SPOILERS BELOW.
Here are just a few of my thoughts about what I’ve read so far.
- Scout is all grown up, and she doesn’t go by Scout anymore. It’s “Jean Louise” these days. That said, she’s still the Scout we know and love. At this point, this character feels fairly consistent with what I read in Mockingbird. I could easily see that little girl growing up into this young adult.
- She’s living in New York City and returning home to Maycomb to see her beau, Henry “Hank Clinton. Culture shock for sure.
- Atticus, to this point, is a background character. But I’m sure that will change.
- That said, it’s really strange to read about Atticus as a 70 year old, nearly-retired lawyer.
- It’s really cool to read the flashbacks in the novel. They’re 3 to 4 pages and it was these flashbacks that inspired To Kill A Mockingbird. Harper Lee’s editor thought the flashbacks were the strongest part of the novel and wanted her to build a new novel around them.
- Harper Lee describes the setting, Maycomb, much better in TKAM.
- I can’t believe Jem is dead.
- I need more Dill! He’s a part of the flashbacks, but he’s overseas during the events of the novel, so we don’t hear much about him.
Like I mentioned before, I’m trying to read this novel simply as an alternate universe with the same characters. It’s not a sequel. But it’s difficult to completely detach myself from TKAM while reading this. I think that will be even more difficult once we get into some of the more disturbing aspects of the Atticus Finch character.
More to come on Go Set A Watchman next week.
