Backlash over To Kill a Mockingbird 'sequel' which turns literary saint into a racist

[Jacque67 7,328]

Dismayed Harper Lee fans have vented their frustration at learning that Atticus Finch, the goodly lawyer of To Kill a Mockingbird, is a racist in the author's long-awaited second novel.

Some declared that their childhoods had been ruined by the revelation - which some staunch believers said they will refuse to read the new book, Go Set a Watchman, by way of protest.

Waves of grief and outrage were unleashed after literary reviewers who were sent advance copies of the book revealed Lee's storyline shows Atticus's moral integrity compromised by old age.

In Mockingbird, a high school staple beloved by millions, Atticus is a heroic figure who stands up for a black Alabamian villager wrongly accused of rape around the 1930s.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3157944/Atticus-Finch-racist-Backlash-Kill-Mockingbird-sequel-turns-upstanding-lawyer-racist.html#ixzz3ffVZw48V

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Hope to get a copy.

Interesting stuff.

Does this prove Capote really wrote To kill a mockingbird?

Is Harper Lee being used and abused in her old age, like Lauder??

[GandD 5,966]

Title edited to match article

[Jacque67 7,328]

Title edited to match article

Title of article ends "into a RACIST ."

This is not a match.

[Jacque67 7,328]

Southern literature isn't up for discussion???? Please include that in the TOS!

[GandD 5,966]

Oh relax. It was just too long and got truncated. I removed the pretext and corrected.

[Darnell 8,478]

i heard a bit about it this morning on some npr radio news feed. Since Capote is dead, I'll give this opinion.

Having wrote the prequel first, and talking with several readers who read the drafts, he decided not to publish it, instead putting instructions into his will about when to publish it.

Why? He wanted to make money, selling books. $$ is important to most authors, even Truman Capote.

[Jacque67 7,328]

i heard a bit about it this morning on some npr radio news feed. Since Capote is dead, I'll give this opinion.

Having wrote the prequel first, and talking with several readers who read the drafts, he decided not to publish it, instead putting instructions into his will about when to publish it.

Why? He wanted to make money, selling books. $$ is important to most authors, even Truman Capote.

Not sure I understand the logic of this.

Surely Harper Lee and her relatives will receive the monies from the publishing of the book?

I do kind of believe the claim, first made by Capote's father, that Capote wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, as Harper Lee never wrote anything after that. ...

I love Capote's writing so could be prejudiced;)

[Rob L 3,811]

I have the book on Amazon pre-order, looking forward to the read. I think the complexity of Atticus Finch re: race relations will be good to chew on. The "gradualist" approach to change common with those in power in the South is something we are struggling with today, but I will stop there at the risk of being accused of accusing others of being racist.

I don't believe the Capote wrote to Kill a Mockingbird, although it could be true that there was strong collaboration between the two. Lee did help with In Cold Blood on some level, and Capote did not write anything effective after that point.

Any book that gets us to stop and challenge our assumptions is for me worth the time and money.

[Darnell 8,478]

hmmm. seems i misheard what i heard on that NPR blurb... Lee is still alive? ok !

[decocker 7,198]

i'm really excited to read this book. i don't so much care who exactly wrote it. atticus finch is one of the first literary characters i genuinely and totally fell for as a kid. i'm looking forward to letting another of my childhood heros come crashing down.

[Rob L 3,811]

hmmm. seems i misheard what i heard on that NPR blurb... Lee is still alive? ok !

Alive and according to Alabama officials aware this book is being published, unconfirmed but it may be a trilogy

Edited July 13, 2015 by Rob L

[Jacque67 7,328]

I have the book on Amazon pre-order, looking forward to the read. I think the complexity of Atticus Finch re: race relations will be good to chew on. The "gradualist" approach to change common with those in power in the South is something we are struggling with today, but I will stop there at the risk of being accused of accusing others of being racist.

I don't believe the Capote wrote to Kill a Mockingbird, although it could be true that there was strong collaboration between the two. Lee did help with In Cold Blood on some level, and Capote did not write anything effective after that point.

Any book that gets us to stop and challenge our assumptions is for me worth the time and money.

Agree with your last line. I think it will be interesting to see how the daughter's perception of her father changes as she gets older.

Possibly both were written by Capote

Let me know what you thought of the book-it will take longer to arrive where I am.