Fez Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/harper-lee-published-july-28687808 Its essentially a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird, being about Scout in her 30s in the 1950s. But it was actually written first. Harper Lee put out a statement about it: "In the mid-1950s, I completed a novel called 'Go Set a Watchman,'" the 88-year-old Lee said in a statement issued by Harper. "It features the character known as Scout as an adult woman, and I thought it a pretty decent effort. My editor, who was taken by the flashbacks to Scout's childhood, persuaded me to write a novel (what became 'To Kill a Mockingbird') from the point of view of the young Scout. "I was a first-time writer, so I did as I was told. I hadn't realized it (the original book) had survived, so was surprised and delighted when my dear friend and lawyer Tonja Carter discovered it. After much thought and hesitation, I shared it with a handful of people I trust and was pleased to hear that they considered it worthy of publication. I am humbled and amazed that this will now be published after all these years." Its going to be released in July, the original text with no alterations, with a first run print of 2 million copies. I'm pretty excited. TKAM is one of the few mandatory school readings that I really, really enjoyed, and have read it several times since then. The new book is set in Lee's famed Maycomb, Alabama, during the mid-1950s, 20 years after "To Kill a Mockingbird" and roughly contemporaneous with the time that Lee was writing the story. The civil rights movement was taking hold by the time she was working on "Watchman." The Supreme Court had ruled unanimously in 1953 that segregated schools were unconstitutional, and the arrest of Rosa Parks in 1955 led to the yearlong Montgomery bus boycott."Scout (Jean Louise Finch) has returned to Maycomb from New York to visit her father, Atticus," the publisher's announcement reads. "She is forced to grapple with issues both personal and political as she tries to understand her father's attitude toward society, and her own feelings about the place where she was born and spent her childhood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkynJay Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Holy hell. Yes, I will read it. Just never thought it would happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maithanet Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 The prop bet of "Harper Lee's next novel will come out before GRRM's" is going to pay off huge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crowjack Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Best news of this year (so far) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kairparavel Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 The prop bet of "Harper Lee's next novel will come out before GRRM's" is going to pay off huge. Perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronn Stone Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 The prop bet of "Harper Lee's next novel will come out before GRRM's" is going to pay off huge. LOL funny. Looking forward to it a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satin fetch me a cock! Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 I grew up in the town described in To Kill a Mocking Bird and know Harper Lee and her family. She is an amazing person! Imagine the good that would come if more writers used their talents in the way Harper did and exposed injustices!I am really excited about the new book, Harper has a new person representing her interests and is doing a good job in helping her protect herself from the parasites that always show up when a successful person gets older. I am glad this book is being released while she is still alive!I will take that bet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Wow. Most exciting literary event of the year. I got to say with some irony, with race politics as it is today in the U.S., could this be any more timely? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 maybe not the best book ever written, but for me the most perfect. obviously will go in with very tempered expectations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Buck Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 The universe did this to combat the release of Ayn Rand's new book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benpeek Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 I find the announcement a bit sad, actually. Recently, Lee's sister, Alice passed away, after being her lawyer and defender for quite some time (she was 103, I believe). Lee herself has no children and so the care of her and her estate has fallen to her lawyer, who has been accused of having her sign things she doesn't understand completely. In itself, that's not so uncommon for someone in Lee's state: she's near deaf, blind, and reportedly of poor mental health. But it strikes me as a sad thing that within a year of her sister dying, that Lee's trunk novels and papers are being raided, and then sold. It solds, perhaps, like what Lee herself in a good mental state might not have agreed to. Of course, we'll never know, and there have been rumours of her being a bit off financially (as hard as that is to believe) so better to publish this now and get her some cash, if such a thing is true. But if not, this could have been done post-humously, where it would have a different weight, rather than now, where the quote from Lee being so excited is clearly someone elses. Like I said, I find it sad. I'd like to be wrong, because I love to Kill a Mockingbird, but it just doesn't feel good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry. Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 I'm also a bit skeptical of the reasons for this being published now, but I suppose I'll end up reading it, but not with the expectation of it being as good as To Kill a Mockingbird. Won't be surprised if it turns out to be "unfinished," come to think of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deleted01 Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 I'd heard about Lee's health and the accusations that her lawyer has taken advantage of her, which I truly hope is not the case. In any event, I read TKaM last year at university, and adored it, so I will definitely be picking this one up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lady narcissa Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 I don't know, you read things like this: http://the-toast.net/2015/02/04/questions-harper-lee-editor-interview/ along with the linked articles included as well as a number of other articles that people were linking yesterday and it really calls into question whether or not Harper Lee is knowingly consenting to this. It has enough of a whiff of something is not right unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockydog Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 I don't know, you read things like this:http://the-toast.net/2015/02/04/questions-harper-lee-editor-interview/along with the linked articles included as well as a number of other articles that people were linking yesterday and it really calls into question whether or not Harper Lee is knowingly consenting to this. It has enough of a whiff of something is not right unfortunately.Yeah, just read that. This whole thing stinks to high heaven. Sleazy bastards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maithanet Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 That interview is just horrible. The worst part to me is:Has there been any direct contact about the book between Harper [Lee] and HarperCollins? Or is it all down through intermediaries?Are you asking if we’ve been in touch with her directly? Specifically about the release of this book, yes.I don’t know, but I don’t think so, only because she’s very deaf and going blind. So it’s difficult to give her a phone call, you know? I think we do all our dealing through her lawyer, Tonja. It’s easier for the lawyer to go see her in the nursing home and say "HarperCollins would like to do this and do that"Uhh? What? So the representative from HarperCollins doesn't even claim that they asked Harper Lee if they could publish her book? In spite of the fact that her entire life Lee has gone to great lengths to insist that she did not want to publish another book ever? That's just awful. It actually reminds me of the naked picture hacks from last year. Someone can make money (or fame) off it, and who gives a damn about the actual woman involved? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockydog Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 It's disgraceful. These vultures shouldn't be allowed to get away with this. But it appears there's no one to stop them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 what the fuck, boring, inane questions about who has the biggest sword get 40 pages, this gets 16 posts. also, i'm not sure i disapprove of someone like harper lee having their works released under duress, who would honestly choose to hide her work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fez Posted February 4, 2015 Author Share Posted February 4, 2015 The circumstances don't sound great. That is a shame. Still, even if she doesn't want the book published, it seems like that her estate would publish it anyway after she dies. So in that sense, what does it matter if it happens a few years/decades earlier? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NestorMakhnosLovechild Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Honestly, To Kill a Mockingbird is probably one of the most overrated books in the canon of American "literature." It's a very simple, very straightforward, very obvious morality tale pitched at the reading level of a fifth-grader. For a simple, goes-down-easy children's book on the virtues of the rule of law and the evils of racism, it's fine. But it has zero depth, zero ambiguity, and nothing of interest to say on the subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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