[SPOILER ALERT] Go Set a Watchman - is anyone else looking forward to reading it?

[MiddleAgeMiddleEngland]

I know the background to this is really controversial, but I love To Kill a Mockingbird and am really looking forward to Go Set a Watchman.

My copy is ordered at the local bookshop and I shall be there when they open at 9.00 am

[Wolfiefan]

Amazon have it as available July 14th.

[GinUpGirl]

The background has put me off tbh - still undecided though so watching with interest!

[DuchessofMalfi]

Feeling the same as Gin. Just not sure about it.

[MiddleAgeMiddleEngland]

I'm really unsure about the background story, how much she was coerced. As well as buying the book, I'd like to do something 'in return'. Give a donation to a relevant charity or something, but not sure of the best thing to do. Suggestions welcome!

[gailforce1]

Interesting article on Harper Lee in today's Sunday Times magazine.

[mrsallergy]

Has anyone read the first chapter published on th Guardian website?

[whitershadeofpale]

Yes I havemrsallergy. It's here is anybody else wants to read.

I was very pleased that the narrative voice remains just as strong as TKAM but very about Jem and Atticus.

[whitershadeofpale]

Loved this line:

"if you did not want much, there was plenty"

[whitershadeofpale]

Also:

"She was a person who, when confronted with an easy way out, always took the hard way"

[mrsallergy]

I think I'd better ask MNHQ to put !!spoilers!! In the title.

[PeterParkerSays]

No!! Don't say something happens to Jem and Atticus!!!

I have my copy on pre-order from Amazon but am having it delivered to work and I'll have a day off to get ready for the holiday when it arrives so won't get to read it for nearly a fortnight.

I'm hoping to avoid too mainly spoilers because we're going abroad so should miss the big weekend paper splashes about it.

[YetAnotherBeckyMumsnet]

Done

[whitershadeofpale]

Sorry, I haven't given it all away and it's not as bad as you might think.

[mrsallergy]

Right, spoiler alert in - yes - bloody heartbroken about Jem! Felt like I'd been kicked in the stomach. Am devastated about it. And written so casually!

[whitershadeofpale]

I know! I re-read that line three times to make sure. It was so casual. I suppose we have to remember that this was written first so the intention was that non of us would know who Jem was.

Atticus was heartbreaking too but in a different way. To think that pain makes him unable to even drive

[RustyBear]

Note to MNHQ: If you look for Go set a Watchman via Advanced Search, as I did, the title hasn't changed to show the spoiler warning in the results list. Luckily I had already read the first chapter.

[DuchessofMalfi]

Have had a skim through the first chapter and found the bit about Jem. I suppose it was to be expected that one of them would inherit their mother's health problems.

I still don't think I want to read it though.

[jellycake]

SPOILER
.
.
.
.
.
.
I've finished it this morning and I am less upset by it than I thought I would be. I tried to read it as a completely separate book but that was impossible as the characters were people that I knew! I found parts of it confusing but I could see where the characters were coming from and I wasn't dissatisfied by the ending. There were parts that made me cry particularly when she went to see Cal as I really couldn't square the character's behaviour with the Cal that I knew but then, neither could Jean Louise and I think that's what upset me the most.

In parts, it was incredibly well-written and I could almost feel Jean Louise's anger and despair at what she discovered and when she went to have it out with Hank and Atticus, I was cheering her on. I also thought that Jack's explanation about her relationship with her father at the end was believable and he was one of my favourite characters, as he was in the original.

To Kill A Mockingbird will always be one of my favourite books and this one hasn't changed that at all for me. The flashbacks to childhood were some of the best bits and I can see why the original editor asked her to go back and write a book set around those. I don't think that this book would ever have got her the acclaim that Mockingbird did and, obviously she had a very good editor who knew his job!

I'm glad that I have read it.