Professional & Technical : To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird

EUR 3,69


When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.... When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out. Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression, To Kill a Mockingbird follows three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus--three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Though her story explores big themes, Harper Lee chooses to tell it through the eyes of a child. The result is a tough and tender novel of race, class, justice, and the pain of growing up. Like the slow-moving occupants of her fictional town, Lee takes her time getting to the heart of her tale, we first meet the Finches the summer before Scout s first year at school. She, her brother, and Dill Harris, a boy who spends the summers with his aunt in Maycomb, while away the hours reenacting scenes from Dracula and plotting ways to get a peek at the town bogeyman, Boo Radley. At first the circumstances surrounding the alleged rape of Mayella Ewell, the daughter of a drunk and violent white farmer, barely penetrate the children s consciousness. Then Atticus is called on to defend the accused, Tom Robinson, and soon Scout and Jem find themselves caught up in events beyond their understanding. During the trial, the town exhibits its ugly side, but Lee offers plenty of counterbalance as well--in the struggle of an elderly woman to overcome her morphine habit before she dies, in the heroism of Atticus Finch, standing up for what he knows is right, and finally in Scout s hard-won understanding that most people are essentially kind when you really see them. By turns funny, wise, and heartbreaking, To Kill a Mockingbird is one classic that continues to speak to new generations, and deserves to be reread often. --Alix Wilber

Zum Eintauchen - To kill a mockingbird muss eines dieser zeitlos spannenden Bücher sein. Es zieht hinein in eine ganz eigene Atmosphäre, in der das Leben noch ein anderes Tempo hatte und doch ist es fast Zeitgeschichte. Die Provinzialität der besseren Gesellschaft in diesem Kleinstadtmilieu sowie die Unüberwindbarkeit der Rassenvorurteile sind nicht mit erhobenem Zeigefinger beschrieben, aber es geht unter die Haut. Lee Harper hat die Figur des Atticus Finch fein gezeichnet, für mich steht er im Zentrum der Geschichte und für eine ganze Weltanschauung. Gleichzeitig ist der feine Humor in den Beobachtungen und Beschreibungen der kleinen Erzählerin umwerfend. Wenn möglich, sollte man das Buch im Original lesen, da die Klassenunterschiede und das ländliche Milieu durch die Sprache eine zusätzliche Ausdrucksform finden, was in der deutschen Übersetzung verloren geht. To kill a mockingbird ist eines jener Bücher, die sich tief in Herz und Seele einprägen und die man unbedingt gelesen haben sollte.

Timeless Classic - Deeply Moving - I read To Kill a Mockingbird about two years ago and I still think of it quite often, because it had this certain effect that only very very few books have. You are about to finish reading and the last go takes you some hours because you had to finish it this very day, it is just unputdownable and the second you read the last lines you take a deep breath, you maybe shed one tiny tear, you feel complete satisfaction for a split second and then you finally close the book very carefully as if it was a treasure.I love this book so so much. It really made me think about tolerance and justice and about the way I treat other people and if that always is the right way and if a book manages to achieve something like this...it s a classic, isn t it???

Wonderful - What a wonderful story and what a refreshing change to read a story written with such virtue, honesty, and integrity! Where are the Atticus Finches in today s world? Simply Wonderful! May I also recommend reading Tino Georgiou s topseller--The Fates--if you missed it!

Super! - Eine außergewöhnliche, wunderschön einfühlsame und lehrreiche Geschichte über Rassenhass, Vorurteile und Ungerechtigkeit in der Justiz in den USA der 1930er Jahre.Dieses Buch sollte man gelesen haben! Absolut empfehlenswert.

A Moving Reading of a Wonderful Book by Roses Prichard - Like many youngsters, I was assigned To Kill a Mockingbird to read as a 15 year old. Unlike most, however, the assignment was for speed reading class . . . rather than American Literature.Don t ever read this book for speed reading class.I always intended to get back to the book for a more leisurely reading that would allow me to take in the obvious brilliance of Harper Lee in more ways. I was pleased to find that my local library offered an unabridged reading by Roses Prichard (an actress with a Ph.D. in Communications from the University of Southern California) for Books on Tape.In the first 15 seconds, I knew I had made a winning choice. Roses Prichard turns Scout (Jean Louise) Finch into a girl you ll feel like you ve known all your life. Take the time to find this wonderful recording: You ll discover more in this book than you ve ever thought could be in a book describing the thoughts and experiences of a five- to eight-year-old narrator.Jem and Scout Finch are the only children of Atticus Finch, a highly principled lawyer in the small Southern town of Macomb, Alabama, whose wife died young of a heart attack. Unlike many novelists who cram their story into a few hours or days, Harper Lee showed the good sense to give us the family history and to let the children grow up over a few years before entering the heart of her tale. It s good story-telling and is great for character development.Jem is five years older than Scout but tolerates her company as long as she doesn t start acting like a girl. That s fine with Scout who prefers overalls to dresses any day. As Jem grows older, he finds himself taking on the role of protector as well.The children acquire a summer friend, Dill, and decide they want to meet the reclusive Arthur (Boo) Radley, a neighbor who always stays indoors. They have many adventures that will remind you of Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher in Injun Joe s cave.The book is written in pre-Civil-Rights-era Alabama when consciousness of the bad things done to African Americans wasn t very well developed among those who weren t African Americans. The only people in the story who seemed to appreciate the full horror of discrimination are those who are honestly trying to live the Christian life. But even many practicing Christians proved to be blind to their African American neighbors needs and concerns.Harper Lee does a fine job of skewering all of those who are hypocrites on the subject of race. She even takes an appropriate shot at northerners who avoid the company of African Americans.In a way, this book was The Uncle Tom s Cabin of the Civil Rights Movement, developing the consciousness that helped to change some attitudes towards African Americans.The story also features lots of insights into Southern justice of the day -- inside the court, in the jury box, in jail, and in prison. To bring the evils of the attitudes to bear, Harper Lee tells us that it s wrong to kill a mockingbird . . . they only sing for us to enjoy and don t do any harm. By the end of the book, some of those in Macomb begin to feel that way about harmless human beings who do good, as well.You can learn more about Southern culture and attitudes in the early 1960s by reading this book than by studying a dozen nonfiction texts. Harper Lee got it right. One of the lightning rods for racial tension in those days was unwarranted sexual fear of African-American males. That theme is fully developed through having an African-American be accused of raping a white woman.But what I think makes this book timeless is its focus on what it means to be a good person . . . the story of Atticus Finch and his struggles with being both a good man and a good father.But years from now you won t forget Scout: She s one of the great heroines in American literature and an important prototype of what the next generation should have become in loving other people.Appreciate the untapped potential all around you!




To Kill a Mockingbird