Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

So I read this book for the "Book Everyone's Read but You Haven't"  category of my reading challenge.   I was reluctant to read it.  I had heard so much about Harper Lee not really wanting this book to be published and I thought that what happened to her at the end of her life was just terrible.  Still,  I was curious.... After all, Scout and Atticus were too of my favorite characters growing up.

I guess it's true what they say, you can never really go home again.  Just like when we go away to highschool and then come back to elementary school and see the chairs are so little, my perceptions of both Atticus and Jean  completely changed after reading this.   Who could ever imagine calling Scout "Jean"? 

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout has a child's perceptions of her father.  He is perfect - measured, reasonable, intelligent and kind.   In this book, events occur which cause Jean to re- evaluate those thoughts.   It's funny how when we are children our parents often seem to perfect but as we get older, we realize that they are human.  

This book seems largely an argument that Jean has with herself .  I like to think of it as Jean vs. Scout.  I won't tell you which one wins or even if there is a winner at all.    It's also about Jean standing up to her father, challenging him and thereby challenging her own beliefs.

It isn't the perfect book that I have always viewed To Kill A Mockingbird to be, but it is worth reading. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.