Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee

Summary:

Maycomb, Alabama. Twenty-six-year-old Jean Louise Finch - ‘Scout’ - returns home 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 a painful yet necessary transition out of the illusions of the past - a journey that can be guided only by one’s conscience.

About the Author:

Harper Lee was an American novelist. Her novel To Kill a Mockingbird won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize and became a classic of modern American literature. In 2007, Lee was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This recognizes individuals who have made "an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavours". Go Set A Watchman was published in 2016, as a sequel to To Kill A Mockingbird.

Rating:

3 stars - ★★★☆☆

Review:

I’m sorry to say that I really didn’t enjoy Go Set A Watchman as much as To Kill A Mockingbird. It took me a while to read, it wasn’t as gripping, there was no action, and I think I glazed over in some places where they were making long speeches. The pace, tone and style of writing seemed very different.

The whole book felt unnecessary. I didn’t feel that anything new or worthwhile was added to the story. There are rehashed stories from To Kill A Mockingbird. There’s forced emotion by removing certain characters. A whole new character is added in, in the form of Hank, who isn’t even in To Kill A Mockingbird but is supposedly one of Scout’s oldest friends. I would have preferred Hank’s character to have been Dill. I don’t feel like I learnt anything new about Maycomb and its residents that felt realistic based on previously established characters and events. 

I much preferred Scout as a child. The similarities I saw were superficial, like down to the clothes she wears rather than in her character. I can’t imagine ‘child Scout’ ever moving somewhere like New York. I felt like the story was more about Scout’s relationship with her father. What their argument or disillusionment was actually about was immaterial. The civil rights tensions of the time were overshadowed by Scout and her feelings about her family. I mean, their argument could have been about anything, it only became emotional for the reader because of Atticus’s previously established character traits in To Kill A Mockingbird. 

As much as I defended To Kill A Mockingbird on the ‘white saviour’ front, I actually do really see what people mean in Go Set A Watchman. There are Black people in less than 5% of the book. None of them speak for themselves. They all put their heads down and put up with Scout barging into their family home, in the middle of a crisis, and they listen to her moaning because her dad isn’t what she thought he was. And Scout’s main concern is - did Calpurnia like them? Scout doesn’t actually help anyone or do anything. In fact she probably makes it harder for them. All she really does is ineffectually argue with her own family, she doesn’t change anyone’s minds or create a revolution. 

I also found that there were too many ideological speeches and I actually struggled to follow them most of the time. Still now, I have no idea what Atticus and Uncle Jack were on about. I don’t really understand the conclusion of the book. It all felt very forced and unnatural. I found the argument comes across a lot better and in a more emotional way, when it wasn’t so explicit. Like in To Kill A Mockingbird. I want to watch it happen. Not be told what’s happening.

I think Harper Lee (or probably the editor more like) was trying to recreate the effect and the magic of To Kill A Mockingbird, but times have moved on and we need much more than some forced emotion, some big intellectual speeches and a stomping ‘heroine’ having a whine. Nowadays we need to see actual change. Scout had the opportunity to do something big but we never see her do it. 

If you read To Kill A Mockingbird, and were attached to the characters, don’t read Go Set A Watchman with high expectations like I did. I’ve given it three stars mainly out of appreciation for the effort, and in recognition of Harper Lee’s contributions to literature and society. This book probably came 50 years too late.