These few days have been kinda animated for me. Ongoing renovations have been done here and there around my house to replace all the windows. Oh god, I hate the noise, mess and not to mention the inconvenience caused by it.
Amidst all the renovation works, I did however managed to spend the whole morning reading To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The main reason I bought this book in the first place was because of the good reviews that I have been getting about this book. Besides that, this book supposedly sold over 30 million copies. That of course, just makes you wana get a copy yourself - after all how often do you come across a book which almost top the sale of the Bible in life? So there I was in Popular, getting myself a copy of this highly acclaimed literature piece.
At first sight, this novel might seem like your every other fictional works that deals with a fictional family with the father as a lawyer dealing with his daily case. Well in short, that is the basis of the story. Nonetheless, this novel offer much more then that. The tale of the widowed father, Atticus - a middle aged lawyer (for his real age wasn't specified throughout the novel) defending a black man called Tom for rapping a young white woman named Mayella. (technically Mayella isn't a pure white woman, rather she is a mix between a white man and a black woman) is a truly enlightening and thought-provoking tale. Told in the eyes of Atticus's daughter Scout Finch, the novel's main theme is about racism or rather racial injustice way back then in the South (as if we don't have racism nowadays) and also the loss of innocence (the death of the innocents in other word).
What I really like about this novel, is the ability of the author to skillfully weave a tale filled with such details, emotions, sarcasm, cynicism, humour and complexities. All of this which are narrated from the point of view of a child filled with such innocence and naivety.
I have to say the significance and the meaning of this novel is also worth mentioning. The title itself is very intriguing indeed. Took me some time later to figure out the reason on why the author choose to use the mockingbird motif throughout the story. Here's a little snippet from the novel itself which might give you some clue or idea on the title of this novel;
In a nutshell, I really love this book very much. It's definitely going to my favourite book list. I would recommend anyone out there who are yet to read it, to buy one from the nearest bookstore and start reading!
And have I mention before, that this novel has a long history? It was my mum's literature book during their secondary schooling years. To Kill A Mockingbird was published way back in 1960. That's 47 years ago - yet this book still remains as a hit and a book relevant in our daily life. So, need I say more about this novel?
Just one;
