Wonderful and poignant

Absolutely delightful! I would have expected no less from Harper Lee but I still marveled at the expert way in which she tells this beautiful tale. Reese Witherspoon is the perfect choice to perform this novel and she is brilliant.

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Wonderful

After reading " To kill a mockingbird" I had to buy this book. I finished it in one setting. I loved the way the narrator told the story and the book it self was incredible as well. Not going to lie I was expecting something else from all the characters point of view but none the less incredible book.

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Do NOT Judge Watchman to Mockingbird

Go Set a Watchman is its own story. Yes, it has the same gentile voice and brutal reality Harper Lee is known for, but this story is its own morality play reflective of that conflicted era when the South was going through growing pains in terms of Black & White equality, and how small town views were slow to catch up, even with good-hearted souls like Atticus Finch.

Many reviewers disliked Harper Lee's portrayal of Atticus in Watchman, her staining the moral authority he was known for in Mockingbird, but Nell was right to do this, for even in those days, the righteous could be less than perfect. The entire country was having to readjust their views on Blacks, and to portray Atticus as above all that would have been false. He knows associating with racists was wrong but in that society oftentimes you have to befriend the enemy in order to change him into a friend who can eventually see the light.

I would have given Watchman a higher rating but Lee spends quite a bit of time in what I feel is soap-box narration, and although I see why she wrote it as she did, the lectures take away from the story and you end up popping out of the story bubble in some places.

It couldn't have been easy when Lee wrote this as so much of her time was spent with Truman Capote in Kansas re: the Clutter murders investigation, and she felt she had to "maintain" as per the Pulitzer on Mockingbird. To attempt a sequel in this mindset and to meet readers' expectations of her, I feel it would have been better had she left the idea of a sequel alone and wrote something altogether different. Then years later, attempt Watchman possibly when emotions - writer and reader - had settled.

Nell Harper Lee, I will so miss her gentile voice and her brutally honest societal takes. To lose her feels as if you've lost a Faberge egg - something so utterly priceless never to be had again.

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Absolutely loved this book! Should have read it long ago.

Great novel, wished there were more written by the author.
Changed a great deal of my thinking on certain topics.

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Heartwarming

Harper Lee did not disappoint with her writing, it was superb. I could feel Scout growing throughout the novel, and it was a wonderful experience. Very well read Ms. Witherspoon. I hope to hear you read again!

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Good read

So so sequel. Bringing Jean louise of age, and showing Atticus in a different light.

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One episode in the future of To Kill a Mockingbird

I enjoyed the story despite some of the negative reviews.

I would describe it (simplistically) as one key life-changing episode in the Finch household, many years after the events in To Kill a Mockingbird. Although it is just one episode, I feel that the story has deep takeaways, and makes one reflects on our own values and self-preservation instincts. I wish there was more to it, because Harper Lee surely has more reflections in her to offer. But it is what it is; it’s just one episode. Which perhaps is just why this novel leaves a sense of disappointment - disappointment that Harper Lee had not gone further in her writings to explore / expound deeper, but not (at least for me) disappointment in this story.

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enjoyable and thought provoking

Surprising, thought provoking, interesting. LOVED Reese W narration, really hope she does more! fantastic!

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This should not have been published

The narrator is for the most part wonderful: her intonation is great, accent convincing. Unfortunately her volume waivers heavily across a sentence, leading a listener to constantly modulate the volume.

The story on the other hand is plotless, uncomfortably and unknowingly racist, and the entire point of the story is unknown until the last chapter, when it turns out the entire racism/justice plot lines were just props for the white female author's identity conflicts. Not a good book. Go read the final draft - To Kill a Mockingbird - instead.

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Most of the story is meandering, unimportant filler

There is a lot of character background development that I found quite tiring and uninteresting, making the story much longer than it needed to be.
I also found there seemed to be a few different themes to the story, none of which was driven home very well. Parts made you think or begin to reflect but no important theme wrapped up or developed well enough with all the time spent on background filler.

The main character acts quite mellow dramatic as well so you don’t get deep in the climactic events because of the mellow drama involved in those outbursts.

I really felt this did not hit home as I had hoped or expected, and after the first two hours I was very much wondering if I should keep going with it after initially turning it off. Again, there are decent points on racism but nothing delivers much impact or resolution and meanders all over the place with old memories that really add nothing but length.

I can’t really recommend this book, but if you do want to read it, skip at least 1hour and 50 minutes in and the only thing you will miss is that the main character has a love-resist thing going on with Henry and Atticus has arthritis. With that knowledge, you are equipped for the rest and can skip all the flashbacks, getting through the important stuff in about 90-120 minutes.

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