Tarnishing Harper Lee

Our Tuesday Morning Book Talk discussion group is reading both To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchman. The story provided by the publisher, Harper Collins is that Lee submitted Go Set a Watchman which the editor rejected and she was told to undertake a major re-write and To Kill a Mockingbird was the result.  There is no way to determine the credibility and in the end it doesn’t really matter.  Given Harper Lee’s current medical condition it isn’t clear if she even gave permission or is even aware the Go Set a Watchman has been published.

I do not want to compare the books with each other, I believe that us unfair and inaccurate, they are very different books.  Characters may have the same name but the personality and age of the primary characters differs as much as night and day.

I have always found it difficult to find Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird a credible character.  He has been diminished to a white knight in a white suit with admirable qualities of fairness and principles based on the rule of law but he is also one dimensional, aloof from his children, and more of a characterization than a living, breathing, middle aged man living in the south.  Frankly, Atticus is too good to be true. 

The Atticus Finch we meet in Go Set a Watchman is credible and we learn he can defend of black man from injustice while still believing in gradual social progress for the race that does not disrupt the white culture of the south.  Marshall Cook’s description of Jean Louise as “self-absorbed, petulant, and insufferably judgmental” is accurate.  While Go Set a Watchman is Jean Louise’s story, she is not a character we learn to like or even care about.  At best we can feel empathetic for Jean Louise.

The craft in Go Set a Watchman leaves a lot to be desired.  The plot is uneven and Madonna Dries Christensen pointed out at some points just boring.  Chapter 9 is pure telling followed by Chapter 10 an exposition on what the reader was just told.  Both Chapters 11 and 15 are flashback scenes that for me had no place in the book and don’t move the story along; in fact they are detours to the main theme and story.  Chapters 17 and 18 are pure dialogue with no action.  The dialogue borders on the trite and expected versus compelling.  While the entire story builds to the dialogue of Chapters 17 and 18 the use of dialogue is disappointing and unrewarding.

As an author, I find it most sad that Go Set a Watchman tarnishes the Pulitzer Prize winning contribution of Harper Lee to American literature.  In addition, the only real beneficiary is the publisher, Harper Collins who will generate millions in profit from releasing this book.