I've wondered the same about the "new" Harper Lee book

I like this writer for AL.com He has a witty twist on things but this article has brought up my thoughts I as I wondered and "read between the lines" about the book by Harper Lee.

http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/02/before_we_read_the_mockingbird.html#incart_story_package

The first time I heard about the new book I honestly believe that I heard it was found in her deceased sister (Alice's) safe deposit box. That would make sense if Alice just died recently.
To Kill A Mockingbird is one of the three greatest books ever written IMO, the other two being Surprised by Joy and Angela's Ashes.  Of course, that's just opinion.
I will pre-order this book from Amazon, but I'm not expecting much from it. First of all, it's not a SEQUEL. It was written prior to Mockingbird and my understanding is that it's the same story, just not narrated by Scout. Scout's voice makes the book great and without that, I don't think it would have sold nearly as many copies. Angela's Ashes is also written from the viewpoint of a child and I found it just as powerful in many ways as To Kill a Mockingbird, so maybe that's a tip a lot of writers could learn from. Like  I said, I'm going to pre-order the book but I'm not expecting a lot from it. After all, she took it to be published and I understand the publisher is the one who recommended she re-write it in Scout's language.    

BTW, I don't cry at movies but I cannot hold back when I rewatch that movie and the pastor in the gallery at the court house tells Scout: "Stand up Miss Jean Louise, your father is passing."

That is the most emotional line I can think of in the history of the movies. I just break up every time I hear it.

Eddard, this is definitely one of the best lines ever!

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0M80IU20150312?irpc=932

Interesting.

I listened to an npr interview of some of her friends and associates about a month ago. Most doubt that she wrote this new release. She apparently abhorred the constant attention and swore that she never wrote another book. Some of the conjecture was that she may not have written mockingbird either... that perhaps her sister did. I was never a big fan... but it has gotten interesting.

http://www.npr.org/2015/02/04/383854514/harper-lees-friend-says-author-is-hard-of-hearing-sound-of-mind

Tha article doesn't include all of that... but it does provide some filler.

I don't know why there would be any doubt about her writing "Mockingbird."

You are the only person I've ever heard say they were not a fan of "To Kill a Mockingbird." I'd be curious why?

I appreciate the issues it takes on... I just thght it was light on the inner workings.

It's a good level and depth for hs kids imo.

I read it when I was in junior high school I think. I really hadn't thought about whether it was heavy or light reading but I honestly don't care too much for the "does a tree falling in the woods make a sound" kind of literature.
I like it simple and straight.
I don't expect too much of the book coming out this summer. If it's not told in Scout's voice it won't be as good, IMO.

The first person narrative bugged me the second time I read it.

First person narrative is a good point of view in a story like this. Scout was discovering life - the good, the bad, and the ugly. I rarely read a book more than once. Maybe certain passages again but rarely more than once for the entire book.

It was one of my father's favorite books... I read it again after a conversation.

I wouldn't read a book again otherwise.

I purchased the book in July and finally got around to reading it in the last few weeks. Go Set a Watchman, whether written by Harper Lee or not, is a book about a young woman truly coming of age. Put aside the critiques and read it for pleasure.

Some of the writing, to me, seems sloppy and disjointed. Overall, I liked it and recommend it.

Fox News said the book turns Atticus Finch into a racist. You read it and you decide. I know what I think.

I'm afraid I think it's even worse than turning Atticus into a racist. I thought it turned him into a racist and then made the excuse that racism was just normal for his place and time, so it wasn't such a bad thing after all.

I hear a lot of people use that excuse nowadays for older people who are still loudly and proudly racist, and it irks me. Life is about learning if it's about anything and not everyone back in the 30's and 40's were racists. No one had to be that way. I prefer to believe that Harper Lee didn't write Go Set a Watchman, that someone else did and it was them that changed Atticus Finch's attitudes.

On the trip I took a few weeks ago, we went to Monticello to Thomas Jefferson's home. Jefferson never freed a single one of his slaves, and the outlet for the privy at Monticello opens up just a hundred feet or so from the Hemmings cabin. I've always respected Jefferson's thinking above all the other founding fathers', but going to Monticello reminded me of when we went to George Washington's Mt Vernon a few years ago. Washington freed most of his slaves before he died, from what I remember.

The difference in the actions of the two men is very revealing, no matter about Jefferson's words about men being equal. It doesn't matter that they lived during the same time frame, Washington showed himself to be a kinder and less racist man than Jefferson. That's what I think anyway.

I don't think he "turned" racist. He reacted based on social acceptance and discourse between black and white in that time period. This is why I felt Jean Louise's reaction was not quite fitting for the era. Yes, I know people stood staunchly against slavery in America but this was segregation.

I was just saying that the second book changed him into a racist as a character, not that he "turned" racist. I understand that it was far more normal to be a racist in those years than the character of Atticus in Mockingbird was. That was the lesson of the novel though, that even if you can't always win over those who act in ignorance, you don't have to give up your own morality during the fight. You don't have to join in with them to get along. Atticus was still a respected member of his community even after the trial. But to me that was the greatness of the novel that was first released, along with the lesson of Boo Radley and that getting to know people personally can be a real revelation..
I just can't see the two books being written by the same person

In short, there is no comparison to TKAM.

I agree. That pretty much says it.