To not be enjoying "To kill a mockingbird"

[Fiestylittleowl]

I hadn't read this book so thought I would give it a go as read so many good reviews about it. I'm about a quarter of the way through and finding it so dull. Nothing is happening. Have I missed something? Should I stick it out?

YABU. Not all good books are page turners.

I studied To Kill a Mockingbird for O level. I didn't enjoy it the first time I read it, and then having to reread it, study it, pick it apart and write essays on it made me hate it with a passion.

When Harper Lee's second book was published last year, I felt like I was the only person in the world who was totally uninterested in reading it.

I sometimes criticise myself for not reading what I consider to be 'worthwhile' literature - but life is too short to read books you don't enjoy, imo.

Hated it, still haven't finished it. I find that reading books that suck is easier with an actual paper copy, you can see how much longer you have to put up with it.

YABVU

Fantastic book

Every time I read it I find different things about it. Like the drug addiction. It was so subtle I didn't fully understand it.
So many different layers to this book I find it magical.

YABVU

It's my favourite book and I suspect you haven't given it enough of a go.

I will persevere. I want to like it as have heard loads of great reviews.

I found this and The Catcher in the Rye hard going to begin with but stuck with them both and loved them in the end. Neither are normally my sort of books but I was surprised how much I enjoyed them.

Despite having studied English Lit at uni and been a bookseller, I had somehow managed not to read it until last year. I absolutely adored it. I agree the "white saviour" thread is old-fashioned and would be dodgy if it was published today but the writing is beautiful and Scout's narrative voice is so compelling. Watching the events through her eyes makes it all the more moving. In fact I'm going to re-read it!

If anyone ever gets a chance to the stage version (it was on at Regent's Park and the Barbican a couple of years ago) then do - it's even better than the wonderful film.

Now Catcher in the Rye, there's a book I didn't enjoy at all!

Urgh, hated the Catcher in the Rye, so pretentious!

TCITR is pretentious I agree actually, despite the fact that I liked it in the end. It made me think. But I found it hard going.

I re-read it recently and was surprised to see that class is such a major theme in the book. Completely passed me by on previous readings.

It's not a book that challenges you or changes you. I think it primarily makes white people feel an easy sort of virtue for empathising with the non-racist hero. It's OK for young people - certainly not bad - but I roll my eyes when adults say it's their favourite "classic."

I don't understand the YABU comments. It's entirely down to personal choice after all.

The book did nothing for me and I wish I had stopped reading it one of the many times I thought about doing so. Life's too short to read something which is not giving you enjoyment in some way.

I found To Kill A Mockingbird a bit meh, wouldn't re-read. Catcher in the Rye however I really enjoyed and would read again at some point.

Worth sticking out to the end but I do find it one of those books with a lot of hype attached and it didn't live up to it.

I suspect most, if not all, the YABU comments are said in a tongue in cheek way, just as mine was.

You could argue that the question itself shouldn't be in AIBU if people aren't allowed to say that the OP is unreasonable (even in jest). But that'd be really silly.

YANBU. I love it but we all have different tastes.

"If you really can't stick the book, watch the Gregory Peck film version. He is so dreamy.

(term used because it seems to fit the period of the film!)

now people are ruining Atticus by calling their kids it. Blatantly not worthy of the name!"

I agree with everything. He is dreamy.
The book is one I could read over and over again and I don't normally reread.

I wish I'd called DD Scout.

Why reread it? Nothing changes with repeated readings. Truly great books change over the reader's lifetime.

Great books have morally ambiguous (ie, realistic) characters and speak to us on multiple levels.

I love this classic, and I also enjoyed the film. I identified with Scout, and was pleased to read about the adult Scout in Go Set a Watchman. Harper Beckham is said to be named after Harper Lee.

Can't say I was a massive fan either when I read it T the grand old age of 34. It's not very long though I'd persevere I liked elements of it but don't see the widescale fevered adoration

I had to read it for school and I fucking hated it.

I was a total bookworm as a kid and when I got this for O Level (toooo many years ago) I took it home for the weekend to read the next chapter. Come Monday morning I had read the whole book, I can't remember how many times I read it before I took my O'level but I got an A in English Lit