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| | To Kill a Mockingbird |  | Author: Harper Lee
Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd
Category: Book
Buy Used: $86.96
Used (2) from $86.96
Avg. Customer Rating:  1767 reviews
Sales Rank: 3955716
Format: Special Edition
Media: Hardcover
Edition: Gift edition
Pages: 320
ISBN: 0434413011
EAN: 9780434413010
ASIN: 0434413011
Publication Date: October 25, 1993
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Excellent customer service. Order inquiries handled promptly.
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Amazon.com Review
"When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.... When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out." Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression, To Kill a Mockingbird follows three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus--three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Though her story explores big themes, Harper Lee chooses to tell it through the eyes of a child. The result is a tough and tender novel of race, class, justice, and the pain of growing up. Like the slow-moving occupants of her fictional town, Lee takes her time getting to the heart of her tale; we first meet the Finches the summer before Scout's first year at school. She, her brother, and Dill Harris, a boy who spends the summers with his aunt in Maycomb, while away the hours reenacting scenes from Dracula and plotting ways to get a peek at the town bogeyman, Boo Radley. At first the circumstances surrounding the alleged rape of Mayella Ewell, the daughter of a drunk and violent white farmer, barely penetrate the children's consciousness. Then Atticus is called on to defend the accused, Tom Robinson, and soon Scout and Jem find themselves caught up in events beyond their understanding. During the trial, the town exhibits its ugly side, but Lee offers plenty of counterbalance as well--in the struggle of an elderly woman to overcome her morphine habit before she dies; in the heroism of Atticus Finch, standing up for what he knows is right; and finally in Scout's hard-won understanding that most people are essentially kind "when you really see them." By turns funny, wise, and heartbreaking, To Kill a Mockingbird is one classic that continues to speak to new generations, and deserves to be reread often. --Alix Wilber
Product Description
A hardback gift edition of this best-selling novel. A black man is charged with the rape of a girl, and through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1762 more reviews...
 Brilliant January 9, 2009
I decided to revisit this timeless classic since I hadn't read it since high school and hardly remembered it, which made me feel like I was missing out on something. The whole novel was entirely fresh to me and I was swept away once I got into it (and got past some of the southern language, accented speech and Ebonics). Mostly, I was enamored with Atticus Finch. His demeanor and sensibilities were remarkable under the circumstances and I admired the way he handled his relationships with his children. I also enjoyed watching Scout and Jem mature over the course of the years. It is no wonder the themes and characters have remained a staple in American literature for the last 50 years. The courtroom scene is riveting, the racial commentary poignant, the perspective priceless. Everyone should read this at least once in their lives if only to savor the richness and depth of Harper Lee's brilliance.
I loved hearing Sissy Spacek read this classic story. December 8, 2008
Her voices for the various characters and her southern accent are enchanting. She was a pleasure to listen to. The story is told by Scout, the daughter of Atticus, an attorney defending a black man accused of rape. The story illustrates the ugliness of racial inequalities in the South which hurts. But it also shows human goodness with a decent ending.
DATA:
Story length: 12.3 hours. Language: offensive racial slurs. Setting: Maycomb, Alabama, prior to 1960. Copyright: 1960. Genre: human relationships fiction and race relations.
A Must Read for all Readers and Non-Readers December 4, 2008
This book captivates the mind with its wonderful adventures and adorable characters. Seeing the world through the eyes of an eight year old may sound dumb, and not a great way to spend you time. On the contrary, the memories that you had as a chold growing up emerge from a long sleep and you start to remember your adventure. Remember the haunted mansion down the street? the old man who murdered his wife? Well, this story talks about those stories, and more. It talks about matters that even most adults don't approach in the modern world. The setting is in the depths of the Great Depression, and it takes place in little Maycomb County, Alabama. The story weaves in and out of race, caste systems, and everyday life alongside fun in an "in-depth" story. This book has much more depth than when first read. Many chapters that seem random aren't that strange for they all have a meaning. I personally loved this book. I read it at school and it brought so much fun while reading it. It also brought the thrill of watching a trial through the eyes of a child. We as the readers are made to think in this book, but not so much that it's hard. Because our lives have progressed so much we see that her world is very different from ours right now. But similarities are still there. A couple of chapters in this book represent how even though something looks like it has been uprooted from our world (ex: racism), to get it to go away, you have to dig it up from it's roots. One major theme in this story is Roots and History. It even has a little tale of puppy love! (Remember those first crushes?). I realize that I make it sound bad, but that is because in class we do tend to overthink everything. That's why if you're an intellectual reader or just someone who likes books or to pass time, no matter what genre you like, this book will appeal to you. Buy this book or borrow it from a library or a friend and read it, because it will touch your heart as a great book and warm your heart as a human being. The movie though... Well, that's another story.
Stop What You're Doing And Read This December 3, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
If you haven't read this book yet, stop whatever it is that you're doing, go immediately to a book store, and pick this up. To Kill a Mockingbird is among the best books I've ever read.
For those that haven't read this, or haven't seen the film version with Gregory Peck, which is also outstanding, To Kill a Mockingbird is about the Finch family. Atticus Finch is a lawyer and widower in a small Alabama town during the Great Depression. He has two children: Jem, an 11-year old boy, and Scout, an 8-year old girl. Their lives are turned upside down when Atticus is appointed to represent Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman. The story is told from Scout's perspective.
While the story is framed around social and racial issues in the South, it's really about much more than that: primarily, it's a story about growing up. The Robinson case makes the transitions that Jem and Scout go through much more dramatic, but they experience the same kind of wonder and confusion that all of us experience as we move from childhood to young adulthood.
Atticus is exactly the kind of person we aspire to be: honest, caring, understanding, moral, and unflappable. You sort of get the impression of Atticus as the last righteous man. Atticus lives his philosophy: "The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience" (p. 120). In short, Atticus is the emodiment of human dignity--not just for himself, but for others too. If you aren't moved by his closing argument in the Robinson trial, you may be in a coma.
I thought it was odd, and somewhat revealing hearing the kids, especially Scout, describe their father: "Atticus was feeble: he was nearly fifty. When Jem and I asked him why he was so old, he said he got started late, which we felt reflected upon his abilities and manliness....Our father didn't do anything. He worked in an office, not in a drugstore. Atticus didn't drive a dump truck for the county, he was not the sheriff, he did not farm, work in a garage, or do anything that could possibly arouse the admiration of anyone." Ouch. But this is Scout with a child's perspective; her growing maturity changes the way both she and Jem see their father.
Harper Lee never wrote another novel; she grew up with and remained a close friend of Truman Capote's until his death. Harper Lee and Gregory Peck also remained close friends until his demise; Peck's grandson was named Harper in her honor.
To Kill a Mockingbird won the Pulitzer Prize for a reason: it's a masterpiece. Its warmth, compassion, comedy, and tragedy are rendered with such humanity that it honestly blew me away. I can't recommend it enough. Read it today.
 So very boring November 28, 2008
1 out of 13 found this review helpful
The only reason this book deserves one star is that something interesting actually happened,albeit AT THE END OF THE FRIGGIN' BOOK!
I swear watching Teletubbies or mold grow in your shower is more interesting than this book.I could not get through half of it.
Nothing even goes on until the very end.By then though,you have given up as did I.
I agree that the book has a good plot but, how the plot is written is an entirely different story.One reviewer on here said that it sounded like it was written by a fifth grader.I wholeheartedly agree.I will never pick up this book again.
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