Elizabeth Smythe Brinton, one of the contributors to the now defunct Writing North Idaho blog site, has written a review of Harper Lee’s controversial “Go Set A Watchman”:
Comments and discussions are flying around everywhere regarding the release of Harper Lee’s long lost
manuscript. One of America’s most cherished literary characters, Atticus Finch is now seen in a different light. The image so indelibly imprinted in our minds is the elegant and thoughtful Gregory Peck, sitting on the porch in a rocking chair, portraying the southern gentleman as a kind and intelligent father. In
Go Set a Watchman,
we may begin reading with that image in mind, but it fades within the first few pages. Another man begins to emerge: thoughtful, yes, judicious, yes, elegant- maybe not so much. What we do see is a very real portrait of a man seen not through the eyes of a young girl, but as a fully fleshed human being, caught up in the changing times. It is surprising to see him clinging to old ways of thinking, and it is slightly horrifying to our modern sensibility. Advance copies given to members of the press yielded the news that our beloved Atticus Finch was a racist.
More here.
Question: How old were you when you read “To Kill A Mockingbird”?