Classics Club: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is my first spin pick for The Classics Club being hosted by The Classics Club Blog. My first post about this reading challenge can be found here.

It is also my pick for this month’s Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge, being hosted by Jules at The Literary Lifestyle, the prompt of which is to read a book that has been adapted to film.

Synopsis

“One of the best-loved stories of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than forty million copies worldwide, served as the basis for an enormously popular motion picture, and was voted one of the best novels of the twentieth century by librarians across the country. A gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable coming-of-age tale in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequities through the eyes of a young girl, as her father —a crusading local lawyer-risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime.”

-Synopsis from back cover

Review

I first read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee over fifteen years ago, and when that amount of time passes between reading a book it’s almost as if you’re reading it for the first time. That is certainly how I felt diving back into this American classic. I can say without a doubt it was an excellent read that I appreciated far more than I did on my first reading so many years ago.

While To Kill a Mockingbird is often referred to as a coming-of-age story, with the first few chapters focused on Scout and her brother Jem and their friend Dill, it quickly blossoms into so much more. It is as much about good and evil, social classes, and small town America as it is about Scout’s growing up at such a pivotal time in history.

It will come as no surprise that my favorite character was undoubtedly Atticus Finch. Atticus is a prominent lawyer in Maycomb, Alabama, and is often referred to as the moral backbone of the story. I loved every scene he appears in. His words of wisdom to his children about his job, their town and neighbors, and life in general are so profound. I would think that if he were a real person it would be impossible not to like him.

Below are two simple quotes by or about Atticus that stood out to me:

“Scout, simply by the nature of the work, every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one’s mine, I guess.”

Atticus Finch, from To Kill a Mockingbird

“Jem watched him go to his chair and pick up the evening paper. I sometimes think Atticus subjected every crisis of his life to tranquil evaluation behind The Mobile Register, The Birmingham News, and The Montgomery Advertiser.”

from To Kill A Mockingbird

There isn’t much I can say about the book that hasn’t already been expanded upon in a multitude of ways since its publication, other than to echo that I think it is a quintessential American read. Harper Lee was an incredible writer and storyteller and I hope everyone gets the chance to read this book at some point in their lives.

I can’t wait to see what the next Classic Club spin will have in store for me.