GO SET A WATCHMAN

My love affair with 'To Kill A Mockingbird' and Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch commenced almost simultaneously,when I first read the book and subsequently watched the classic almost two decades ago.So ever since it was revealed that Harper Lee was to publish a new book, fifty-five years later,with the same characters,I just couldnt wait to get my hands on it.I went right ahead and got my copy.Ive only just finished reading it today.

This story takes place almost two decades after 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.Jean Louise Finch or 'Scout' as we all know her returns from NY to her hometown in  Maycomb,Alabama,in the years preceding the Civil Rights Movement, as a 26 year old young woman.She comes home for a brief vacation and to meet her father Atticus.After reuniting with her family and a childhood friend she learns some disturbing hard facts about the people dearest to her.Caught between the childhood values she has grown up with and the present,she finds herself questioning everything she has learnt so far including the values she so strongly upholds.

My Views:

'History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people but the appalling silence of the good people'--these moving words by Martin Luther King come to mind as I sit here after reading this book.

I normally reserve my opinion when it comes to judging people until I've met them a few times.But Atticus!

Now Atticus was someone I'd known all my life and having had to change what I felt about him was a betrayal of sorts.Yes Atticus Finch is a racist and unapologetic about it.

Jean Louis Finch was disillusioned and so was I.Initially I thought that there was a catch somewhere,that someone would just come along and tell me that it was all a joke.Nothing of the sort happened and a lame explanation was provided that he did what he did so that he knew whose faces were under the hoods,in order to limit the harm they could do!Really Atticus!?I thought I knew you better than that!

Yet then comes a thought that people change,everyone changes according to the times they live in and thats a fact you've got to accept.But then they go on to tell you that Atticus Finch hasnt changed.He was always like this.Now,THAT killed me.

'To kill a Mockingbird' was narrated from Scouts point of view,when she was a kid and you cant help but see the world having a pollyanna-ish outlook.Maybe as a grown woman,she needed to transition from the illusion of the past.Yet...how does one change the values one has grown up with?Isnt there nothing known as integrity?

I did not find it to be an easy read.Especially when it came to Dr Finch and his high-handed explanations wherein he combined scraps of nineteenth century english literature and religious knowledge.But we had been warned.Still,I had to read it twice to try and understand what he was driving at.

The book did shine in parts and it took me back to the good old days.It took one back to Scouts childhood in flashback chapters but they  seemed a bit random.What I didnt like was that nothing was fully explained.I didnt like that the Finches were fence-sitters,neither did they condone White supremacy nor did they condemn it.The explanations provided to resolve Scouts quandary were unsatisfactory.One cannot help but compare it with 'To Kill A Mockingbird' but it was just its shadow in comparison .Would it have been better if I had read this first as an independent book?I dont think so,I would have to question whatever I read in 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and I could still never reconcile with the fact that Atticus is who he is.

I had very high expectations from this book and was sure of giving it a full five stars.However I just cannot bear to rate it any less so I am not going to.