Harper Lee to publish new book

[WeakAnkles]

One viewpoint: http://jezebel.com/be-suspicious-of-the-new-harper-lee-novel-1683488258

I have to say, I have to agree this raises some major questions. I'm embarrassed to say I did not realize that Lee was still alive prior to reading the release. It does seem weird that just three months after her attorney and sister died, this novel was "found" and Harper Lee suddenly gave the OK to publish it.

I really hope this isn't the case, but one's got to wonder.

Well the other "naughty" theory about To Kill a Mockingbird, is that her childhood friend Truman Capote was, let's say, very involved with the rewrites before it was published. That's the rumor anyway. I'll be curious to read it and see if the style is similar to TKaM.

 

[louisa05]

Well the other "naughty" theory about To Kill a Mockingbird, is that her childhood friend Truman Capote was, let's say, very involved with the rewrites before it was published. That's the rumor anyway. I'll be curious to read it and see if the style is similar to TKaM.

Lee said herself years ago that Capote was jealous that she won the Pulitzer and he never did and the claim came from that.

As for the questions about this being published, who knows? But I am a bit doubtful that her sister, in the last years of her own life was such a defender/caretaker given that the sister died at 103 and having lost her hearing herself.

I am not sure I am looking forward to this for the same reasons that Lee said for years she would never publish another book. If it is not as brilliant as Mockingbird (and it isn't likely to be having preceded it and possibly not been helped by an editor), people will use it to diminish her legacy. That does not sit well with me.

 

[skatedreamer]

This may sound really really thick, but I thought she was dead. I mean, didn't the book come out in the 19 somethings? I am fairly young, so I am not sure...I am not so much the book worm as much as I am an artist drawing.

You are sooooo cracking me up...and a belated welcome to GS! No doubt about it: Harper Lee is very old -- close to 100 or maybe even a bit older. The book was published in the early 1960s, which is a long time ago by most standards. Even mine, and I definitely remember the 19 somethings.

LOL, love having you among us, but I daresay that for a good number of us who belong to GS, the 19 somethings seem like yesterday -- not like the The Dark Ages. It's all relative.

Honey, to me they seem like yesterday and the Dark Ages!

 

[mnm464]

You are a good sport, and we need young blood around here.

Keep posting!

You are sooooo cracking me up...and a belated welcome to GS! No doubt about it: Harper Lee is very old -- close to 100 or maybe even a bit older. The book was published in the early 1960s, which is a long time ago by most standards. Even mine, and I definitely remember the 19 somethings.



Honey, to me they seem like yesterday and the Dark Ages!

ahaha! Thank you for the welcome. Will do!

 

[skatedreamer]

ahaha! Thank you for the welcome. Will do!

Keep drawing, too!

Re: Harper Lee's age, I mis-spoke. Sorry to lead you astray! She was born in 1926 and will turn 89 this year on April 28. Still old, but not yet 100 -- I must have been confusing her w/ her older sister, Alice, who is mentioned in many of the articles about the upcoming book.

 

[LRK]

Honey, to me they seem like yesterday and the Dark Ages!

I remember when I realised that in the year 2000 I'd be 29 years old - and immediately dismissed it from my thoughts as being so far into the future as not to be worth bothering about.

 

[dorispulaski]

If we haven't got a GS book club book by july, how about this one.

 

[skatedreamer]

If we haven't got a GS book club book by july, how about this one.

Works for me -- I've already ordered my copy.

 

[Meoima]

If we haven't got a GS book club book by july, how about this one.

:thumbsup: OKAY to this! I already asked my friend to order this book for me.

 

[mnm464]

Keep drawing, too!

Re: Harper Lee's age, I mis-spoke. Sorry to lead you astray! She was born in 1926 and will turn 89 this year on April 28. Still old, but not yet 100 -- I must have been confusing her w/ her older sister, Alice, who is mentioned in many of the articles about the upcoming book.

Ah, I see. It is no problem! No worries! Thank you for clearing it up though!

 

[Mrs. P]

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/02/friends_say_harper_lee_was_man.html

This is a really sad situation if that's the case.

 

[louisa05]

Same site has a story with a totally opposite viewpoint.

http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/02/new_harper_lee_book_totally_le.html

I don't think we will ever know what the reality is. However, my bet is that this would have been published on her death if it were not done now.

In the last interview Lee gave in 1964, she said she was working on a second novel. That would a be different one than this one about to be published. I wonder if that is not the one she spoke of to the people in Monroeville that were interviewed in the story Mrs. P linked. For whatever reason, she never published that book and we don't know if she finished it.

This link includes that quote from 1964:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/...rticle/43637-the-no-publicity-bestseller.html

 

[andromache]

I've been eagerly anticipating the new book. To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my forever favorites (so much that I have a tattoo of a mockingbird from six years ago). So the early reviews of the book being released are very, very distressing for me: http://time.com/3954581/go-set-a-watchman-review/.

Obviously I haven't read the book yet, but I think the phenomenon and legacy of To Kill a Mockingbird will be impacted by this new one--and that's not necessarily a bad thing. As someone who read Mockingbird and fell in love with Scout for the first time as a child, it will definitely be fascinating to read its sequel as an adult from the adult viewpoint of Jean Louise. Maybe not entirely dissimilar to those of us who "grew up" with Harry Potter and were faced with a very flawed Dumbledore in the final book.

This has just been a day of very distressing fictional revelations for me. Does anyone else here plan on reading it?

 

[ice coverage]

ICYMI:

Chapter One of "Go Set A Watchman" is available online now. Both the text version and the audio of the reading (by Reese Witherspoon) are on The Guardian website.
https://twitter.com/BookMentors/status/619501762110713856​

 

[Scout]

Despite being a huge fan of TKaM (see username), I am not excited for this novel. Aside from the controversy already mentioned, I've heard that Atticus is portrayed as a racist in the new novel. As one of my all time favourite fictional characters, I don't want to see the beliefs and illusions I've held about him be destroyed. I guess I'll wait to see what others say about the novel and how it is received before I decide whether or not I want to read it.

 

[Meoima]

Despite being a huge fan of TKaM (see username), I am not excited for this novel. Aside from the controversy already mentioned, I've heard that Atticus is portrayed as a racist in the new novel. As one of my all time favourite fictional characters, I don't want to see the beliefs and illusions I've held about him be destroyed. I guess I'll wait to see what others say about the novel and how it is received before I decide whether or not I want to read it.

They said it's more like of a draft isn't it?

 

[bartlebooth]

Nelle Harper Lee passed away, aged 89. May she RIP.

To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the books of my life - I've read it over and over since I was a child.

 

[rosacotton]

I was so sad to hear this! RIP Miss Lee.