To Kill A Mockingbird - Book Review

Book - To Kill A Mockingbird

Author - Harper Lee

The black cover of this book and the image of a hand drawn bird attracted me so much that I ended up buying this book; then it sat on my shelf for a very long time. I knew it was classic which made me reluctant to pick it up and dive into it straight away and the presence of many contemporary and young adult books on my shelf were also a reason to wait for picking it up.

However, this summer I decided to pick this one up and took this as my personal challenge to finish it up, but to tell you the truth I never had to struggle for completing this book. This book is a masterpiece.

The starting of the book may feel slow paced but once 50 pages into the story, the story moves at medium pace. The climax is very interesting and the plot building is worth the hype around this book.

The language used in this book is local English and many phrases had me scratching my head in confusion till I googled it and found the real meaning to it. Despite having my head scratched a bit by this, I chose to complete this book.

This book had me laughing, saddening, crying and then smiling to myself at the end. The society from a child’s point of view presents every situation in different light and with truthfulness. Children are the innocent humans who don’t get disappointed easily with the defeats thrown their ways. They forget the scolding thrown their way and indulge in the next mission they conspire to achieve.

Along with the main plot of the discrimination, there are several subplots inside that book. We see the example of parenting Atticus presents in front of the society, we see the growing up and changes brought in Jem, we see the innocence of Scout through her thought processing which simply divides the world into good and bad people instead of discriminating into myriads of divisions created by humans, we see a human so scared of humanity to remain in his own house for a very long time. the characters of the book taught me very important lessons.

The various groups and communities that resided together in Maycomb country were described aptly with their differences and traits attached with them. The writing style was interesting to read, and the story more than anything.

The characters were described beautifully and made livid in the world of my imagination. I could somehow understand and relate, when Scout used to interrupt and question anyone. The bravery shown by the children made this book more intense. The court case was the one that raised several questions towards the society and answered a lot in itself. The society knows what's right and wrong but still chooses the general code over justice.

Overall, this is a great book with each and every point well placed and you should pick it up if you want your grey cells at work and read something meaningful.