I was really sad when I saw news about Harper Lee's death today. But what really made me sad was the article about her in the New York Times.
The thought of her hopes and dreams and optimism on the back of her success, followed by decades of not producing a new story.
Part of me wants to think that there were other stories that she wrote and just didn't share.
But whatever the truth of this might be, I'm grateful for the fact that she shared a beautiful book like To Kill a Mockingbird with the world. (I haven't read Go Set a Watchman yet.)
May she rest in peace.
For the fact that she'd been in ill health for a while, I wasn't overly surprised she'd passed on, but I'm still saddened by it. To Kill a Mockingbird is an amazing book. I was in a stage production of it years ago, and the book translates powerfully on stage, screen, or in the novel format it's written in.
ReplyDeleteSad, indeed.
ReplyDeleteIt must be hard to have written something so good and so loved and then not feel able to produce anything else.
ReplyDeleteAnother writer friend talks about writing books like throwing darts. You might throw a lot of them and never hit a bulls-eye like Lee did, with a book that has spoken to generations of people and made us think and feel so deeply. Even if she never threw another dart, she played very very well.
ReplyDeleteI was sad to hear it as well. To Kill a Mockingbird was such a beautiful and revolutionary book.
ReplyDeleteI have read To Kill a Mockingbird- but haven't read Go Set a Watchman yet. I didn't see the article in the paper that you mentioned, but I am curious about it now.
ReplyDelete~Jess
It was very sad to hear of her passing. I haven't read Go Set a Watchman either, honestly, I didn't even know about it.
ReplyDeleteVery sad that she has passed. Must be difficult to write something brilliant first off, then compare yourself and your writing to it after that. I honestly haven't read either book yet, but I plan to at least read Mockingbird.
ReplyDeleteIt was sad... she was a talented lady and the story To Kill A Mockingbird will always be a classic book that stands the test of time xox
ReplyDeleteGo Set a Watchman is about Scout as an adult and it was what Lee wrote originally. Scout has a flashback about what happens in To Kill a Mockingbird and the publisher liked that idea better, so they scrapped the first one all together and went with that. Go Set a Watchman is pretty awful. It's bare bones with little editing and the characters, that were developed more for the actual book, are SO different and almost repulsive at points. I wouldn't recommend reading it if you liked To Kill a Mockingbird, especially if you liked Atticus.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, people only really have one story in them. And this was a really great one story without all that Watchman BS.
In any case, it's sad to hear she's gone, but not entirely surprising. *sigh*