Banned Books Week 2011: To Kill a Mockingbird

  I feel like one of the last readers who haven't read Harper Lee's masterpiece To Kill a Mockingbird. I was never required to read for school. I had originally planned to read it for last years Banned Books Week but didn't have enough time. After finishing the book, I can see why it has remained so popular and given the marks of a classic novel.

Description: A young girl growing up in an Alabama town in the 1930s learns of injustice and violence when her father, a widowed lawyer, defends a black man falsely accused of rape.

Review: To Kill a Mockingbird is a complex novel that seamlessly weaves a coming of age story along with a critical look at the injustice and prejudice of a small southern town. Scout, our main narrator, is an unconventional girl in her society. She is a precocious child who is eager to learn, has plenty of self confidence, well aware of her surroundings, and has a pretty good moral compass thanks to her mild mannered father, Atticus Finch. I loved how Scout isn't forced to live within the confines of her social identity, but continues to act freely by wearing whatever clothes she likes, plays with boys, and openly addresses her father by his first name. She doesn't care of what people think of her nor what other girls her age are doing. She is comfortable in her own skin. It is through Scout's eyes that we slowly see the world we once thought was so simply divided into right and wrong become muddled, unfair, and even evil.
  Like many readers I'm sure, Atticus Finch was my favorite character. He is a role model and the epitome of a hero. He is intelligent, calm, and always well mannered. Atticus is respected by everyone, including the very poor. He functions as the moral backbone of Maycomb, a counselor whom others seek advice from when they are in times of doubt and trouble. It's ironic that his conscience that makes him so admirable ultimately causes him to be a social outcast as he agrees to defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white man's daughter. Though Atticus’s action makes him the object of scorn in Maycomb, he also seems to retain his dignity and respect after the trial as before. What I love most about Atticus is that he practices the ethic of sympathy and understanding that he preaches to his children and never holds a grudge against the people of Maycomb. As a reader I had a hard time overlooking their racial intolerance but Atticus sees the goodness of the people. He recognizes that people have both good and bad qualities, and he is determined to admire the good while understanding and forgiving.
  It is obvious why To Kill a Mockingbird is controversial as it brings out the dark side of the American society, however, in less than 300 pages it manages to teach us many important lessons such as to place ourselves in other people's shoes before we make a rash decision, to not take advantage of those who are helpless than us, and that yes, sometimes life is really unfair. I'm amazed that Harper Lee wrote an edgy book 50 years ago and it still remains to challenge us to this day. 

Rating: 4.5 stars

Why it was challenged/banned: To Kill a Mockingbird has been one of the most popular classics that have been challenged/banned. Challenged in Eden Valley, Minn. (1977) and temporarily banned due to words "damn" and "whore lady" used in the novel. Challenged in the Vernon Verona Sherill, N.Y School District (1980) as a "filthy, trashy novel:" Challenged at the Warren, Ind.Township schools (1981) because the book does "psychological damage to the positive integration process " and "represents institutionalized racism under the guise of good literature:" After unsuccessfully banning Lee's novel, three black parents resigned from the township human relations advisory council. Challenged in the Waukegan, III. School District (1984) because the novel uses the n word. Challenged in the Kansas City, Mo. junior high schools (1985). Challenged at the Park Hill, Mo. Junior High School (1985) because the novel "contains profanity and racial slurs:" Retained on a supplemental eighth grade reading list in the Casa Grande, Ariz. Elementary School District (1985), despite the protests by black parents and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People who charged the book was unfit for junior high use. Challenged at the Santa Cruz, Calif. Schools (1995) because of its racial themes. Removed from the Southwood High School Library in Caddo Parish, La. (1995) because the book's language and content were objectionable. Challenged at the Moss Point, Miss. School District (1996) because the novel contains a racial epithet. Banned from the Lindale,Tex. advanced placement English reading list (1996) because the book "conflicted with the values of the community." Challenged by a Glynn County, Ga. (2001) school board member because of profanity. The novel was retained. Returned to the freshman reading list at Muskogee, Okla. High School (2001) despite complaints over the years from black students and parents about racial slurs in the text. Challenged in the Normal, ILL Community High Schools sophomore literature class (2003) as being degrading to African Americans. Challenged at the Stanford Middle School in Durham, N.C. (2004) because the 1961 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel uses the n word. The challenges continue today.  Source: ALA.

Words of Caution: The n word is prominent in the book and it is used by all age levels in the book. The book is a reflection of how people felt and thought during the 1930s which is the time setting of this novel. It further emphasizes the racial prejudices in this town. I'm not sure where how the book promotes prejudice and racism, but rather, advocates people to take a stand and not tolerate these injustices.

If you like this book try: The Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky, The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi Durrow, The Help by Kathryn Stockett, I am Scout by Charles Shields

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders

  I love discovering new authors, particularly those who are from Pakistan. Daniyal Mueenuddin is an emerging Pakistani writer who debuted his collection of short stories called In Other Rooms, Other Wonders in 2009. He won the Pultizer Prize for Fiction in 2010.

Description: In collection of eight linked short stories, the lives of landowners and their workers on the Gurmani family farm in the countryside outside of Lahore, Pakistan are explored.

Review: Mueenuddin takes a critical look at the lives of several social classes in his debut collection of short stories. The eight stories explore relationships among the descendants of the super-rich Harouni farming family, living near Lahore, those who work on the farm, and those who marry (often unhappily) into it. Each stories are slices of life, giving the reader a glimpse of daily life. The stories are full with indigenous detail which had me transported to my last visit in Pakistan along with subtle understanding of their characters' complex experiences and destinies.
 No one is spared criticism and heartbreak in any of these stories. Servants use their years of loyalty working for their masters in hopes of getting support in return. Women expertly use their sensuality to ensnare a well off suitor and try to move up the social and security ladder are fatalistically ironic. Blind justice and characters who can almost grasp happiness are also recurring features in the short stories.
  Out of all the stories, my favorites are "Lily" and "Provide, Provide". In "Lily," we see the beginning of a budding and promising relationship. Just as the "honeymoon phase" is over, we began to witness its slow deterioration. "Provide, Provide," features the cunning and ambitious Zainab who insinuates herself among the Harounis, abandoning her weakling and drug addict husband to marry a well-placed household servant, only to lose everything. Mueenuddin is a very skillful and talented writer that left me wanting more. I will definitely pick up his next work.


Rating: 4 stars

Words of Caution: There is some strong language, allusion to sex, and drug use in the stories.

If you like this book try: Interpreters of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, Dubliners by James Joyce

That’s the title, not the date

  Julie had such a great time doing her first review that she wanted to do another one. I didn't even have to bribe her with chocolate! Thanks again, Julie, for being my guest blogger. Enjoy her review of March!

   I’m always intrigued and not a little wary when an author attempts to take on the embellishment in some way of a beloved classic such as Little Women. I can’t begin to count the number of books published around Austen’s character of Mr. Darcy. Do an Amazon search--I dare you. Even Winnie-the-Pooh spawned a series of philosophy books. I’m not a huge fan of fan fiction either. I find most of it somewhat self-indulgent on the author’s part. March sets itself up not as a sequel or an alternative storyline, but as a companion to Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, exploring the experiences of Mr. March while he was away from the girls during the Civil War.

Description: March imagines the wartime experiences of the absent father in Louisa May Alcott's beloved classic Little Women.

Below is an outtake from The American Masters segment about Louisa May Alcott, where Brooks is interviewed:

Review: Little Women holds a very special place in my heart as it was the book my mother sat and read to me over the course of a week when I was eleven years old, recovering from major surgery. She patiently read, I yelled at both the characters and the author, she waited and then read some more. At the time my favorite character was Beth, but I see my life has played out much more like Jo’s even though I can identify in some way with all the girls. Clearly that is a major part of Little Women’s timeless appeal; we all see some piece of ourselves alive and coming of age in its characters. In shelving her book next to Alcott’s classic, Brooks had some really big shoes to fill and for most of the book I wasn’t entirely convinced she pulled it off. I’ve always believed, however, that every book is ultimately made or broken by its ending. March ends well.

   
    Much of the book serves as a social commentary on the issues of slavery and racism. Very often I felt preached at. That’s not entirely without base since Mr. March was a preacher, army chaplain, and teacher. He is a man of ideals and strongly held beliefs. It is completely within his character to see the world, internalize it, and then sermonize on it. (At times the audio version even makes March sound pompous. I’m not sure, however, if that should be attributed to the author or the actor’s interpretation.) In any event, the overwhelming feeling is one of helplessness to effect any change for both Captain March and the reader since he is up against such appalling and prolific inhumanity. Capt. March has every one of his dearest held beliefs challenged by the realities of war, pervasive public opinion, and even his own mortal weaknesses.

  March is very well written and dove-tails beautifully with the original. Brooks clearly did her research, even basing her characterization of Capt. March on Alcott’s father, Amos Bronson Alcott. Alcott freely admitted that Little Women was based on herself and her sisters. The last third is told from Marmee’s prospective when she leaves Concord for Washington to bring a very much changed Capt. March home again. This is where I could insert myself easily into the story. Marmee voiced the uniquely female perspective that is Alcott’s strength. This is where I was finally returned to what I loved about Alcott’s book. Given its subject matter and prose, I’m not surprised it won the 2006 Pulitzer.

Note: Alcott did write three sequels to Little Women with Good Wives, Little Men and later Jo’s Boys, but I wonder where she would have taken Mr. March’s story since her own attachment as a writer always seemed to be toward her female characters. Perhaps she intuitively knew that tracing Captain March’s travels and experiences would be as harsh as Brooks wrote it to be. I liked Brooks’ development of the courtship between Marmee and March, how their marriage endured the separation, and the introduction of both Hannah and Aunt March.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Words of Caution: There are graphic descriptions of the treatment of slaves and heavy philosophical questions are raised, which is why I think it is more fitting as an adult book, however; I would recommend this book for mature readers over fifteen.

If you liked this book, try: Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks.