Go Set a Watchman

This one has been on my to-read list ever since it was published in 2015! Harper Lee is most famous for her To Kill a Mockingbird, published in 1960 and suddenly, she surprised the world fifty-five years later when she published Go Set a Watchman. I did a little reading up on the history of Go Set a Watchman. Mostly I was curious as to why it took her so long to actually publish a sequel. The information I found was interesting. Go Set a Watchman was meant to be the actual storyline for TKAM. However, when Lee received feedback from the publishers they told her that the strongest parts of the book were the flashbacks into Jean Louise's childhood. This led her to write TKAM and become the famous author she is.

Within the first couple pages of Go Set a Watchman, I felt thrown back into the small town Southern life that we come to love in TKAM. I remembered Jean Louise and her adventures with her brother Jem and their childhood friends. Jean Louise (AKA Scout), did a lot of growing up in the original tale. Now we are given the rest of the story, we find out what happens to the Finch family about 20 years later. Their small town is now facing the civil rights movement and the turbulent politics that were prevalent during that time. Jean Louise struggles with how her life has changed but her hometown and her family have not. It becomes a story about growing from your roots, embracing the changes of the times, and learning to tolerate and even love those that we disagree with.

I really enjoyed this book and the way that it reminded me of my love for To Kill a Mockingbird. I hope that many people will go on to read it and that it will become as much of a classic as its predecessor. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a classic story, those who love Southern literature, or a reader who enjoys young adult stories.