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Go Set a Watchman

edited July 2015 in - Reading
Has anyone read it yet? I bought the book today and I'm a bit nervous about reading it... I so don't want to be disappointed. I've deliberately avoided reading any reviews because I don't want to be influenced. Anyone having the same dilema?

Comments

  • I have it. I have read the reviews and thus don't want to read it for other reasons.
  • Why read the reviews?
  • Well, when I say reviews, I have read comments by others on FB without realising, and learned things by accident I'm actually glad I learned because if I'd waited to read the book I'd have been very upset.
  • But you're already upset. Why not read it and form your own opinion?
  • 'form your own opinion' yes, always. Get that book out, Liz.
  • Go on,Liz, read it. You know how much you love getting upset. ;;)
  • This is why I hate reviews. If I ever do read a review, it's only after I've read the book - never before - and even then, I find myself questioning my feelings about the book, so I generally have a policy of not reading them.
  • edited July 2015
    There has certainly been some questionable goings on, but that will never be proved.

    And you need to remember that this book was written first, so Atticus will be different in his fictional old age. He started that way and became the younger character in the original book.

  • edited July 2015
    Hmm. Shall I read To Kill? I think I might have to.
  • I've altered it, Baggy.
  • I'm not hesitant about reading it because the characters might have changed - I'm hesitant because Mockingbird was so powerful and beautifully written. I want this one to be just as good and have the same emotional impact... and it probably won't.
  • I would be surprised if it did, given its history.
    Not sure how much you know about what it is, Claudia, so don't want to say too much.
  • TKMB is my favourite book. I am loathe for the same reasons as Claudia to start GSAW. I'm not bothered about Atticus. I am about J. Because my son is named for him.

    But even so, i think I could probably disassociate myself from the characters in the one book to read them as new characters in the second. It's the quality of the writing, the feeling the book has always given me, the mystery, the love, the truth that I hopee will not be influenced from the second.

    I have it in case I change my mind.
  • C2C2
    edited July 2015
    It could be morally up - lifting.
  • edited July 2015

    There has certainly been some questionable goings on, but that will never be proved.

    And you need to remember that this book was written first, so Atticus will be different in his fictional old age. He started that way and became the younger character in the original book.

    A good point Carol-something most 'reviewers' are ignoring. Mockingbird was written because the publishers rejected Watchman feeling the characters weren't developed enough. Hence the backstory in Mockingbird. Can't review either as I've not read them. I always struggle reading the original after seeing the filmed version and obviously the film was a classic. I remember my daughter reading Mockingbird for GCSE but if I recall she didn't like it much.
    I suspect a lot of people are probably the same, just watched the film rather than reading the book and then get a bit touchy if anything interferes with their memories.
    Joanne Harris did a studied review of Watchman so I'd rather listen to her than some of the other nay-sayers.
  • I have only ever read the fabulous book - the film is one that I don't want to see in case it interferes with my internal view of the book.

    I loved the book so much when we read it at school (aged 12) my English teacher gave me my school copy and bought another for the school herself. I still have that book.
  • I have the first book but I haven't yet read it. It's now getting more popular and my brother is waiting for a copy from the library, they never get more copies in.
  • I read it – it made me cry! In the beginning it was like meeting an old friend in Scout, which was emotional to start with (it was like reconnecting with my child self in a way, as I read it in school) and I have to say that it stayed with me for a long time afterwards. I enjoyed it overall – it’s understandable that people don’t want to have their memories of TKAM tarnished but I think it is well worth a read.
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