By Tqwana B.
Sorry, this isn’t a review. I’m not even sure anymore if I’ll read Go Set A Watchman …
When Harper Collins announced there would be a 
‘sequel’ to To Kill a Mockingbird, I nearly died with excitement. This is history being made and I’m here for it. I even overlooked the controversy surrounding the acquisition of this supposed lost novel. I just wanted more of The Finches.
And then you find out that Atticus is a racist, associated with the KKK and preferring that we Negroes not be a part of their lives.
I’ve been trying to reconcile this with the honorable Atticus Finch that stood up for justice, at the risk of his family, at the risk of everything in TKaM. And it just makes no sense. I do realize that this isn’t a sequel really. That this is what TKaM started out as. And thank God for editors. But… Maybe we put him on too high a pedestal? Maybe we romanticized him too much? How could we have all been so naive?
What really bothers me is all the people saying this makes it more nuanced and compelling fiction. Not buying it. What is so compelling about a white man of reasonable influence, in small-town Alabama of the 1930s being a racist? That’s par for the course if you ask me. The expectation. What made Atticus so special is that he defied what you expected of him, which is to be a raving, angry bigot. He represented principles and integrity and how both can still lose in the face of such overwhelming hate, but you, we, can remain honorable. We don’t have to give in to the hate.
And now that image is forever tarnished.
Reblogged this on Tqwana Explains It All.
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Just to ask for the sake of argument: doesn’t that fact that he is racist make it even better that he stood up for justice and truth in the first place? Not many racists would. I think when looked at it from that perspective, it is interesting. But yes, this is not a sequel, just the first draft a a debut author’s work. I don’t think this should have ever been published so I refuse to accept it as cannon.
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That’s certainly an interesting perspective, but not a believable one. Not many? Not any if recent events in this country are an indication. Imagine that happening in 1930s Alabama? While I see a person who has rejected hate defend an innocent black man during those times, a person with this Alternate Atticus’s views isn’t likely.
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I haven’t read it yet so I am not sure how far she pushes it. Not cannon, not reading. As far as i am concerned, we would never publish a debut authors first manuscript nowadays. They are usually terrible and should never see the light of day. I don’t think she wanted this published anyways.
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I’m going to read it just to see how far she pushes. Judging from the quotes in NYT, it’s pretty bad. I’m like you – this is not canon and should never have been published.
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