Celticlady's Reading Room

“For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.”

Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee (Instaread) is an analysis and summary of the book. I enjoyed this short preview of the book, gives me an idea on whether I would want to read the complete novel. I never read To Kill A Mockingbird, but I did see the movie a long time ago, I do kind of remember the story.

This highly publicized novel was written before TKAMB but never published. It starts out with 26 yr old Jean Louise Finch (Scout, as she was called as a child) going back to where she grew up in Maycomb Alabama for a visit as she does every year. Her father, Atticus is now 72 and has his sister Alexandra living with him to help him as he has some health issues.

While there in Maycomb, Jean-Louis is confronted by the racial tension that is very prevalent in the south in the 50's. She finds and is surprised at her father's attitude toward segregation.

Other characters that are important to the story are:
* Dr. Jack Finch, the brother of Atticus, a retired physician.
*Calpurnia, who is the matriarch of a large black family, was almost like a mother to Jean Louis, as her mother died at a young age of a heart attack.
*Jean Louis's brother Jem, who also died young after serving in WWII, of a heart attack just like his mother.
*Henry (Hank) Jean Lois's boyhood friend, they pick up their relationship where they left off.

Basically, this is a story about racism and the civil rights movement and a coming of age during an important time in history for the south. The story focus's on the public and personal climate of the times, most people would want the south to continue as it has for decades but with the civil rights movement, those days are gone and the southern culture gets disrupted in a big way. The personal part of the story is how Jean Louis comes to term with her father and uncle's views, her relationship with Hank and what she ultimately wants to do with the rest of her life.

I really enjoyed this shortened version of Go Set a Watchman, it gave me a brief glimpse of what the story is about, the characters and the style in which the author wrote this novel. This Instaread version is written without bias and is well done. I think I may just read more of these before I actually get the full version books. If you want to know what Go Set A Watchman is about, give this summary a try.