Virtual Book Club: To Kill a Mockingbird

Ok, Hannah and I have both finished reading To Kill a Mockingbird. I must say that I did enjoy it as much as Hannah and everyone else said I would.

As we discussed it, we both were moved by the person of Atticus the most. What a kind, gentle, patient and extremely wise man. Hannah mentioned that when she reads Atticus it makes her want to be a better person. I found myself asking how I would respond differently in the same situations - how my own character falters compared with Atticus' wisdom. We like Atticus. He loves well and he teaches his children to love well.

The other thing we talked about was when Boo enters the picture towards the end. Scout and Jem had spent so much time imagining what Boo/Arthur Radley was really like, in all his freakish (in their perspective)eccentricities. They were both obsessively afraid and obsessively curious. But they didn't yet love him. Not until the end when he intervened to help them in a big way.

I found myself moved to tears...no sobs...as I read the last few lines of the next to last chapter... as Scout realizes for the first time that someone else is in Jem's room with them, she simply says, "Hey Boo." It's the very first time she has seen him, nobody has introduced her to him, yet, she knows him. Now, she loves him.

I love what friend Hannah says, and I will close with it: "I have to say, I LOVE the end of To Kill a Mockingbird, when Scout walks home with Boo/Arthur and then turns around on his porch and suddenly sees her own life through his eyes, and also, how she understands that by saying that Boo killed **** would be like killing a mockingbird."
I will be nice not say the name of who was killed for those of you who haven't read the book yet.

Ok, now it's your turn. If you have something to say about the story, post it here and then we can all have a sort of virtual discussion...sort of.