Harper Lee's 'To Kill a Mockingbird' sequel set to publish

[wfgodot]

What can you expect from Harper Lee's new novel? A friend of Lee offers a hint (al.com)

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"I expect it to be a story about an imperfect community," Flynt told AL.com in an interview this week at Trinity United Methodist Church in Homewood, where he was a featured Holy Week speaker.

"You should be looking for a more primitive version of 'To Kill a Mockingbird.'

She wrote 'Go Set a Watchman' and was told by someone she respected that it wasn't any good. Her editor, Tay Hohoff, told her to rewrite it. She put that manuscript away and hasn't worked on it again."
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more at the link

 

[wfgodot]

Guardian:

Harper Lee’s new novel: read the first chapter
An exclusive extract from Go Set A Watchman, the new novel by the author of To Kill A Mockingbird.

 

[wfgodot]

Telegraph:

Harper Lee's new book, Go Set a Watchman: latest reviews and reaction
How fans and critics are reacting to the To Kill a Mockingbird sequel. Warning: Spoilers

 

[newone]

Guardian:

Harper Lee’s new novel: read the first chapter
An exclusive extract from Go Set A Watchman, the new novel by the author of To Kill A Mockingbird.

thanks for the link! I enjoyed reading it and am looking forward to reading the novel.

 

[wendybtn]

Guardian:

Harper Lee’s new novel: read the first chapter
An exclusive extract from Go Set A Watchman, the new novel by the author of To Kill A Mockingbird.

Well, I liked it and was ready just to keep reading on when the sample ended. But I cannot pretend to be an expert on her particular style of writing, word usage, etc. Did it sound like Ms. Lee's voice in her previous work? What do other Harper Lee fans think?

 

[IHAVENOCLUE]

Well... I've read the first chapter...

and I'm only sorry that it isn't being released TODAY!

:book:

 

[wfgodot]

Well, Truman Capote didn't write this one, that's for sure.

 

[i.b.nora]

I just listened to the audio version and am looking forward to the full release.

 

[Nova]

Well, Truman Capote didn't write this one, that's for sure.

I know the idea that Capote wrote Mockingbird didn't come from you, godot, but I find it highly unlikely. As others have pointed out, there is no indication Capote was ever so generous. More telling, Lee's book bears no resemblance to anything Capote wrote before In Cold Blood. (It doesn't bear much resemblance to Blood either, but at least Blood is a realistic work, unlike the Southern Gothic of Capote's earliest work.)

I think the belief that Capote wrote Lee's book is rooted in sexist attitudes. If anything, the sudden shift in Capote's style with In Cold Blood suggests Lee had more influence on Capote than the reverse.

I saw the films and realize Capote's book was delayed so it could cover the trials and executions, but Lee's book was published a full six years earlier (1960) and bears no resemblance to Capote's writing in the late 1950s.

 

[wfgodot]

I suppose the piece in the Capote oeuvre most comparable to TKaM is the short story "A Christmas Memory." To read them side by side is to note the difference between a mature masterwork and a middling bit of teen lit. Having said that, Lee's book is more important than any of Tru's fare, just as Uncle Tom's Cabin, though mightily flawed, is the most important prose piece (Lincoln: "So this is the little lady who made this big war?") in the American 19th century.

It's the film we remember, not the novel. (And the second novel will soon be long forgotten.)

 

[wfgodot]

concourse.deadspin.com:

Hey, You Don't Have To Read Harper Lee's New Book

 

[Fairy1]

Has anyone here read it yet? I ordered it today on my Kindle but haven't started reading yet. I'm a bit afraid because "To Kill a Mockingbird" is my favorite book and movie of all time. I don't care who wrote it, TBH. It's a beautiful, masterfully written story and I'm hoping for more of the same with this book.

 

[wfgodot]

What don't I like about that first chapter?

For one thing, the author uses the word "like" sixteen times.

Two usages are in the service of the self-same cliché of a long-suffering simile, namely

like a bat out of hell

My God. Twice.

 

[wfgodot]

Daily Mail:

How ‘Go Set a Watchman’ overlaps word-for-word with ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’

⁍ Watchman manuscript submitted 55 years ago but published this week
⁍ Books contain identical passages often when it comes to scene setting
⁍ Critics argue this proves it was first draft of the Pulitzer Prize winner

 

[wfgodot]

Publisher's Weekly:

Rethinking ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’
An author questions the collective reverie for
Harper Lee’s first book, as her second is released

 

[EllieBee]

So, Msr. Godot-

I am lazy and not inclined to read anything that might not be super awesome possum.

Are you saying that Ms. Lee's second baby might reveal her to be a one-hit wonder?

And just so you know, I am not challenging you. I quite enjoy screeching "Ooooh the Emperor has NO CLOTHES!".

Even if the Emperor is the literary type.....

 

[wfgodot]

So, Msr. Godot-

I am lazy and not inclined to read anything that might not be super awesome possum.

Are you saying that Ms. Lee's second baby might reveal her to be a one-hit wonder?

And just so you know, I am not challenging you. I quite enjoy screeching "Ooooh the Emperor has NO CLOTHES!".

Even if the Emperor is the literary type.....

Something quite hinky about this whole extending of the 'Mockingbird' enterprise.

Around the turn of the century I decided to re-read 'TKaM'; yikes. Eighth grade had been a long time ago.

So -- didn't make it past the first chapter. The test of great literature: it lasts -- it's news that stays new.

And now this "new" one. Wow. One can't quite call it desecration then; but almost. Almost.

I feel bad for Harper Lee. Worse, though, for eager readers unaware of the true scope of great fiction.

-- Msgr. Godot

 

[wfgodot]

Washington Post:

No way to treat an author: How Harper Lee lost control of her legacy.