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October book club: To Kill a Mockingbird

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited January 2023 in General Chat
Spoiler alert! It is the nature of a Book Club discussion that there will be spoilers in this thread. Finish the book, first.

This is so late! Sorry! I totally forgot it was my turn to start the discussion.

So, here's what I want to know;
  • Did the book have an emotional impact on you? How?
  • Which character's experience most resonated with your own?
  • Who do you blame for the fate of Tom Robinson? What about Bob Ewell?
  • Did you manage to get through the whole book without once thinking of this song?

I'd also be interested to know if anyone watched the film, what they made of it.

Book Club chat is on Wednesday, 14th November.
Post edited by JustV on

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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    •Did the book have an emotional impact on you? How?
    Lots. Atticus Finch is one of those fatherly figures I hold up on a very high pedastool. He may be fictional but he's just brilliant and wise in every way. The respect he's garnered from his children as well as the local residents is well deserved. Afer reading it again for book club I told my mum that I thought of her as the female version of Atticus Finch. She was flattered because the book means a lot to her too.

    •Which character's experience most resonated with your own?
    A little. The summers with Scout, Jem and Dill reminded me of a lot of the long drawn out summer holidays spent playing outside, building bases in the orchard and making up stories/legends about other neighbours to pass the time.

    •Who do you blame for the fate of Tom Robinson? What about Bob Ewell?
    Society at the time I guess and the mass understanding that at a time when the KKK are lynching black people, a black man is not going to get the justice that he deserves. It all seemed to happen at a crucial time of maturational change for Jem too. It was clear that he was stuck between the injustice and cruelty of the adult world and the hopefulness of youth.

    As for Bob Ewell, just an example of a really unpleasant, hypocritical person.

    •Did you manage to get through the whole book without once thinking of this song?
    I never even knew that song was called that or that the name of their band is 'The Boo Radleys'.. How cool :D
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I finally finished it! It started off as work, but it wasn't long before I got into it. I like how, in any other book about the topic there would have been more focus on what was happening to Tom and his wife and Bob Ewell, but it was all kept very definitely from the perspective of a child. I liked that.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Fiend_85 wrote: »
    I finally finished it! It started off as work, but it wasn't long before I got into it. I like how, in any other book about the topic there would have been more focus on what was happening to Tom and his wife and Bob Ewell, but it was all kept very definitely from the perspective of a child. I liked that.

    Clem asked in chat if people think Jem would make a better narrator. What do you lot think?

    From my point of view, Jem would make a more reliable narrator, but I like her choice of an unreliable narrator. Perhaps Jem goes on more of a journey during the course of the book, but I like to think about how Scout will come to develop after the close of the narrative - how she got from the naive voice of her childhood to the adult voice that appears every now and again.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think that if Jem were the narrator we'd have got a lot of rage. Because Scout doesn't understand what's going on she's oddly more objective.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It's been years since I've read the book - but just to say I remember the film being quite crap. The children are really screechy in it.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It's been years since I've read the book - but just to say I remember the film being quite crap. The children are really screechy in it.

    :mad:

    You're wrong. Just FYI.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I liked the book! Just not the film...
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I really disliked the film too, but it's one of my favourite books.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I really disliked the film too, but it's one of my favourite books.

    Hmm. I still think you're both wrong. Gregory Peck ft-absolute-w, but I'll allow it ;)

    What do you particularly like about the book?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    My boyfriend is now reading it for the first time ever at the age of 28 and really enjoying it :)
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