To Kill A Mockingbird Review! | A Favorite of 2018!

Hi friends! I somewhat recently published my Favorite Books of 2018 list but haven’t actually reviewed two of them. Whoops. So we’re beginning to remedy that today with a review! Of a classic!

This follows a girl named Scout, who lives in the racism-packed 1950s. Her fath, Atticus Finch, is a lawyer and when he defends a black man, has to look at the world for what it really is.

Talk about powerful classics. To Kill A Mockingbird is revolutionary. Usually, I’m not a big fan of classics* but this was spectacular. Harper Lee’s writing isn’t stuffy or boring or overly descriptive, instead it feels closer to the modern style of prose we have now. Her dialogue feels effortless and natural, especially for the age we live in now.

*Nathenial Hawthorne is my new mortal enemy (and don’t @ me that he’s dead)

And can we talk about Scout for a sec? Even though this was written in a time that was pretty big on racism and sexism, Scout doesn’t care whatsoever about “becoming a woman”. You know, sitting around, drinking tea, gossiping – she doesn’t want any of it despite her aunt’s insistence. I loved so many of her views on the world, and slowly watching her grow and realizing that maybe commonly accepted ideas aren’t all right was so incredible.

A lot of this book was tough to read. There’s so much white privilege, so much high-and-mighty talk, it’s insane. Obviously this sort of thing happened all the time back then but I honestly am just in shock at how little people actually cared about justice, about human life, simply because they don’t like the color of their skin. That’s like me stealing Barbara’s necklace right off of her because I don’t like that her eyes are blue and getting away with it.

Atticus Finch, though. His bravery and determination blew me away. He truly is a hero, just because he did what was right. A lot of this story was sad and painful but as bad as things are now, at least we’re moving forwards. We’re still at a horrible place when it comes to race but 2019 is the year to try and do better.

Also, the storyline was incredibly interesting! I couldn’t put it down. The whole Boo Radley thing was sad, yet it added such a dash of intrigue about the novel. The symbolism was honestly incredible. The author weaved such a striking lesson, in so many subtle and obvious ways.

So that’s it! Have you read this? What’s a favorite classic of yours?