This is a review of the 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee, published by the Warner Books, Inc. containing 281 pages. In this review, I explain what the novel is about, my thoughts about its success, and if the author managed to execute its purpose.
Lee’s Mockingbird was published during a civil mutiny transpiring across America in the 60s. The book narrates of the segregation era in the early twentieth century when races rarely mixed and deep hatred prevailed. Harper Lee may have written the fiction trying to explain her own experience in a racially segregated society. Its publication could not have come at a more opportune time for three years later, the African-American civil movement would shift gears to become more prominent. The civil movement would dominate in the 60s and see the beginning of more tolerant society in term of race and ethnicity. The book highlights some of the perceived injustices, especially in the law of court and the indifference
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The whole story revolves around this trial and it is here where members of the white and black races confront each other. Lee does a good job in showing the crudity of the race relations when at some point (during the trial) a group of white men from her community tried to lynch Tom Robinson. This is an honest depiction of a likely scenario during the era as shown in true-life documentaries of the era. She also takes a forthright approach, discounting decency to give the book actual accounts of what was happening. She says that her father was nick-named “nigger-lover” a term that would not sit well with some people then and today as it is considered vulgar. This gives the novel legitimacy and credibility, while at the same time evoking interest about how willing the author is willing to go to give an honest