To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, HARPER LEE

This afternoon, after hurriedly racing through it the last couple of days, I finally joined the millions upon millions of people who've read Harper Lee's incredible and only publication, 'To Kill A Mockingbird', 55 years after its release. As you may or may not know, I am an extremely avid reader and I've always adored getting stuck into a good book. It's almost as if my life seems slightly disorientated when I don't have a good book on the go. I read anything and everything, quite literally, and when I began doing GCSE English Literature I become particularly intrigued by all those literary classics, so highly revered, consistently acclaimed and passed down from generation to generation like some kind of gospel. I wanted to know why they were so important. Until that point I hadn't seen their relevance to me, nor did I understand why people harked on about them so much. Even at A Level, when I had a few literary classics under my belt like 'Of Mice & Men', 'The Great Gatsby', 'Wuthering Heights', 'The Picture of Dorian Gray', those universally known novels, I still didn't quite grasp their importance or what separated them from the everyday books I would read. To me a good book was a good book, irrespective of author, date published, themes, critical acclaim, and it still is, and with my being a rather headstrong individual I just don't like being told what's good and what's not, what I should read and what I should not. I'm perfectly capable of deciding for myself, that kind of thing. If anything, people telling me what I should be reading in converse makes me do the very opposite.

However one book that seemed to have escaped and eluded me all those years was 'To Kill A Mockingbird'. No school teacher, college teacher, family member, friend, had ever introduced me to the book for some reason. It's kind of embarrassing for a book lover like myself to admit, but I only became aware of the novel when Victoria Beckham named her daughter after Harper Lee. After that I had a vague idea of what the story was about, but I never felt a strong desire to read it. I even passed 'To Kill A Mockingbird' in Waterstones just last week, next to the long awaited sequel-but-not-really-a-sequel 'Go Set A Watchman', and thought naaaah. Not for me. It was only when I stumbled across the copy my mum had recently ordered this very week, in a pursuit to find something new to read, that I decided I would give Harper Lee's classic novel a go. And it's upon finishing this wonderful, dazzling, powerful literary masterpiece that I think I finally understand what all those literary enthusiasts were on about. You have good books, yes, there are many of those dotted around world over, but then you have good books, books like 'To Kill A Mockingbird' that are just something else entirely. It requires a very special kind of magic belonging to an almost supernaturally talented individual, to write a book like that. And though I still hold true to my belief that folks should stop being so snobby about deciding which books should be perceived as superior to all the rest, and let damn good books, modern or not, be acknowledged as just that, I do admit that I now understand just why some books are placed above others. I think I understand now why there's a need to have an almost elitist category. There's a reason why English teachers will always push you to read certain novels, why bookshops will always stock these certain novels, why loved ones will always share certain novels with one another, pass them down through generations, why certain novels are used as a benchmark for other novels that pass through, why people tell you to even get up and go read certain novels. I just needed to discover a book like 'To Kill A Mockingbird' to realise that. So I guess smug, stubborn 19 year old me who think she knows it all, sometimes needs to get off her high horse and take note.

When you get a book like 'To Kill A Mockingbird', placing it on a bookshelf amongst all the other good books almost feels like a crime. It's like hiding a stunning 100 carat diamond amongst a series of pretty gemstones. Books like 'To Kill A Mockingbird' deserve every ounce of acclaim they continue to receive. They deserve to shine through and through forever and always, continually inspiring, impacting, revolutionising generation after generation. This book in particular is such a rarity. I can't think of any book, old or new, revered or not, that really competes in the same league. Some come close, yes, but this is a book that has not only changed and continues to change lives, but has actually changed the world itself for so many reasons, and that really is quite spectacular. With reference to changing lives, I know I like millions of others, feel almost enlightened having now read 'To Kill A Mockingbird' and I feel I'll never be quite the same person again. The impact this captivating novel has is just incredible and I've never experienced anything quite like it. I wish I'd gotten off my high horse sooner and read this book years ago, and yet simultaneously I'm actually glad I didn't . Reading this book aged 19, I feel like it's impacting me, and that I'm taking more from it than I ever could have even a year ago. It's an important novel that mirrors an important time in my life. Reading it is almost like crossing another a rite of passage, and it's strange because this novel makes me feel I can now face whatever I may find on the other side. 

Why I feel this way, along with listing the reasons that make 'To Kill A Mockingbird' such an incredible, powerful, important read, is a monumental task because there's so many various things that contribute. However a quote by Harper Lee herself, stating that "the book to read is not the one that thinks for you, but the one which makes you think" is a good place to start. Alongside feeding you the most gripping, intriguing, affecting storyline, featuring an array of so many different kinds of individual, told through the eyes of the boisterous, inspiring, feisty young Scout Finch, one of the best things about 'To Kill A Mockingbird' is how it continually provokes you to think. From the very start until long after you've put the book down, this book is stimulating your thoughts. It's as though you're simultaneously reading a story and having a good old deep thinking session, about some really important matters that still continue to affect us 55 years after the novel's publication, in parallel. And I've never personally read a novel that's provoked that dual activity within my brain. I liked how it challenged me to re-think my stance on issues like gender equality, racial equality, social hierarchy and dictations. I liked how it opened my eyes and presented the world and issues within it, in a way I'd never seen before. I liked the honesty and realism that propels the story. I liked how in spite of the bad, good ultimately prevails with certain characters like Atticus, Scout, Jem, Miss Maudie, Calpurnia, Boo provoking such hope within you and really restoring your faith in humanity. It's like the world and people Harper creates in her novel are so vivid, so real, a mixture of flaws and triumphs. This, combined with the many parallels to your own world, makes you believe that heroes like that, ordinary people doing extraordinary things, must exist for you too. There are good people out there doing good in the world, challenging restrictions, limitations, breaking boundaries, making change, pushing for equality, trying to leave the world a better place than where they left it. Maybe you're even one of them yourself. And I like how the novel leaves you with that notion.

As soon as I read 'To Kill A Mockingbird' I knew I had to write something about it on here. I just can't get it out of my mind and I can't stop thinking about it, as only good books can do. I almost wish I had an English exam coming up so I had an excuse to study Harper Lee's novel in depth and gush about it for pages upon pages. This, as I have realised like so many others, is such a special book. What more can I say except encourage you to read it if you have not? To write a summary or overview of the plot and characters would be stating the obvious, as it's so universally known, such an integral part of society, culture, generations. Books like this, books that change people, attitudes, worlds, societies, come once in a lifetime, and I know that I will now forever hold this story and inspiring characters so dear to me in mine. 

You can buy Harper Lee's 'To Kill A Mockingbird' here!