Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

"For thus hath the Lord said unto me,
Go set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth."
                        -Isaiah 21:6

If asked the titles of my favorite books, To Kill a Mockingbird would be among the first. Perhaps that very high esteem set me up for disappointment in this novel by the same author. I have to agree with The New Yorker critic who wrote that ...Watchman would make barely any sense if the reader didn't already know ...Mockingbird. The magazine review went on to describe Go Set a Watchman as a failure as a novel and further that if ...Mockingbird did not exist, it would never have been published now, as it was not when it was written in the mid-1950's. Amen. Some might say to cut the author some slack; it was her first novel. I would reply that I have read other first novels that were excellent. One could even ask why this one was published and hyped to the max.

When 26-year-old Jean Louise Finch, known as "Scout," returns to visit her hometown of Maycomb, Alabama, she finds many changes that make her uncomfortable, including reactions of the community to the beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement and the influence of the NAACP. When Jean Louise sneaks into a Citizen's Council meeting where father Atticus and boyfriend Henry are participants, her world is rocked to its foundation! This part reminded me of Scout sneaking into court in ...Mockingbird. Though the plot of the book was weak, some flashbacks were amusing like when Scout as a child, along with her brother, Jem, and friend, Dill, decide to have a mock revival that involves a baptism. When Jean Louise remembers a high school dance and what happened to her first "falsies," I had to laugh.

I waxed nostalgic at times, as I lived in North Alabama in the early 60's. I remembered Jitney Jungle supermarket and heard my mother use the expression "blue murder." I had never heard of "missionary vanilla" aka whiskey---cute.

I found it difficult to understand how Jean Louise's emotions could turn so dramatically. Perhaps her hard-headedness was a result of her young age and egocentricity. It was difficult for me to identify with her holier-than-thou attitude.

As a fan of To Kill a Mockingbird I felt I had to read this book so I am glad I did but I can rate it no higher than 3. It just had none of the beauty and innocence of Harper Lee's classic. I had thought I might choose this novel for our Page Turners but I have changed my mind.