Book Review: To Kill A Mocking Bird

“I want something new to read now” I told Eeshan, as we were sipping coffee in the office cafeteria a few days back. I had just finished the other piece of fiction he had loaned me. Since he was turning out to be a mighty cool supplier, seeking him for more was only inevitable. “Okay, tell me”, he asked, “What kinda book do you wanna read now?” “I dunno, but something nice. Something that can make me a better person”, I replied purposefully. To this, he chuckled and said, “I don’t know if that can make you a better person, but this book that I’ll get you tomorrow is one of my favorites, and will certainly take your mind off things.”

I had been dealing with a myriad of issues, over which I could barely exercise any control. So, I got fairly excited at the prospect of adding a new dimension to my hitherto kaleidoscopic thought process.

The next day he handed me a copy of “To Kill A Mocking Bird” and the first look at it delighted me. It has a velvety black cover with a matchstick figure of a bird in crayon orange, and the title and author’s name in stark white. With a little over 300 pages, it exuded that warm and assuaging fragrance of paper and ink, which can tranquilize any book lover’s parched mind. It gave the feeling of being a suspense thriller, but having pursued reading for so many years now, I know much better than to judge a book by its cover. So, I allowed the book to mesmerize me. And I am so glad it did.

Set in the America of 1930s, it is a very vivid, first person account of the world around her and the mosaic of people who inhabit it, by the 8 year old Scout Finch. The Finches have a legacy of family history, of which Scout is somewhat wary of, but she deeply loves her father Atticus Finch, who is a lawyer, and her brother Jem Finch who is 4 years her senior. Both these men are her window to the world, as much as these are each other’s world.

In her very fluid style, Harper Lee weaves this story around the ‘irrationality of adult attitudes towards race and class’, the fatalities that injustice can cause and the amount of effort two very sensitive and loving children of a staunchly virtuous and upright father, put in to understand the mechanics with which their Maycomb county and its residents operate. In the process, she has created timeless characters, which are poetry in motion; adorable beyond scope, beyond will.

The mental somersaults of an 8 year old, whose father is defending a black man against the charge of raping a white girl, are expressed with immaculate innocence, realism and rationality. The humor is sunshine-ish and the emotions unadulterated. The pain in the story hurts, just as its goodwill uplifts. There is stiff competition between what is more likable – Scout’s rendition of her county and its neighborhood, or the person that she herself is.

Without a particle of doubt, this book deserves its Pulitzer. It is a celebration of relationships, humanity, virtues and emotions. It is a celebration of the purest form of outright righteousness. It is a celebration of ‘Scout-ism’ - the innocent grace and élan, which is so eccentric to the ‘daughter’, ‘sister’ and ‘lady’ she is. This book could easily give any bestselling parenting guide a run for its money.

Since I was a little girl, I always wanted an elder brother. Reading this novel made me yearn some more. But now that enough years have passed, there is some respite – in the fact that my younger brother has outgrown me in height and strength. Today, he is way more mature, responsible and caring, almost like an elder brother.

I try to let the hope of being able to spend a lot more time with him now, not depress me about not getting the opportunity of being together in our growing up years. If only I could be with him as much as I didn’t get to. But for all that I missed, this book is a very beautiful reminder of how it could or would have been. That launch into time-travel is simply effortless.

If I have become a better person or not after reading this book, I know not. But I am certainly inspired to become a better sister, daughter and eventually a parent, every forthcoming day. Thank You Harper, for penning this down. And Thank You Eeshan, for passing it on to me.