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'Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird'. A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel - a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the thirties. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man's struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much. "To Kill a Mockingbird" is a coming-of-age story, an anti-racist novel, a historical drama of the Great Depression and a sublime example of the Southern writing tradition.
| ISBN | 0099549484 | | Pages | 320 | | ISBN13 | 9780099549482
(What's this?) | | Weight (grammes) | 175 | | Publisher | Cornerstone | | Published in | London | | Imprint | Arrow Books Ltd | | Height (mm) | 178 | | Format | Paperback | | Width (mm) | 111 | | Publication date | 24 Jun 2010 | | Spine width (mm) | 20 | | DEWEY | 813.54 | | Academic level | General | | DEWEY edition | DC22 | |
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Read the book; see the movie. It's an ugly, accurate picture of the American south in the 1920s-1930s (and, truth be told, right through the sixties). The characters are finely, truly drawn, especially the children, who are real, not fairy-tale inventions. Having ancestors who owned slaves, I, like many Americans, carry, to this day, a slice of remorse for the status of American Americans in our culture. This story illustrates the ignorance, stupidity, mendacity and ruthlessness of racism in American. It illustrates the brutality of small town intolerance of anything or anyone different from the accepted norm. But it also illustrates touchingly, hopefully, the integrity and courage of one man bringing his children up to challenge the hate. - Ramona K Silipo Write a review
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