have put just as much effort into it and still have managed to mature Go Set a Watchman into a very good book. Clearly it had the potential. But it would not have become the social phenomenon that it did. 

As much as I have tried to compartmentalize this book, it is almost impossible to discuss it without considering its companion book and the circumstances surrounding its publication. Books are not written in a vacuum. Nor do we read them in one. Everything written or read is influenced by the experiences of that individual. My only hope for this book is that people will take it as an example of the creative process and not use it to detract from the final result of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Arjo Gupto

The greatest story of life, innocence, beliefs, values and conscience... To Kill A Mockingbird.

The greatest introspection of a character who was born and raised in the greatest story of life, innocence, beliefs, values and conscience... Got Set A Watchman.

Ed Kay

While I think this was probably far more nuanced than Mockingbird, unfortunately there's barely any story. Nothing happens for over 100 pages, and then the only 'action' is disillusionment. By the time it actually got interesting, I'd already given up.

Go Set A Watchman

Toyah Blackburn

Considering To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my all-time favourite books, this had a lot to live up to. It's not as fast-paced as Mockingbird, but it is thoughtful and insightful. A good read, all things considered, and definitely worth sticking with. It offers a different perspective on the unchallenged faith in humanity demonstrated in Mockingbird, but is well thought out, and truly an intelligent view of society.

Mohammed Moussa

I think certain books don't need sequels and in this case to kill a Mocking Bird was definitely one of them. This book didn't affect my opinion on Scout or Atticus it just felt short and didn't deliver or lived to the expectations....
yet I enjoyed reading it...

Ayden

I'm trying to write a review and all I can manage is abhfkjfkhkjndb!!!!!!!
At first I wasn't sure what she was getting at. There are still many things that were left unresolved 
or that i didn't understand. But despite that ( and my disappointment with Cal) I gave it 5 stars, because it isn't often that you come by a book with such a strong and obvious moral.

I remember this book being awful I gave it a good review because to kill a mockingbird was so good I’m taking it down 2 stars

Latitude Tamarind

this book is about killing your heroes

it was... not very good

paulina bug

I have too much to say that I can’t say anything

Taylor Thompson

** spoiler alert **
           This book was not what I was expecting. After reading some reviews, I thought this book would focus on the community of Maycomb and how they're pushing back on inclusion of African Americans. But, by the end of the book, I could completely relate to Jean Louise. I think of my dad as nearly "God" like and it was interesting seeing how she had to see her fathers flaws to realize he's not the person she thinks he is. But it also shows her finding her own way. I enjoyed this book a lot more than I originally gave it credit for. I would recommend it for people that think highly of someone in their life.

_________________ A landmark new novel from Harper Lee, set two decades after her beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece To Kill a Mockingbird. Maycomb, Alabama. Twenty-six-year-old Jean Louise Finch – ‘Scout’ – returns home from New York City to visit her ageing father, Atticus. Set against the backdrop of the civil rights tensions and political turmoil that were transforming the South, Jean Louise’s homecoming turns bittersweet when she learns disturbing truths about her close-knit family, the town and the people dearest to her. Memories from her childhood flood back, and her values and assumptions are thrown into doubt. Featuring many of the iconic characters from To Kill a Mockingbird, Go Set a Watchman perfectly captures a young woman, and a world, in painful yet necessary transition out of the illusions of the past – a journey that can be guided only by one’s own conscience. Written in the mid-1950s, Go Set a Watchman imparts a fuller, richer understanding and appreciation of Harper Lee. Here is an unforgettable novel of wisdom, humanity, passion, humour and effortless precision – a profoundly affecting work of art that is both wonderfully evocative of another era and relevant to our own times. It not only confirms the enduring brilliance of To Kill a Mockingbird, but also serves as its essential companion, adding depth, context and new meaning to a classic.

Harper Lee's sensational lost novel

Skye

This is a heartbreakingly beautiful follow up to "To Kill a Mockingbird."

Jean Louise returns home one summer to discover all she loved and thought she knew was not reality. 

"Go Set a Watchman" is a coming of age story that illustrates the heartbreak we feel when we allow ourselves to see the people we love as they truly are: flawed humans. 

No longer can Jean Louise see our beloved Atticus Finch as a flawless immortal. As she is faced with the hardest reality in her life, she also discovers herself. 

Her uncle, Dr. Finch, says it beautifully: 

"born with your own conscience, somewhere along the line fastened it like a barnacle onto your father's. As you grew up, when you were grown, totally unknown to yourself, you confused your father with God. You never saw him as a man with a man's heart, and a man's failings - I'll grant you it may have been hard to see, he makes so few mistakes, but he makes 'em like all of us. You were an emotional cripple, leaning on him, getting the answers from him, assuming that your answers would always be his answers.

When you happened along and saw him doing something that seemed to you to be the very antithesis of his conscience - your conscience - you literally could not stand it. It made you physically ill. Life became hell on earth for you. You had to kill yourself, or he had to kill you to get you functioning as a separate entity. 

We wondered, sometimes, when your conscience and his would part company, and over what. Well, we know now."

This novel is a beautiful depiction of the emotions we go through when we are finally faced with an opportunity to step into our own, sometimes leaving those we love behind.

Daniela Peña 

** spoiler alert **
           Okay... So this book was certainly an eye opener for me. I suppose it was the same for everyone who read the first one. By the end I finally got exactly why it was called go set a watchman which was genius! Perfectly describes what happens when you've been away from home and return to a diff place than what you remembered but only it hasn't changed you just never really opened your eyes. Brilliant!

Jill Niemeier 

Oh, I don't where to begin. I probably give this book between 2.5 and 3 stars, so I'm rounding up to 3. 

I'll begin by saying that this is a very interesting companion to To Kill a Mockingbird. And I mean that sincerely. 

As far as writing style, I really quite enjoyed it. I heard Scout's voice throughout, especially during flashbacks. Lee's sarcasm and wit were clear throughout. She was able to go back and forth from past to present with ease, never leaving me confused as to where or when I was. 

The controversy over this book, of course, is about Atticus Finch. So, I will say, if you hold Atticus up as the hero, then, no, you probably would not enjoy this book. However, I think that's the lesson that this book is trying to portray. Human beings are human beings and that includes Atticus Finch. Our heroes may disappoint us sometimes. 

Now, I absolutely don't condone Atticus' behavior or ideology in any way, but it's realistic. We're talking about the U.S. South during de-segregation. People were racist. People still are racist, but that's beside the point.

I was along for the emotional rollercoaster that Scout (now, Jean Louise) was on during this novel. I felt as heartbroken as she did, but I kind of appreciated that in a weird way.

So, overall, the writing was great. There were very problematic things in this book. However, Harper Lee does manage to critique the idea of "colorblindness", whether intentionally or not. She is also able to give us a rather somber, but realistic lesson about our heroes. 

And, I know this may be controversial to say, but I think it might actually be good for the "white savior" that is Atticus Finch to be taken down from his pedestal because the idea of a white savior is problematic. Don't get me wrong, I love TKAM and Atticus in it, and it was tough for me to get over that, but I'm also kind of glad that I did. 

Is Go Set a Watchman recommended by me for all? No. If you simply are going to get up in arms and defensive about Atticus, you may as well just ignore this novel altogether. However, if you're interested in reading more from Harper Lee and want to have an idea of the original Atticus that she had in mind, you might be interested. 

It's not the classic of TKAM, but it's a decent companion. I don't regret reading it. I actually quite enjoyed it and was even able to relate to it in some ways. For whatever that's worth.

Jenny

I remember reading To Kill a Mockingbird and enjoying it, so I had high hopes for this 'sequel' especially since it is by the original author. I honestly enjoyed it. Some of the narrative was a bit... problematic, but it was a good story.

The language used to illustrate how they were talking/thinking about African-Americans was successful in shocking me. Jean reeling at finding out her father who is literally the best man on the planet is on this council with this filth. I really resonate with finding out the worst of someone you respect. It must hit like a ton of bricks on your soul.

If I wasn't horrified by the prospect that I would react the same way at that age with so little information about pregnancy, I would be dying of laughter with her counting the days to a non-existent baby because a boy tried to french kiss her.

The parts where Jean Louise is listening to long conversations, like the meeting, or the Coffee were done really well. You heard snippets, the worst, instead of reading long pages of conversation. The Coffee was the best example because multiple conversations are going on at once and shows well how Jean Louise is tuning in an out of them with her thoughts distracting her and then when she focuses on a conversation to it just that dialogue. It has a great effect. It should be used more.

Her realising if she married Hank she would be stuck with these women (society) she has never been able to converse with hit close to home. I expected more of a political statement at the end, but was pleasantly wrong. It was more a story of a twenty something coming to terms with who they thought their parent(s) and friends were, and the message in that was very strong.

"The time your friends need you is when they're wrong, Jean Louise. They don't need you when they're right."

A historic literary event: the publication of a newly discovered novel, the earliest known work from Harper Lee, the beloved, bestselling author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, To Kill a Mockingbird. Originally written in the mid-1950s, Go Set a Watchman was the novel Harper Lee first submitted to her publishers before To Kill a Mockingbird. Assumed to have been lost, the manuscript was discovered in late 2014. Go Set a Watchman features many of the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird some twenty years later. Returning home to Maycomb to visit her father, Jean Louise Finch—Scout—struggles with issues both personal and political, involving Atticus, society, and the small Alabama town that shaped her. Exploring how the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird are adjusting to the turbulent events transforming mid-1950s America, Go Set a Watchman casts a fascinating new light on Harper Lee’s enduring classic. Moving, funny and compelling, it stands as a magnificent novel in its own right.

Sarah Ryan

An ok read, but not something I'd rush to recommend or reread.

StaticWaffle &
Go set a watchman by Harper Lee

Reviews

Join the club

StaticWaffle &Go set a watchman by Harper Lee

Reviews

Join the club

StaticWaffle &
Go set a watchman by Harper Lee