To Kill a Mockingbird (slipcased edition) (Hardcover)

by Harper Lee (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

At the age of eight, Scout Finch is an entrenched free-thinker. She can accept her father's warning that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird, because mockingbirds harm no one and give great pleasure. The benefits said to be gained from going to school and keeping her temper elude her.

The place of this enchanting, intensely moving story is Maycomb, Alabama. The time is the Depression, but Scout and her brother, Jem, are seldom depressed. They have appalling gifts for entertaining themselves—appalling, that is, to almost everyone except their wise lawyer father, Atticus.

Atticus is a man of unfaltering good will and humor, and partly because of this, the children become involved in some disturbing adult mysteries: fascinating Boo Radley, who never leaves his house; the terrible temper of Mrs. Dubose down the street; the fine distinctions that make the Finch family "quality"; the forces that cause the people of Maycomb to show compassion in one crisis and unreasoning cruelty in another.

Also because Atticus is what he is, and because he lives where he does, he and his children are plunged into a conflict that indelibly marks their lives—and gives Scout some basis for thinking she knows just about as much about the world as she needs to.

About the Author

Harper Lee was born in 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama. She attended the local schools and studied law at the University of Alabama. For some years she spent most of her time in New York City, where, until she began writing, she was employed in the reservations department of an international airline. "Aside from writing," says Miss Lee, "my chief interests in life are collecting memoirs of nineteenth-century clergymen, golf, crime and music."

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (October 17, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061205699
• ISBN-13: 978-0061205699
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #41,208 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #7 in

  Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( L ) > Lee, Harper

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's a Sin to Kill a Mockingbird..., April 5, 2007

By	Bookratt "bookratt" - See all my reviews

My mother bequeathed her 1962 college edition hardcover to me in 1988, four years after I finished high school. It would be four more years before I myself went away to school, though I knew the story nearly by heart by then.

I reread Mockingbird every year at Eastertime, though I am not particularly religious, nor do I mark this time in any other particularly hopeful way. Many true bibliophiles I know still talk about this book and the way it changed them forever.

It deserves better than to be assigned reading to captive 6th and 10th graders. They read it then because they have to, not because some kind librarian or insightful teacher, or intuitive parent, sends it their way, like a lucky charm.

I am not a Southerner and unless you can call a Western New York born mother and an Owensboro, Kentucky bred father any sort of meaningful Southern influence in my life, I do not know why this story fits my life so well. It filled a need I never even knew was there until I closed its covers on first reading it.

I am a fan of both the writing and its message, its dual edged sword of hope and sorrow, the tragicomic aspect of its mood and setting.

I wanted to be Scout as a tomboy girl and when grown, to be Atticus; my cats have borne those monikers well.

I only wish my husband had not told me I could not name my own son after my hero.

A rare case where the movie and its inspiration are as beloved as its author, To Kill a Mockingbird, N words and all, needs to be read more---and not just as some lame excuse for a paper writing exercise. Scout, Jem and Dill come alive in these pages. They have meaning in their world and in this one.

The dialogue, minus a few colloquiallisms, is readable and real. You will laugh out loud at times when Scout makes her mind known to you.

You'll wish Atticus was a real man. Maybe you'll even feel a little guilty about wanting him to replace your father in real life.

And Tom Robinson? He'll break your heart. He should.

I was once told my Coleman family had some relation to Harper Lee's father's family and, if that bit of fiction has even the remotest grain of truth to it, I am even happier now than I was just having imagined it.

PLEASE READ THIS BOOK.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tightly written with a message for everyone, December 1, 2006

By	bernie "xyzzy" (Arlington, Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

Harper Lee was encouraged to write some of her childhood memories. What in the beginning seems like the story of three childhood friends in depression era Macomb, Alabama, turns out to be packed with insights to the makeup of human kind.

This story is intriguing on many levels from the history of the area to the stereotyping of people. Most of all every turn was a surprise as told in the first person from the view of Scout Finch. And instead of telling the story in a six year old vocabulary she uses an exceptionally large repertoire to describe the people and events. This story is not as slow passed as one may guess from first glance as every remark and every action will be needed for a future action.

A major controversial part of the story is the trial of Tom Robinson. Hoverer this is just a catalyst to help Scout understand the nature of people including her father Atticus and you will find that as important as it is it is just a part of the story with other major characters such as Arthur "Boo" Radley.

Even thought it appears that Scout is the recipient of the insights, I believe we the reader is the real recipient.

I can truly say that this book has changed my outlook in life.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for every person in the world, January 2, 2009

By	Joel Katte "BASEBALL MEMOIR COMING SOON! from... (Home of the Milwaukee Brewers) - See all my reviews

To KILL A MOCKINGBIRD was one of my favorite books to teach when I taught high school English. Its strong characters, gripping dialogue, and powerful messages mesmerize its readers. I used to think it was a book that every student should be required to read before he or she graduates from high school. I have since changed my thinking; instead, I now strongly feel that every human being needs to read it before he or she dies. Read this book; better yet, read it with someone and talk about it as you immerse yourself deeper and deeper. When you finish, you will be a stronger person and the lessons you learn will benefit you and those around you. Trust me, put this on your "Must Read Before I Die" list.