Review: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is one of the greatest books of all time, and a must in everyone's reading list.

The story is about Jem and Scout Finch, a brother and sister of ages 10 and 6. They live in the small town of Maycomb, with their widowed father, Atticus Finch who is a lawyer.

The story is narrated by Scout, a tomboy and a very opinionated young girl, who plays with her brother and Dill, her neighbour's nephew who spends his summers in Maycomb.

As it is narrated by Scout, the story mainly portrays events from the imagination and the view of an innocent child. The children spend their first summer together trying to get a mysterious neighbourhood recluse, "Boo" Radley to come out. Their imagination almost got them into trouble after they were almost caught trying to pass a message to Boo.

The story also tells how Scout and Jem learned to treat other people with respect, even the vicious Mrs Dubose, and to try to understand others by "climbing into his skin and walk around in it", as Atticus told Scout once.

However, Scout and Jem were faced with trying to understand how racial prejudice can change people's behaviour when a black man named Tom Robinson was accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell, and their father, Atticus was assigned to defend Tom.

The title "To Kill a Mockingbird", is a reference to what Atticus told Jem and Scout one day after he gave them air-rifles as a Christmas present.

"I'd rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you'll go after the birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." - Atticus

Because

"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in cornribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird" - Miss Maudie

The phrase would later be used by Scout to explain an event to her father at the end of the story.

I first read To Kill a Mockingbird in Secondary School. I doubt that I would have appreciated its full value had I read the book when I was younger. I would recommend parents to buy this book for your children, preferably when they can understand it better.


Anna rates it at 5/5
Why you should read it? - One of the greatest books of all time. Suitable for both children and adults