To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Finished May 26th, 2007

Rating: 7/10

Decades Challenge Book #4 (1960s)





I had great expectations for this book since it won a Pulitzer and so many people name this book as one of their all-time favourite books, however the book did not live up to my expectations.

SPOILER ALERT

The story as told by a young white girl named Scout tells the tales of growing up in Alabama in the 1930s while surrounded by discrimination. In the book Scout's father Atticus is the defense lawyer for a black man accused of raping a white woman in a time and place when a white woman's word means much more than any evidence to the contrary. The most poignant line from the book for me was: "Atticus Finch won't win, he can't win, but he's the only man in these parts who can keep a jury out so long in a case like that. And I though to myself well, we're making a step --it's just a baby-step, but it's a step."

I think the reason for my disappointment could be that sometimes when you expect so much from a book you can't help but be disappointed. Unfortunately the book just did not touch a chord with me as it has with other people so I am thinking that I will have to read reviews on other people's blogs to try to understand why people love this book so much and maybe give it another read in the future and hopefully I will get more out of it the second time around.