Go Set a Watchman
After virtually a lifetime the long awaited sequel to To Kill A Mocking Bird. It starts as the last ended with the space of a few years and at first it seems that it will be more in the same vein showing up southern states unfair discrimination. But then it takes a strange twist and the further our heroine rails against what she's seen the more the author seems to justify the segregation position. It gives a completely unexpected reason for the Mocking Bird's hero's actions and you're left wondering if it was always that way. Then our heroine seems to fall into the same view or at least accept why it is. Whereas Mocking Bird left us with hope at a time when it was needed this leaves us with a sour taste and we wonder if things will ever change. This weeks (white) police killings of unarmed or at least incapacitated (black) men show that things haven't really changed much in some places. There again the books obsession with different races procreating seems well out of time reading in London in 2016. It's difficult to know whether Harper Lee is putting forward her opinion or pointing out that things haven't changed in some places. It sort of feels like the former given our natural liking for the characters. Very confusing and disturbing. And very readable.
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