To Kill a Mockingbird

Rating

7/10 It read like butter. The author adopted the principles of show, don’t tell as her own, which made the descriptions vivid and the story gripping. I’m giving it a 7 because I don’t really understand why it is a classic. It touches on an important racial theme and provides a nice glimpse into a mind of a child that’s growing up and realizing how twisted the world is, but there weren’t any mind bending ideas or hidden gems of intellectual brilliance. It was a great story, really well written, but that’s about it.

Synopsis

Scout, a 6 year old girl living in a small town in south of Alabama, is growing up in the 1930s in a world where black and white people aren’t considered equal. Her dad is a lawyer and he is assigned to defend a Negro in a false rape accusation. The case shakes up Scout’s perception of the world, making her question the morality, fairness and prejudice that’s made obvious over the course of the proceedings.

Notes

• a mockingbird is a type of a bird that just sings for pleasure and does nothing else; it’s completely innocent. The phrase to kill a mockingbird signifies the stupidity of destroying someone or something innocent; just like several innocent people are killed or outcast by evil people in the book
• I feel like I would like the life of 1930s - read a book, read the news, listen to the radio, go play outside. There were many obvious problems and a vary racialized society, but the at-home life of common folks seems enjoyable