Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The novel is quite an achievement and the adult Jean Louise dominates the pages with heroic stamina as she confronts the complexities of southern culture in the 1950's. I liked her. I liked the novel. I loved her stories of coming of age in a marvelous society of individuals and scholars and people of principle, including the woman of color who brought her up, Calpurnia. I myself think the Atticus of "Watchman" is a fine achievement. ---- And I heard nothing from his lips that he might not have said in "Mockingbird" had some one asked him. To assume that the hero of "Mockingbird" would have believed in de-segregation is a mighty stretch, indeed, and frankly I think a rather unnecessary one is make. --- And the Atticus of "Watchman" does not go unchallenged by his courageous daughter when he voices his views on race and race conflict of the 1950's. ---- Of course we find those views distasteful and dangerous, and rightly so. But then so does Jean Louise and she is the heart of the novel. --- This isn't a sequel to "To Kill a Mockingbird" and should not be read as if it were. It is a novel that died apparently so that "Mockingbird" could be born. And the literary mystery for me here is why a vital adult heroine like Jean Louise had to die in the process.. (Note: the character does not literally die in any narrative here. She is replaced by a small child Jean Louise in the novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird." ) We may never know the answer to the questions "Who killed the adult Jean Louise Finch, and why," but I'm glad that she has been exhumed --- because her story is very worth reading. (I find it discouraging that there is so much talk in the mainstream press about the character of Atticus --- is he a bigot or isn't he ----- and so little about the the powerful heroine of "Watchman." ) ----- Thanks to the publishers of "Go Set a Watchman" for bringing this novel to us. And thank you, Ms. Lee, for writing it and for allowing its publication.