I slogged through on and off again, as I was in the middle of the spring semester. I finished the book a week or so ago, right around the time of the Dylann Roof massacre, sadly enough.
In any case, the New York Times writes about Lee's new book:
On the eve of the most anticipated publishing event in years — the release of Harper Lee’s novel “Go Set a Watchman” — there is yet another strange twist to the tale of how the book made its way to publication, a development that further clouds the story of serendipitous discovery that generated both excitement and skepticism in February.Meh.
As HarperCollins, the publisher, and Ms. Lee’s lawyer, Tonja B. Carter, have told it, Ms. Carter set out to review an old typescript of “To Kill a Mockingbird” in August and happened upon an entirely different novel — one with the same characters but set 20 years later — attached to it.
“I was so stunned,” Ms. Carter told The New York Times last winter.
But another narrative has emerged that suggests the discovery may have happened years earlier, in October 2011, when Justin Caldwell, a rare books expert from Sotheby’s auction house, flew to Alabama to meet with Ms. Carter and Samuel Pinkus, then Ms. Lee’s literary agent, to appraise a “Mockingbird” manuscript for insurance and other purposes.
The discrepancy between the two accounts raises questions about whether the book was lost and accidentally recovered, and about why Ms. Lee would not have sought to publish it earlier...
Tempest in a teapot.
The fact is she's got a "prequel" coming out. I expect it's going to be excellent. To Kill a Mockingbird is nearabouts the perfect novel. Briskly paced, not too long, wonderful characters, heart-tugging tragedy, and bizarre and surprising twists. Harper Lee's a great writer. I'm impressed.
Buy the book at Amazon, Go Set a Watchman: A Novel.
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