Posted 20 Jun 2005 · Report post Book suggested for rating by Bill Bucko. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 20 Jun 2005 · Report post To Kill a Mockingbird is the only modern novel I can think of, that is regarded as a classic by both the Establishment and many Objectivists.Slightly too young to remember the stir it caused upon publication in 1960, I discovered it around 1963 when a kindly librarian, Mrs Pinkerton, organized a small discussion group for local high schoolers. This was one of the first books we read and treasured ... for its warm characters and the dramatic moral conflicts that erupt in the seemingly quiet southern town.It's been a few years since I've read it in its entirety (an omission I intend to repair, soon). I do recall that it has what seems to me some unnecessarily naturalistic touches; and it's not quite as purposefully written as I would wish. For that reason I'm rating it as a 9.However, a year ago I was working on the final scene of my new novel Raphaella di Piero--a story of murder, mental illness, and love--as my young protagonist is imprisoned for her crime, and the boy who loves her lies near death. I needed to get the key sentence exactly right ... summing up everything I wanted to say about life. I turned to this passage from the final scene of To Kill a Mockingbird:"Neighbors bring food with death and flowers with sickness and little things in between. Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives."Then I knew how to write it.Here's a website containing a little information about the book and its publicity-shy author, now 79 years old, who based tomboy Scout on her own childhood in the South:http://mockingbird.chebucto.org/ Too bad this was her only novel. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
