Posted on 07/10/2015 11:15:39 AM PDT by Brad from Tennessee
Since Atlanta, she had looked out the dining-car window with a delight almost physical. Over her breakfast coffee, she watched the last of Georgia’s hills recede and the red earth appear, and with it tin-roofed houses set in the middle of swept yards, and in the yards the inevitable verbena grew, surrounded by whitewashed tires. She grinned when she saw her first TV antenna atop an unpainted Negro house; as they multiplied, her joy rose.
Jean Louise Finch always made this journey by air, but she decided to go by train from New York to Maycomb Junction on her fifth annual trip home. For one thing, she had the life scared out of her the last time she was on a plane: the pilot elected to fly through a tornado. For another thing, flying home meant her father rising at three in the morning, driving a hundred miles to meet her in Mobile, and doing a full day’s work afterwards: he was seventy-two now and this was no longer fair. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
What was Harper Lee’s Politics?
Given that the MSM is all agog over her, I’ll bet I can guess.
3rd person. I’ll bet her editor told her to change TKAM to first person.
Thanks for posting. This is very different from Mockingbird of which it supposedly was once a part. No humor, no Jem and frankly, pretty tedious. Maybe Capote wrote Mockingbird after all!
OK that's just stupid. Over and out.
That and that her best buddy, and probable “co/ghost writer of TKAM, was openly gay Truman Capote.
They were all yakking about how popular and great this book was.
Glad you caught that part. I was already ignoring what seemed to be the latest fad pushed by the MSM.
Ah
When is this story supposed to be set? The early 70s? If Atticus Finch is 72 that must put us in the early 70s at least. So why is she using "Negro"? Das racis.
Why does Scout enjoy seeing "Negroes" living in poverty? Oh right she's a Democrat, never mind.
All I got to say is Boo Radley better play a significant part in this novel. If Atticus is still alive then surely Boo is. Maybe he went on to take over Atticus' state senate seat.
I teach TKAM every year to my juniors. It is an extremely conservative book if you catch the nuances from multiple reads. I have this book preordered and I can’t wait!
I had a laugh when the character decided to take the train instead of flying into Mobile because she didn’t want her dad to drive an hour to Mobile.....I live in Mobile and have tons of family in Monroe Co. and believe me, it takes more than an hour. In addition, when this book was written I-10 barely existed and it didn’t go all the way to Mobile...you had to get off and go through Spanish Fort and then get on the Causeway to get to Mobile through the Bankhead Tunnel.
Oops, I misread it - it is a hundred miles from Monroeville to Mobile....she didn’t say an hour....
This book was apparently a part of the original novel. It’s probably the 50s when this part of the book takes place.
It’s my understanding that Harper Lee’s longtime adviser, who had kept her from publishing this work, died recently and others prevailed upon Ms. Lee to publish it.
ZZZZzzzzz... ZZZZZ... ZZZZzzzzz
(Mighty boring writing in that first chapter. Saved me from even considering buying the book)
This reminds me of what happened about twenty-five years ago when Matt Bruccoli published the entire novel of Thomas Wolfe’s “Look Homeward Angel.” As much as I, as a Wolfe admirer, enjoyed reading it, I realized that Max Perkins was entirely correct in cutting out all the fat and concentrating it.
I think Harper Lee probably has senility issues. But, hey, it’s interesting and I’ll probably eventually buy it.
"To Kill A Mockingbird" was a great book and no, I was not forced to read it in school. I discovered this book on my own.
However, I have to think that if this book was worth reading, it would have been published 50 years ago. From what I've read, even the author herself is ambivalent about the release of the book, which should tell you something right there.
‘Saw Peck and his wife’s crypt the other day at LA’s downtown Catholic Cathedral, and uttered a brief prayer for them both.
We were there for an organ recital, and Mass was still going on upstairs. ‘Got there for the exchange of The Peace, though.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.