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Literary Fiction



Author: Harper Lee 


Title: Go Set a Watchman 


Genre: Literary Fiction, Historical 


Publication Date: July 14th. 2015


Number of Pages: 278


Geographical Setting: Maycomb, Alabama 


Time Period: mid 1950's


Series (If applicable): Sequel to "To Kill a Mockingbird" 


Plot Summary:  Twenty years later since the events of "To Kill a Mockingbir" Jean Louise "Scout" Finch is visiting her ailing father and family, from her new home in New York. Set in the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement, Jean Louise starts to see how her family and her community she grew up in has changed against her own views. Jean Louise starts to see people she's cared about change in ways that are controversial to what she's known and begins to see things she never thought she would. Memories of her childhood resurface, and values are thrown into the turmoil of doubt. Go Set a Watchman captures a young woman in a world in a painful, but necessary transition out of childhood illusions of the past which leads to a journey of one person's conscience. 


Subject Headings:  Homecoming

                               Fathers and daughters 

                               1950's fiction

                                Race Relations 

                                Social Change

                                Literary Fiction

                                Small town & rural fiction 

                          

Appeal: Thought-provoking: With Atticus telling Scout the views he has; it comes to show that the people we view as children should not be taken lightly. However, we cannot forget that they are human beings with feelings as well. It also shows that people we thought we knew, may or may not disappoint us as time goes by. 


Strong females: Scout shows her feelings about her views of the world, even if that means telling the one person, she's always looked up to is now put into question. 


Bittersweet: Seeing what Scout sees of her father's views 


3 terms that best describe this book:  Moving, Atmospheric, Bittersweet 


Similar Authors and Works (why are they similar?): Eudora Welty's "The Optimist's Daughter" and Deborah Johnson's "The Secret of Magic" both showcase emotion for women in the South and how turbulent times can make people think about change and views. 


3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors

Mockingbird: a portrait of Harper Lee: from Scout to Go set a watchman by Charles J Shileds

Atticus Finch: the biography: Harper Lee, her father, and the making of an American icon by Joseph Crespino

Why To Kill a Mockingbird matters: what Harper Lee's book and America's iconic film mean to us today by Tom Santopietro 





3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors 

Cold Sassy series by Olive Ann Burns 

The Evening Road by Laird Hunt 

Crooked Letter, Croocked Letter by Tom Franklin 








Comments

  1. Bre WeeksApril 3, 2023 at 6:57 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bre WeeksApril 3, 2023 at 7:02 PM

      Jaclyn,

      Some of the NF picks are supposed to be based off Harper Lee's own life. She is essentially telling her story through To Kill a Mockingbird. Now some of those parts are not completely true, but lifestyle wise and what her family delt with are very much true. I do recall her father working for the law, and how he always came home with a big weight on his shoulders, but that went away when he saw his children. It amazes me that many people thought this would be controversial and it is in a sense of the time of the book and the changes happening in history.
      People tend to change views as things happen, but also can be hypercritical of those who do not change their ways. Scout sees this with her dad, and those of us who love Mockingbird feared that Atticus would be a completely new character. I think if you look at this from both a personal and historical point of view, you will find that Atticus did not change as person but adapted to a changing world that Scout really almost closed herself off to.
      Bre

      Delete
  2. Erin CataldiApril 4, 2023 at 5:13 AM

    I remember how controversial this book was when it came out. Full points!

    ReplyDelete

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