REVIEW: To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)

Book: To Kill A Mockingbird

Author: Harper Lee

My rating: 4.5/5

Premise: Scout Finch's story is one of Deep South summers, playing in the street and the spooky house of her mysterious neighbour. But when Scout's father, a lawyer, agrees to defend a black man against an accusation by a white girl, he must battle with the prejudice of the whole town.

[⚠️CW: racism, domestic abuse, rape]

I studied this book at school and ended up really disliking it by the end of my GCSEs. I think at that age, I wasn't interested in literary classics and, living in a small white village, the racism element was a bit abstract for me. But now that I'm older, my opinions have completely changed. I love how Harper Lee uses Scout's innocence and naivety to highlight how racism make no sense. It also demonstrates how we aren't born with these prejudices, we pick them up from those around us. This book showed how difficult it is to combat racism and to speak up against it. I was heartbroken and angered by the trial and the aftermath - how the white people in the town carried on like nothing happened. I loved the constant message of "you don't know someone until you stand in their shoes". This all came together beautifully at the end when Scout steps into Boo Radley's shoes and essentially sees the whole book but from his perspective. A really important and beautiful read - it was definitely worth a revisit!