Book review- To Kill a Mockingbird

There are some books that are quick reads, some that are absorbing reads, you have the funny reads, the trashy beach reads... and there are some that reach out and touch you, enrich your life and forever change you. In recent years Palace of Illusions was one such book for me, and last night I finished To Kill a Mockingbird with a sense of wonder and amazement. What amazed me more than the glorious writing though, was the fact that every one around me seemed to have read the book but me.

If you belong to the few who haven't as yet read the book, or were forced to read it in school but don't quite remember it, can I please urge you to pick it up? The story is about a lawyer, the formidable Atticus Finch, who defends an innocent black man in court for the alleged raping of a white girl. What makes the novel particularly moving however, is that the entire story is seen through the eyes of Atticus's five year old daughter's eyes.

Atticus is a single parent raising his two kids, Jem and Scout, in a very poor and prejudiced town in Alabama. Throughout the novel Atticus does the best he can in trying to impart words of wisdom to his kids, and tries to raise them the best way he knows how.
“Atticus said to Jem one day, "I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the backyard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird." Throughout the novel we view the loss of innocence of the kids, of the townspeople and see a clear fight between good and evil. Sometimes evil wins, and Lee, the author, does a beautiful job of depicting a Father trying to explain to his kids why that is sometimes so, showing them how to deal with adversity in his life.

It is no wonder that this book was a Pulitzer Prize winner and it's sad to think that this is the only book Harper Lee ever wrote. She is a gifted storyteller and once you're done reading the book it may be of interest to you to read about the Authors own childhood and upbringing. 

This book is one of the most magnificent ones I've read and is in places deliciously funny, while making me cry in others. It's not only a snapshot of the times (the South during the great depression) but also of a family dealing with death and loss, hope and light, and all the prejudices and struggles that come in between.

Really, I can't put it in any more words than this- To Kill a Mockingbird has to be one of the best books I have ever read.
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