Book Lovers Club
Comments
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I downloaded Watchman but read the review and synopsis in Time Magazine and, since I thought Mockingbird was so good, I do NOT want to read it at all!!!! It's our Book Club read so I will probably skim it but already know that I don't like it!!!!! Sadness!!!!
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I'm another who downloaded "Watchman," but now don't want to read it. Why spoil a wonderful story??
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OMG.....I just got a reserve notice from my library that my Watchman copy is ready for pick up. I was in a pickle because I won't be home in time to pick it up! I'm visiting VR II and enjoying Larson's Dead Wake and have Freakanomics' authors Levitt and Runner's new book in my luggage waiting to be cracked....now I feel better....I'm in no hurry to read Watchman now.....
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I might also suggest that you go to www.goodreads.com and read the reviews there. Many of the reviews have spoilers, so if you do intend to read it, you may want to avoid them. I keep track of all my books over there, and this is one of the very few books that I gave only 2 stars to. I am trying to put it out of my mind!! Reading a Ridley Pearson fast paced mystery, Beyond Recognition,, at the moment. Soon it will be a distant memory,,,,, I hope!0 -
Agree w/you all about Watchman. Passed up buying it at Costco the week it came out for $15.00. Didn't bother to sign up at the library. I have a friend who bought it and she will pass is along after she & her two grown daughters all read it. Maybe I'll have changed my mind by then.
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Here is one of the reviews of Watchman.......BY DREW GALLAGHER/FOR THE FREE LANCE–STAR
Harper Lee deserves better. The author of the beloved novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" chose not to write again after its release in 1960 and her legacy was based solely upon one of the most iconic novels ever written by an American author. Her creation and character, Atticus Finch, became the barometer by which all lawyers (real and fictional) were judged. In short, Harper Lee wrote a perfect novel and rode off into the literary sunset crowned with laurels —until now.The release of "Go Set a Watchman," a sequel to "Mockingbird" that the publisher assures us was written a few years before "Mockingbird," was supposed to be the literary event of 2015. Here was a second novel by Harper Lee; here was Scout returning to Maycomb County as an adult; here was perhaps the greatest misstep in literary history.For many reasons it is impossible to disentangle "Watchman" from "Mockingbird." If "Watchman" had been released like many an author's collection of letters or unpublished manuscripts to satisfy academia, then perhaps there would be some merit in it. If "Mockingbird" had never been published and "Watchman" was all that we ever received from Harper Lee, then it would be viewed much differently. But there is good reason that it was never published previously: "Watchman" just isn't very good.
All indications are that the publication of "Watchman" was not at Harper Lee's bidding and many suggest that her decreased faculties have rendered her almost completely unaware of the recent publication. Harper Lee deserves better.
In "Watchman," Scout returns home to Alabama to visit for a few weeks. She lives in New York City now and only returns to her hometown once or twice a year. Not much has changed in Maycomb County and Atticus is still practicing law when his arthritis allows. The big revelation in "Watchman," and I don't think I'm doing a disservice to the reader in revealing this, because it may just save you the purchase price on the book, is that Atticus feels that African-Americans are, across the board, inferior to white people. The moral crux and power of "Mockingbird" lies shattered in these few pages.
There is no reason for the publication of "Watchman" beyond the perceived hubris and profits of those who stand to gain from the millions of copies that will be sold. Conversely, there are millions of reasons, reflected in the millions who love "Mockingbird," why "Watchman" should never have been published. Harper Lee deserves better.
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Another:
Joe Nocera-New York Times
Called away on family business, I was afraid I'd missed the sweet spot for commentary on the Harper Lee/"To Kill a Mockingbird"/"Go Set a Watchman" controversy — that moment right after "Watchman's" release on July 14 when it was all anybody in literary circles could talk about.
Then again, the Rupert Murdoch-owned publishing house HarperCollins announced just this week that it had sold more than 1.1 million copies in a week's time, making it the "fastest-selling book in company history." "Watchman" has rocketed to the top of the New York Times best-seller list, where it will surely stay for a while. And the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal not only excerpted the first chapter on the Friday before publication, but it also gave its readers a chance to win a signed first edition of the book.Talk about synergy!
So perhaps it's not too late after all to point out that the publication of "Go Set a Watchman" constitutes one of the epic money grabs in the modern history of American publishing.
The Ur-fact about Harper Lee is that after publishing her beloved novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird," in 1960, she not only never published another book; for most of that time she insisted she never would. Until now, that is, when she's 89, a frail, hearing- and sight-impaired stroke victim living in a nursing home. Perhaps just as important, her sister Alice, Lee's longtime protector, passed away last November. Her new protector, Tonja Carter, who had worked in Alice Lee's law office, is the one who brought the "new novel" to HarperCollins's attention, claiming, conveniently, to have found it shortly before Alice died.
If you have been following The Times's cleareyed coverage, you know that Carter participated in a meeting in 2011 with a Sotheby's specialist and Lee's former agent, in which they came across the manuscript that turned out to be "Go Set a Watchman." In The Wall Street Journal — where else? — Carter put forth the preposterous claim that she walked out of that meeting early on and never returned, thus sticking with her story that she only discovered the manuscript in 2014.
But the others in the meeting insisted to The Times that she was there the whole time — and saw what they saw: the original manuscript that Lee turned in to Tay Hohoff, her editor. Hohoff, who appears to have been a very fine editor indeed, encouraged her to take a different tack. After much rewriting, Lee emerged with her classic novel of race relations in a small Southern town. Thus, The Times's account suggests an alternate scenario: that Carter had been sitting on the discovery of the manuscript since 2011, waiting for the moment when she, not Alice, would be in charge of Harper Lee's affairs.
That's issue No. 1. Issue No. 2 is the question of whether "Go Set a Watchman" is, in fact, a "newly discovered" novel, worthy of the hoopla it has received, or whether it something less than that: a historical artifact or, more bluntly, a not-very-good first draft that eventually became, with a lot of hard work and smart editing, an American classic.
The Murdoch empire is insisting on the former, of course; that's what you do when you're hoping to sell millions of books in an effort to boost the bottom line.
But again, an alternative scenario suggests itself. Lee has said that she wanted to write a "race novel." Though her first effort had some fine writing, like many first-time novelists she also made a lot of beginners' mistakes: scenes that don't always add up, speeches instead of dialogue, and so on. So she took a character who was a racist in the first draft and turned him into the saintly lawyer Atticus Finch who stands up to his town's bigotry in defending a black man. He becomes the hero of "To Kill a Mockingbird." (Which is also why it's silly to view the Atticus Finch of "Go Set a Watchman" as the same person as the Atticus Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird," as many commentators have done. Atticus is a fictional character, not a real person.) Lee still wound up with a race novel, which was her goal. But a different and much better one.
In one of her last interviews, conducted in 1964, Lee said: "I think the thing that I most deplore about American writing … is a lack of craftsmanship. It comes right down to this — the lack of absolute love for language, the lack of sitting down and working a good idea into a gem of an idea."
A publisher that cared about Harper Lee's legacy would have taken those words to heart, and declined to publish "Go Set a Watchman," the good idea that Lee eventually transformed into a gem. That HarperCollins decided instead to manufacture a phony literary event isn't surprising. It's just sad.
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Ruth, thanks for those postings. Very enlightening, almost sickening.
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I also had earlier read the Nocera column and had similar sentiments. When the news was reported earlier this year, that the Watchman manuscript had been found and coming on the heels of Lee's older sister Alice's passing, my first thought was that something nefarious was in the works. Alice had her marbles right up to the end. Sooooo......if she and Nellie wanted Watchman published, they would have published it earlier...The part about the manuscript being missing? No way! Lee knew what the Watchman story was about and I feel certain that she hadn't the need nor desire to give us this version of story events....especially after the Mockingbird story was burned into all of our consciences. Just sayin'!
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And, I can't wait for the back story of these events to be published! That should make for some serious investigating reporting!
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Thanks for posting those articles, Ruth. Seems to me that this first draft was never meant to be published by Harper or Alice Lee.0 -
Oh dear - I agree w/VR - Harper Lee never wanted this book published. And I thought that from the first announcement before there was a lot of hype.
I forwarded the reviews to a neighbor I knew had purchased Watchman. Turns out she liked the book & is bringing it to me tonight to our water aerobics class. "I just finished the book this morning. Interesting reviews. Possibly money was driving force, but can probably say that about any publication. I could not put the book down. Found it interesting. Possibly the world was not ready for this version back then. Thought provoking. I will bring the book tonight." I think I'll tell her to let her daughter read it first - since daughter is a teacher & will be busy starting back to school soon.
The money argument was one I had frequently with my ex-DH. He was of the opinion that no author ever was "compelled by inspiration" to write - and they only published things to get the money. Well, that gives you one clue why he is an ex-husband. Yes there are some books that are published solely with a profit motive, but I'm not cynical enough to believe the majority of authors write for the reason. I hope not!!!
Sandra - are you still following? Hope Mike's doing OK. When do you go on your Florida trip? We miss you.
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I just saw your post about The Dry Grass of August. I thought it was wonderful too! Another book along the same line is Past the Graveyard Whistling by Susan Crandall. I loved it!
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Ann Rule, author of The Stranger Beside Me, about her "friend and co-worker," Ted Bundy has passed. Anyone who read any or all of her 30 criminal story books will know what an amazing writer she was. She set the bar for all "364" aka true crime books.
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Sorry to hear of her passing. I really need to read that book one of these days, but living in FL,, it's so close to home, you know,,,, I had friends attending FSU at that time. **creepy feeling**0 -
I only read one of her books, "And Never Let Her Go". Not one for that kind of reading or mysteries.
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mom....DH doesn't care for her books either....also makes him nervous when I'm reading them. When I read her books, he sleeps with one eye open.....I guess now that she is gone, he will sleep better....though I am sad! Feel like I lost a friend....
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I can't bring myself to read Watchman or to read the reviews...To Kill a Mockingbird was my favorite childhood book: I read it at least four times before I was twelve!
Mostly jumping out of lurk mode to say thanks CP418 for the 'Midwife' recommendations: just read both of the novels and enjoyed them very much and agree that they take you into the time and place....which I need right now as I recover from surgery...
Octogirl
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I just listened to the public broadcasting podcast in which Rinker Buck was interviewed about his modern day travel on the original Oregon Trail (the largest migration in the history of the world happened on that trail, they said?), in an authentic Conestoga wagon powered only by mules, and it was absolutely fascinating. I am now in search of my own copy. I had read the book review, but it wasn't until I heard his voice and listened to some of the extraordinary, but sometimes very simple things he learned, that I was hooked.
I highly recommend the podcast. And I'll keep you all posted when I read the book. Has this appeared in anybody else's radar?
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Hubby and I are avid history book readers. He own and has read a lot of books on the Civil War. While going through chemo two years ago I read a book on the Tower of London, it was totally fascinating and I learned a lot more about it than what I knew already.
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I found this in the Powell's newsletter. Some I'd not heard of. Maybe some of you will pick up a new author.
Happy reading
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Irene Nemirovsky
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Thanks, Jackbirdie!0 -
Another author I read a few years ago and really enjoyed is Susan Vreeland.
Forest Lover
Girl in Hyacinth Blue
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Jackbirdie - fun list. Of course I got sidetracked with their other lists that were noted - 25 books to read before you die, 40 books about the NW, etc. So now I have a whole bunch of new books to read.
So I did read Watchman. I agree that it wasn't as well written as Mockingbird. I do think it detracts from a masterpiece and Harper Lee would not have wanted it published. I think how you react to the central premise of 'Jim Crow' depends on where you were raised. I've been in Texas for many years, but I was raised in CA and didn't move to the South until I was almost 30. A friend who was raised in Chicago thought the same thing.
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Thought you would all enjoy the following reply that I received from DS's bookworm friend. I mentioned that I try hard to not acquire books. I told him that I couldn't afford my addiction to books. And the following was his reply...
"I'm the same way. But it is really hard to not accept books, especially when they are gifts. However, I do prefer to store books in my self, rather than on shelves.
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I picked up a book of poetry by my favorite poet Emily Dickinson
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Well, I forced myself to skim through Watchman. My opinion is that it was a first draft & should have been shredded once Mockingbird was completed. Depressing in both content and writing style. I was even more disturbed by the cliche-ridden dialogue then I was by the abject racism. I totally separated the two books in my mind so it didn't ruin Mockingbird for me.
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Ruth - I agree entirely. And my 'skim' won't ruin Mockingbird for me either.
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You guys might enjoy this picture. As part of my Book Club's annual field trip (the other parts being eating and shopping), we go to a Barnes and Noble, scout out books and bring back some we think might be good for our next month's choice. Without consulting each other, we had 4 sets of double recommendations. Great minds think alike?
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