To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Review
I've never reviewed a fiction book before, and that's because I hardly ever read one. But sometimes you can get a lot of wisdom and knowledge out of a book that isn't a true story. People who are really close to me had been pounding at me to read To Kill a Mockingbird for over a year, and I finally finished it.
About the author
Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926, and died on February 19, 2016. She's best known for this book, but she also wrote a handful of articles and, many years later, Go Set a Watchman, which continues the story. It was found in a safe deposit box by her lawyer. Her real first name was Nelle, her grandmother's name spelled backwards, and "Harper Lee" was her pen name. Her father wanted her to study law, but her love for English won out. The book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and quickly became a modern classic.
My copy is a 323-page paperback, glued, with rather cheap paper. About as cheap as a book gets, but you get what you get.
Is it a Christian book?
It's a fun story about a little girl, her brother, and her uncle, who defends the accused, and it includes many helpful lessons. My brother would even call it a Christian book. It shows the true evil of racism, and the only way you can have that standard is from a Christian perspective: all men are created equal, made in the image of God.
For me, I don't know if I'd call it a Christian book. There are definitely morals and things to be learned, but there are still a few concerns for Christians.
Three cautions
1. Language. Because I read almost nothing but theology, I'd forgotten that some words get used this way in books. There isn't much of it, but it's noticeable. As Christians we need to be sure we don't dwell on those words or get drawn into using them.
2. Blasphemy. Taking the Lord's name in vain. I understand that this is how people talk, and authors don't want to be unrealistic. But I tend to mouth the words as I read a novel, and that made this dangerous for me. I don't want to take the Lord's name in vain. We need to be extremely careful that kind of language doesn't get into our minds.
3. It can pull us away from the Bible. This is true of any book. A novel is much easier to read than deep theology or working out what a text of Scripture means, so it's easy to fall into reading this instead. Make sure it doesn't take the place of your Scripture and theological reading. I had to do that myself.
One line that got me
There was one sentence I meditated on for quite some time. Scout says that until she feared she would lose it, she never loved to read. "One does not love breathing."
There's so much there. You might not love reading, but think about losing the ability to read, and that may completely change your love for it. And she connects reading to breathing. We don't think about breathing; we just do it. But when you think about losing it, you begin to love it. Reading is that necessary.
Would I recommend it?
Yes, in light of those three cautions. It's a classic, and it's a classic for good reason. There's a reason it's been read so many times and given such wonderful reviews.
Soli Deo Gloria!
