GROUP B BOOKS 2023-2024: 10 Nominated books. Vote for no more than 5.

B9 Type: Literary Mystery To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, 1960 / MVLC: many

Basics · Briefly: The story is best known for Atticus Finch's defense of Tom Robinson, a poor black man, in a false charge of rape, and a stacked deck of prejudicial factors in the trial. · Protagonist: Atticus Finch, one of the best know protagonists in all of American literature- also the narrator's father. He is the moral hero and model of integrity for many in the legal profession. As narrator, his daughter Jean Finch (Scout), is a secondary protagonist calling attention to issues of class, courage, compassion, and gender roles in the Deep South through minor characters and subplots. · Setting: During three years (1933–35) of the Great Depression in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama. · Context: This the main literary work of Harper Lee. It's sometimes classified as a Southern Gothic novel. But there is a crime in the story, so it is also "crime fiction." Because the novel also includes deep characterization and introduces ideas and themes that provoke discussion and even self-reflection, among other things, it certainly fits the "literary mystery" designation. At the same time there are many excellent courtroom scenes and the main character is an attorney, so that can indicate the book can also cohabit the legal drama "type." Long Form Scout Finch is a young girl growing up in a small Alabama town during the 1930s. Tensions mount in Maycomb, Alabama, as Scout's father, Atticus Finch, prepares to defend Tom Robinson, a Black man falsely accused of raping a white woman. Then during the trial, Atticus mounts a compelling defense for Tom and accuses Bob Ewell, the father of Tom's accuser, of domestic abuse. Though his children are deeply shaken by the outcome of the trial and the events that follow, Atticus urges them not to lose their empathy and their faith in others. The story itself is a vehicle for illustrating social issues like racial and other prejudice, moral complexity, and the loss of childhood innocence. -------- Ashamed to say, I have never read it (I've seen the movie!). Somehow I remember a small group in my sophomore English class reading it, but I was not among them. Most of you have probably read it as a teenager, unless you are older than me. Is this a book you'd like to revisit as an adult to see what you think of it now? Discuss as an adult? –Dick Awards for this Book § 98 weeks on the NY Times best seller list § Pulitzer Prize § and many more