It's my turn to be the hostess for my book club this month and the book is Go Tell a Watchman by Harper Lee. I missed all the hoohah about the controversy involving the publication of Watchman, missed the NPR commentary, missed the call from purists calling for boycotts of the book.
I just saw it at Costco and bought it. (Where was I? Oh, there I was at Costco for bread, milk, and bananas. Again.)
When I read it, it seemed off. Not like I remembered Mockingbird. Which is why I volunteered for the book club assignment. So I read Watchman first, then re-read Mockingbird, and back to Watchman one more time.
I think the two books provide an interesting basis for comparison. I think it's obviously a draft---Scout is too TOO. Too intense. Too upset on a dime. Too self-righteous. That would have all been ironed out with a good editor. I liked Uncle Jack in there, I hadn't really noticed him before. I thought the barnacle-on-your-parents-morality was the whole point. And I liked reading what Lee intended first of all, that she changed as she decided on Mockingbird's final draft.
Writing is a process, after all, and works take on attitudes of their own. Sometimes even authors write it in a way they don't necessarily like, but it's what the text calls for. It's this weird The-author-is-in-charge-oh-wait-no-the-text-is thing. Writing a text like that is like trying to potty-train a strong-willed three-year old. Some compromises have to be made on both sides. Since the Watchman flashback trial ends in acquittal and the Mockingbird trial does not, Lee obviously had to do some compromising.
In writer speak, that's called "revising".
Basically, my To Kill A Mockingbird world did not shatter, really it didn't. I think the world of freshman English can go on teaching Mockingbird and assign Watchman as extra credit. I don't think Watchman will be the universal classic that Mockingbird was, but I'm not sure it was ever meant to be that.
All in all, I'm looking forward to book club tomorrow to see what other readers think. I thought it was good.
1 comment:
This is the book I read for summer reading with students last year. Of course, I read it from a history perspective so I kind of loved how "Watchman" contextualized Atticus in the time period and made his "hero" status more messy. It led to a great discussion with the kids about presentism, changing values, generational differences, and how history should judge people -- based on morals, actions, or motivations. Our need to talk about this in person is a great excuse to get together sometime soon!
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