To Kill a Mockingbird
Realistic Fiction
By Harper Lee
Reviewed by Josh Felicetti
4 ½ out of 5 stars
Jean Louise Finch is only nine years old but acts and thinks twice her age. Her twelve-year-old brother Jem is her best friend and companion in the hard years of the 1930s. Scout
is Jean Louise’s nickname and is always called that. Their mother died when Scout was young and she has always been different because she has no mother to teach her lady-like manners. Jem and Scout spend every day together and tackle the obstacles that come in their way. Their adventures get greater every summer. Atticus, their father, is a lawyer and a respectable man in Maycomb, Alabama.
Scout has always been different than other girls in school. She gets in fights, goes fishing and even shoots her bb rifle. More like a little brother than a little sister to Jem, Scout always tags along in the adventures. Her greatest curiosity is the Radley house across the street. Scout learns new things everyday from her intelligent father and older brother, but one thing she never understood was why it was a “sin” to kill a mockingbird…
One day Atticus gets a new case and is taken to court to defend Tom Robinson, a colored man. This is one of his hardest cases. The black community is not very appreciated in Maycomb, Alabama, making chances slim. What will happen to Tom? How will Scout and Jem get through these tough times?
To Kill a Mockingbird is a very exciting and involving novel. You always want more and never want to stop reading. The book is more like a memoir than a life-story in the sense that it only takes place over two years. Harper Lee does an amazing job of describing life through a nine-year-old girl’s eyes. I loved the book and would read it again any time. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes realistic fiction or older novels.
