Author: Harper Lee
My foray into classic American literature continues with this book. On picking it up, I felt how lucky I was to read this now, as a mature adult. Most of my fellow US citizens probably read this book when they were in high-school. Harper Lee has written a timeless novel that has all the ingredients to make it a classic. She describes a small town in Alabama in the 1930s where you not only have racial prejudices, but also have a big divide between "city dwellers" and those who live outside its precincts. All of this is described very candidly by a seven year old. There is enough written and said about this book and I won't be adding much value by describing the storyline.
Harper Lee has taken a complex issue like race relations in the early twentieth century and rendered it so very simply through the eyes of a little child. The book is a joy to read and I was intrigued to learn more about the author and find out if there were any other books that she had written. To my surprise I found that this was her only novel and that it was based on her early early childhood. Her dear friend in the book is also her friend in real-life and it is none other than Truman Capote, the author of "Breakfast at Tiffanys". Real life or fiction, Harper Lee has written a gem of a novel that has withstood the test of time. In 2006, the British Librarians ranked this book ahead of the Bible in the list of books that every individual should read before they die; if you haven't read it yet do so before it's too late.
My foray into classic American literature continues with this book. On picking it up, I felt how lucky I was to read this now, as a mature adult. Most of my fellow US citizens probably read this book when they were in high-school. Harper Lee has written a timeless novel that has all the ingredients to make it a classic. She describes a small town in Alabama in the 1930s where you not only have racial prejudices, but also have a big divide between "city dwellers" and those who live outside its precincts. All of this is described very candidly by a seven year old. There is enough written and said about this book and I won't be adding much value by describing the storyline.Harper Lee has taken a complex issue like race relations in the early twentieth century and rendered it so very simply through the eyes of a little child. The book is a joy to read and I was intrigued to learn more about the author and find out if there were any other books that she had written. To my surprise I found that this was her only novel and that it was based on her early early childhood. Her dear friend in the book is also her friend in real-life and it is none other than Truman Capote, the author of "Breakfast at Tiffanys". Real life or fiction, Harper Lee has written a gem of a novel that has withstood the test of time. In 2006, the British Librarians ranked this book ahead of the Bible in the list of books that every individual should read before they die; if you haven't read it yet do so before it's too late.
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