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Go Set a Watchman

The landmark follow-up to the bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning To Kill a Mockingbird

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Go Set a Watchman

By: Harper Lee
Narrated by: Reese Witherspoon
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Go Set a Watchman is set during the mid-1950s and features many of the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird some twenty years later. Scout (Jean Louise Finch) has returned to Maycomb from New York to visit her father Atticus. She is forced to grapple with issues both personal and political as she tries to understand both her father’s attitude toward society, and her own feelings about the place where she was born and spent her childhood. An instant classic. Coming of Age Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction United States World Literature Classics
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Critic reviews

A new work, and a pleasure, revelation and genuine literary event…Go Set a Watchman shakes the settled view of both an author and her novel…This publication intensifies the regret that Harper Lee published so little. (Mark Lawson)
Go Set a Watchman is the more radical, ambitious and politicised of the two novels Lee has now published…It has contemporary relevance where Mockingbird is safely sealed off as a piece of American history…It does not undermine Mockingbird but it makes a reassessment of that story absolutely necessary…It is a book of enormous literary interest…Beguiling and distinctive, and reminiscent of Mockingbird…Go Set a Watchman can’t be dismissed as literary scraps from Lee’s’ imagination. It has too much integrity for that. (Arifa Akbar)
More edgy and thought provoking [than To Kill a Mockingbird] … It has a power to it beyond being a mere historical curio or more lit crit material for Harper Lee studies… Eccentric characters are brightly drawn. There is Lee’s trademark warmth, some droll lines and the sense of place and time is strong…[It has] a surprisingly provocative message — don’t airily dismiss the prejudices of others, try to understand them. (Robbie Millen)
The flashes of lyrical genius and ability to evoke the intensity of childhood play that come to fruition in To Kill a Mockingbird are in evidence…It’s nowhere near the novel Mockingbird is. It is much better than that…What Watchman tells us, and tells us rather powerfully, is that racism is not confined to people who are so clearly not like us…Watchman is for grown-ups. It asks serious questions about what racism is. And it comes at a time when American desperately needs a grown-up conversation about race. (Erica Wagner)
I’m happy to report that most of the caveats and conspiracy theories surrounding Go Set a Watchman melt away as you read the opening chapters and reacquaint yourself with that beguiling Harper Lee narrative style — warm, sardonic, amused by male folly and social pretension, wryly funny, a sassy Southern voice, Mark Twain with a dash of Katharine Hepburn. (John Walsh)
We have travelled into the past and returned to find that our present is not quite the same as we left it. Atticus Finch will never again be the white knight we once thought him. And yet the mockingbird still sings — no longer a song of innocence, but maybe one of experience; a song that combines sorrow, forgiveness — and, ultimately, a kind of hope. (Joanne Harris)
There are some flashes of genius…My favourite scene is at “a coffee”, where our rebellious Scout must make small talk with a bunch of married former acquaintances whom she deliberately hasn’t seen since school. Lee’s précis of their vapid conversation is hilarious, feminist and wickedly modern. (Katy Guest)
All stars
Most relevant
I was so looking forwards to this book, continuing the story of To Kill A Mockingbird, which is in my top three books I have read, I just couldn't wait. Unfortunately I wish I hadn't read it, not because it's a bad book or because it wasn't enjoyable to read, but because it broke something in me that To Kill A Mockingbird created, memories, emotions and a philosophy which I felt I learnt from it, yes many of the characters were the same but they had also changed in so many ways that It just didn't feel the same. This is just how It affected me and it may affect you differently but I wish I had preserved the memory of to Kill A Mockingbird just the way it was and now it feels tainted. On a plus Reese Witherspoon was absolutely perfect as Scout, I was impressed and of course it was extremely well written and very funny in places, it just wasn't for me.

Just wasn't for me!

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I enjoyed the story of Jean Louise as she went back home to maycombe. it took a while to get past the fact it was Reese Witherspoon reading it, but she did a good job and it was an enjoyable listen.

an interesting take on racism in the south

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Any additional comments?

I think this is a beautifully written book, it develops the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird and provides an insight into the culture and thinking of the time but it's a bit of a let down as far as the story goes, in my opinion. I had to listen to it but I'm not sure I'd be in too much of a hurry to listen to it again.

Well written but not much of a story...

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Where does Go Set a Watchman rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I loved it - I was a little skeptical about listening to it but once I put it on, I couldn't stop. It's a very calming audio book to listen to.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Go Set a Watchman?

The first time you meet Atticus Finch. Lee explains that Scout still sees Atticus as the 50 year old man who appears in To Kill a Mockingbird, and that's exactly how the reader remembers him. You understand the sadness she goes through when she realises her dad is now a old man.

Which character – as performed by Reese Witherspoon – was your favourite?

Scout - she has a great, fiery personality and Reese Witherspoon captures that.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Definitely.

Any additional comments?

People have criticized this book, complaining that it's not as good as the first, but you have to bear in mind that is was only a draft and that To Kill a Mocking Bird is an exceptional piece of literature. I thoroughly enjoy Go Set a Watchman and I'm glad the character's were brought back to life.

Brilliant :)

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Fantastic story brought to life beautifully by Reese. I want to read it again already.

Best read for a long time.

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