Wednesday, July 08, 2015

Go fly a kite

I am not at all into Harper Lee. I read “To Kill a Mockingbird” as a teenager, possibly for school. I re-read it as an adult some years ago, and it struck me as a black-and-white YA novel. People like that, I get it. For those who want a soothing, unnuanced look at good vs. evil in competent prose, it’s a good place to tank up. I'm not dissing it, just don't think it deserves the unbounded praise it's received.

But with the whole “Go Set a Watchman” mania raging now all I can say is go away. I wouldn’t even think of reading it. (Ok, for a thousand dollars.) I don’t even care what a Watchman is. Is it a wearable gadget? I don't know. And I’m not going to spend another 2 minutes thinking about it. 

For me the best thing about “To Kill a Mockingbird” is that internet meme with the adorable grey cat looking at the book and exclaiming “WTF ... this book has absolutely no information on killing birds.” Exactly. 

In fact, cat and dog and other animal videos pretty much do for me what Harper Lee does for people, only more economically.

2 comments:

Kass said...

You're a brave person to be so public about your disdain.

toniclark said...

I did like TKAM — especially the audiobook with Sissy Spacek. Also, saw a theater production of it recently and liked that, too. But Watchman??? It's a joke. A great hoax pulled off not by Harper Lee, but by Harper Collins. A failed first draft marketed as a sequel. $$$$$ Ay-yi-yi. No, I wouldn't consider reading it either — except for $1,000. Sounds like people are beginning to figure it out. I heard of one bookstore offering people their money back when it became clear what the book really is.

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