Go Set a Watchman Audiobook By Harper Lee cover art

Go Set a Watchman

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Go Set a Watchman

By: Harper Lee
Narrated by: Reese Witherspoon
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Go Set a Watchman is set during the mid-1950s and features many of the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird some 20 years later.

Scout (Jean Louise Finch) has returned to Maycomb from New York to visit her father, Atticus. She is forced to grapple with issues both personal and political as she tries to understand both her father's attitude toward society and her own feelings about the place where she was born and spent her childhood.

An instant classic.

©2015 Penguin Audio (P)2015 Penguin Audio Classics Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Small Town & Rural
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As a book on its own, this is no doubt a good work. However, reading it directly after reading TKAM, I did not enjoy it.
I feel Atticus' character is too different from the Atticus in TKAM and some of the facts and events Scout remembers are different from TKAM. This, together with the fact that some of the passages are the same word for word in both books, leads me to believe that this is indeed an earlier draft of TKAM and not it s sequel.

Not what I expected

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Amidst the plethora of discussion (mostly negative) about this title over recent weeks it would be easy to lose sight of the value of this book and the skill of Ms Lee. I've read suggestions that she didn't write it (rubbish, in my opinion), that it's a big Murdoch publicity stunt (possible, but so what) and that it is literary dross. Addressing the last of these, I strongly disagree!
One reviewer said it was not published earlier because it was no good; it had too many semi-colons - the last refuge of the literary insolvent. I'm not sure if that reviewer has re-visited TKAM recently, but if they had, they would see dashes galore and a reasonable dosage of semi-colons. Apparently that did not affect the literary merit of the earlier title.
Someone else said that this is a blunt instrument to convey Ms Lee's smooth message about race. I'm not sure if the reviewer considered that this title is intended to be more confronting that TKAM. If it was, then on that scale, no doubt it was a successful attempt.
A reviewer on this site suggests that its cross-references to TKAM are inaccurate. Some of them are. However, given the elapse of time between the events in each book, these inconsistencies might be seen as merely a doting daughter's rose coloured memories and not the truth, thereby re-enforcing the underlying message of the book that when you set out to sanctify the truth might be lost.
I could go on, but it is not necessary.
In my view you can put aside the critics (me included) and just listen to the book. Like me, you might love it for what it is.
It is a story about a little girl becoming an adult; of seeing things in greys and not just black or white. It is about the realisation that our heroes are mostly human; that there comes a time to accept that no matter where North lies on your moral compass, it is still your responsibility to walk in the correct direction. Mostly for me, this is a story about a very real love and respect between father and daughter. It is an important book for that as well as the racial issues that it identifies (and which still bedevil society today, 50 years plus after this text was written).
I felt that the book was the better for being read by someone as accomplished as Reese Witherspoon. It was a perfect read to my ear.
I will be listening to this again, and often.

... in which Scout grows up

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What did you love best about Go Set a Watchman?

The follow on to "To kill a mocking bird", one of my favourite books.,and the follow on to the characters' lives.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Go Set a Watchman?

Scott's arrival back home!

Have you listened to any of Reese Witherspoon’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but keen to.

Loved this book and the way it was read!

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Reese was brilliant. Plot was a let down. Little suspense. No mockingbird that’s for sure.

Boring compared to to kill a mockingbird

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I love To Kill a Mockingbird, this adds depth to that story. Certainly makes you think about things can be made right… a nicely uncomfortable book.

Very thoughtful book!

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I find it hard to believe that Harper Lee really gave the OK to publish this book. It should have stayed in that safety deposit box where they found it. The book refers to things that happened in, To Kill a Mockingbird, but it misreferences the events. Other parts seem copy and pasted from the book.
If this book was not from Harper Lee, and was not riding on the coattails of such an iconic book, then I'd say it was OK, but slow. However, it is a book DOES have big shoes to fill, and because of that, it's a let down. Not only that, I feel it dishonors the book that came before it. This book should have remained unpublished. I feel this book is clearly a money grab by the publisher and should've been reedited to at least referenced its predecessor correctly.

I feel let down

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struggled to finish. What unbelievably judgemental. Hot at all how Atticus Finch raised his children.

unexpectedly unlike Scout's voice.

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Reese Witherspoon draws you into the world of Scout in a convincing and moving way. The humanity of this book has a gritty realism which brings a new dimension to Atticus Finch.

Fantastic! A worthy addition to "TKAMB"

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Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend it IF they'd liked To Kill A Mockingbird. There is something comforting about revisit familiar characters like Atticus and Scout. I also think Reese Witherspoon's narration was excellent. I really felt like I was in the South.

What did you like best about this story?

That old comforting feeling, for one thing. The ending surprised me a little too because I did not see it coming.

Which character – as performed by Reese Witherspoon – was your favorite?

Undoubtedly, Scout. If they ever make a movie, she'd be the perfect choice for Scout. :) Her Aunt Alexandra was quite believable too.

If you could rename Go Set a Watchman, what would you call it?

I don't know... The Ballad of Jean Louise, maybe?

The Mockingbird is Watching...

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We often view our parents as superhuman and it's with time that we realize that they are regular ordinary people with flaws just like everyone else

realness

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