Harper Lee's 1950's Sequel To "To Kill A Mockingbird" - Available July 14

[Finding IT]

Maybe it's just the way it was gone about, but the general consensus among myself and my friends is that we all actually couldn't stand the original, even though we all read quite often. I can't speak for others, but I love other classics like Frankenstein or Lord of the Flies or Robinson Crusoe, but something was just so dull about the whole ordeal.

Mockingbird, like much of the required HS "canon", is way overrated, in my view.

 

Add the Crucible...the Scarlet Letter...Huck Finn...Gatsby to the list.

 

I don't smell crack, but still...

 

Gatsby and Mockingbird are two of the finest novels in the English language, IMO.

[Finding IT]

I thought lord of the flies sucked though, so I must be crazy

I counter that. The issues in TKaM seem...overdone, but I loved the idea of stripping civility from children. It was fresh in all the ways Lee's book wasn't, in my opinion of course.

TKaM all seems dreadfully obvious. These are different times, of course. I suppose it is adored as a classic and maintains its place among the "canon" exactly due to its obviousness, and its utility as a tool to teach instill a particular belief system in our youth.

 

It's wasn't obvious in 1960. Nor were it themes and plot formulaic? It became a formula based on its effect on a generation of writers.