This is a hardback that Janny loaned to me. She was a big fan of 'TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD'.
Jean Louise "Scout" Finch returns to Maycomb, Alabama on her annual two week vacation with her father and aunt, Alexandria.
She meets her old boyfriend Hank Clinton who now works for her father- both men are lawyers.
The best part of the novel is when Scout learns of her father's true beliefs. He is trying to slow down the incursion of the federal government regarding integration. Scout witnesses him in action at a Citizens' Council meeting which is a thinly veiled racist organization.
From the book's page on wikipedia-
"During a discussion with his daughter, Atticus argues that the blacks of the South are not ready for full civil rights, and the Supreme Court's decision was unconstitutional and irresponsible. Although Jean Louise agrees that the South is not ready to be fully integrated, she says the court was pushed into a corner by the NAACP and had to act. She is confused and devastated by her father's positions as they are contrary to everything he has ever taught her. She returns to the family home furious and packs her things. As she is about to leave town, her uncle comes home. She angrily complains to him, and her uncle slaps her across the face. He tells her to think of all the things that have happened over the past two days and how she has processed them. When she says she can now stand them, he tells her it is bearable because she is her own person. He says that at one point she had fastened her conscience to her father's, assuming that her answers would always be his answers. Her uncle tells her that Atticus was letting her break her idols so that she could reduce him to the status of a human being.
Jean Louise returns to the office and makes a date with Henry for the evening. She reflects that Maycomb has taught him things she had never known and rendered her useless to him except as his oldest friend. She goes to apologize to Atticus, but he tells her how proud of her he is. He hoped that she would stand for what she thinks is right. She reflects that she didn't want her world disturbed but that she tried to crush the man who is trying to preserve it for her. She tells him that she thinks she loves him very much. As she follows him to the car, she silently welcomes him to the human race, seeing him as just a man for the first time."
I'm not that familiar with Lee's Pulitzer winning novel, but I somewhat liked this book. It's kind of a defence of the racist policies of the American South. I suppose that this would make a good novel to read in a book club- lots of divergent positions to discuss.
Also, the idea that a child can be so in love with a parent that they refuse to acknowledge the parent's faults.
I thought that the book was written in a 'Young Adult' style. I think that there are better writers that could handle this theme. The defense of racist policy is something that is quite popular these days- the Alt-Right Agenda.
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