to kill a mockingbird

[Gowgirl]

Every time I read this I want to cry, yet I still keep going back.....anyone want to discuss?

Oh, and you must watch the film. It's among the best film adaptations of literature that I have ever seen. Gregory Peck completely inhabits the role. He is Atticus Finch. The child actors are very natural, not "actory." An early scene between Scout and Atticus when they are chatting at bedtime is just magical.

I also love it, I think it's my all time favourite book. I've even use it at work when teaching about empathy and tolerance. I think the film captures it perfectly unlike so many book adaptations. I recently read Set A Watchman and was a little disappointed.

Still love it, but Watchman ruined my love for Atticus

I love it and have read it many times. I skimmed the first couple of chapters of watchman but decided not to read it. Scout wasn't scout and like a pp I think it would have destroyed Atticus for me.

I re-read it prior to reading Watchman. There was so much I had forgotten and Scout's voice is totally believable. I enjoyed Watchman, but it's nowhere near as good. I didn't find what she discovered about Atticus plausible.

I love the book and the film. It really is a fantastic book which tackles so many complex issues but with a light touch due to child's perspective. If you think it 'sugar water' then frankly you haven't understood it.

If you are only going to read one American novel, this or Of Mice and Men are not the right choice. It was published at exactly the right time, but I don't much care for one book wonders.
The book is short, simple, and politically correct, so I can see why teachers like it.

Ericaequates You can't make a comment like that without making some suggestions for 'the only American novel to read'

I'd love some suggestions!

I found it compelling, engrossing and engaging. I've read it several times over several decades.
I think it must be well-written as it conjured up such clear visual imagery which has always stayed with me. The characters are very well-rounded, they are not just ciphers to hang a morality tale upon.
Now, "The Catcher in the Rye", though; there's a book I thought was overrated! Can't understand the hype about it at all...

Anyone else reading the thread title as if OP is asking whether killing mockingbirds is reasonable?

Both my children read To Kill A Mockingbird at school, and they both disliked it. Partly because it was presented as being perfect. But mainly because they found it irritatingly obvious. ds enjoyed the movie though.

Oh I ADORED it. I'm an avid reader and it's incomparable to any other book really. I read it three times during the studying for my GCSE. Got an excellent mark on my coursework for it but I truly couldn't put it down. I may have to read it again now

My ds is Jem and I've met 2 others in life.
I obviously love the book, it was my first "adult" book which is probably the same for many. That's why it's so special.
I enjoyed The Old Man and the Sea for a similar reason.

I thought Jem was short for Jeremy. And I've never known a girl called Scout!

I enjoyed the book at school, and the film. I've always intended to read/watch again but the opportunity has never come up. I'm too busy to read these days with two young children.

Loved the book, the film and Gregory Peck. And I've known a couple of blokes called Jem (short for Jeremy) but also no girls called Scout.

Is someone upthread calling Steinbeck a one book wonder?!

Splendid I was just about to say that!

I only read it for the first time a year ago after watching an amazing, open air theatre production. Loved the play and loved the book.

Confusingly, Bob Ewell was played by a hot young man with a gorgeous American southern drawl. Never good to have inappropriate Bob thoughts

Jem is a nickname for Jeremy. My ds is just Jem. Named from the book, not the awesome rock band.

I loved this book when I did I for gcse. I haven't read it again since though. I was very disappointed in Watchman, I don't believe what she found out about Atticus at all.

splendid me too, think it's fair to say he wrote more than one or two!

Anne Shirley (of green gables) called her oldest son jem. That's the only other one I know!

It's one of my favourite books, I read it when I was about 11 (I was a horribly precocious child and made my way through my parents' books, I distinctly remember the next thing I read was "riders", which was quite different but also gave me an passionate love for queen jilly!) and remember being utterly transfixed by the court scenes in particular.

Having now read "watchman", I think the editor whose idea it was to rewrite it from a child's perspective should also be recognised as a genius within her profession (am sure I read somewhere that the editor was a woman)

I was once in a queue and the boy in front of us was called Atticus. He was a whiney little sod with well-read yet ineffectual parents wearing a lot of Boden.