Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee

I get the distinct feeling that Harper Lee only allowed this book to be published because a) she just didn’t care any more, and b) maybe it would stop people from pestering her about publishing (and honestly, shame on those people squeezing a profit out of this!) Go Set A Watchman is not a complete novel. It’s barely even a second draft, and would barely be of interest if not for the canonical status of To Kill A Mockingbird. Even so, there are critical differences between the two books in both fact and tone: don’t go into reading this expecting it to be a sequel, as it isn’t really the same characters and is definitely NOT a continuation of events from TKaM. It’s an attempt by Ms Lee at tackling important issues of racism and family but it’s not good, and you can see why she abandoned it in favor of writing, presumably later, the exemplary TKaM. Anyway, I hope this buys her a permanent respite from the vultures around her (who should seriously be ashamed of themselves for the naked money-grubbing that obviously motivated the publication of this novel.)

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