The Harper Lee Collection: To Kill a Mockingbird + Go Set a Watchman

by Harper Lee

Now available together in a special boxed set, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Harper Lee’s bestselling novels To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchman. Set in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama, and featuring characters that have become indelible in American culture, Harper Lee’s beloved classic of Southern literature, To Kill a Mockingbird and her newly found novel, Go Set a Watchman , offer a haunting portrait of race and class, innocence and injustice, hypocrisy and heroism, tradition and transformation in the Deep South of the 1930s and 1950s that resonates today. Enduring in vision, Harper Lee’s timeless novels illuminate the complexities of human nature and the depths of the human heart with humor, unwavering honesty, and a tender, nostalgic beauty, and will be celebrated by generations to come.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Historical Fiction, Book Club

624 pages, Hardcover

First published October 27, 2015

About the author

Nelle Harper Lee was an American novelist whose 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize and became a classic of modern American literature. She assisted her close friend Truman Capote in his research for the book In Cold Blood (1966). Her second and final novel, Go Set a Watchman, was an earlier draft of Mockingbird, set at a later date, that was published in July 2015 as a sequel.
The plot and characters of To Kill a Mockingbird are loosely based on Lee's observations of her family and neighbors in Monroeville, Alabama, as well as a childhood event that occurred near her hometown in 1936. The novel deals with racist attitudes, the irrationality of adult attitudes towards race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s, as depicted through the eyes of two children.
Lee received numerous accolades and honorary degrees, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007, which was awarded for her contribution to literature.

Reviews

[Brenda Ricker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was hesitant to read it because I was afraid it would never reach the level of excellence of Mockingbird. However I was pleased to find myself right back in the lives of Scout and Atticus. I do agree that some of the storyline and thinking are controversial, but you have to consider the time period in which it was written. I found that I couldn't put it down just like Mockingbird. I like that Ms. Lee left some storylines hanging--real life is rarely tied up in a pretty bow.

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reese Witherspoon did a wonderful job reading this audio version. Her easy-southern was not fake, and her Jean Louise is not irritatingly harsh.

Peering out someone else's window to the world may come as a shock, especially when you always took for granted that you peered out the same window.

It's nice to have a book published in our age that was written during a different era. We get accustomed to our pudding that we call PC; it's refreshing to be thrown some shaved ice to wake us up. I, a northern girl, get to see the changes to the south from a southern breed/northern living girl's eyes. It's emotion is raw enough to seem real, as was Mockingbird's. There are some things that don't ring true in Watchman, and so it's not quite the classic. Even though the emotion is real, it escalates too quickly in some parts. Real people do jump in deeply when arguing at times, but we expect more from fictional characters. Jean Louise rings true as a wonderful, believable character through most of the book, and then all of a sudden, she will have a scene that seems forced. I feel as if I missed something in those scenes.

Just like Jean Louise, I expected Maycomb to be the same. In other words, I expected Watchman to be like Mockingbird. There was enough there to see that it was the same place, but so much was changed. I wanted Jem, Dill, Calpurnia to all be comfortably there, the same, unchanging. I expected Atticus to change, that is the one whisper that I did hear about before I read the book. His character was sound though; he was constant. Even his changes seemed true to human nature. And, yes, I couldn't help but see Gregory Peck as a 72 year old.

One aside here, it bugged me that Jean Louise had no friends but those from her "family". She went to college, she lived in NY, but she had no friends? None?

[Kenneth Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review pertains to “Go Set A Watchman”. I am glad that I read this book. While it was written before “To Kill A Mockingbird,” it shows that Atticus, Jean Louise (Scout), Alexandra and others were being impacted by the racial tensions of the South making them seem not much different from you and me.

Is it as good as “To Kill A Mockingbird?” No, of course not. Did Margaret Mitchell’s other writings reach the level of “Gone With The Wind?” Hardly.

I am willing to accept the novel for what it is, Harper Lee’s first novel that whether it was ever meant to be published or not, gives a completeness to her second novel which showed the brilliance of which she was capable.

I am glad it was published and I am glad to have read it.

[Lee Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story of Atticus and Scout years after "To Kill a Mockingbird" left me with many thoughts. It is very compelling and also confusing. As seems to have been Harper Lee's style, she leaves you to come to your own conclusions. There were some gaps of the time between the 2 stories that I would have liked to know more about...like exactly what happened to Jem? But the author leaves much to the reader to figure out.

[Circe Link · Rating 3 out of 5]

While re-reading Mockingbird was wonderful, reading Watchman was not so much. I enjoyed the perspective it gave me in hindsight to Harper Lee’s evolution as a writer - but boy howdy what a difference an editor makes. The story slightly resembles Mockingbird but is uglier by allot and the moral message is spewed out in long winded arguments instead of being crafted into the actions of our main characters. Watchman feels like the work of a writer almost getting to what she wants, but ultimately its kinda immature compared to Mockingbird imho.
My advice, don’t read Watchman unless you like your sacred cows barbecued and served with lemonade.

[Laura Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought provoking. An important lesson throughout the book. Walk in another persons shoes to understand them and their plight in life.

[AJ Flamingo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this 5-stars bc the first book is superb. The second book seems like a rewrite although it wraps up the time line and continuity of the first book admirably. Without divulging any details, let me say revenge is indeed sweet. These are bittersweet books written by a pioneer writer who took many risks with her topics especially the after effects of slavery. This extremely private woman must have been a very interesting person.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

First time reading Mockingbird. I liked it a lot but wasn't overly impressed. I was expecting something much more eye opening and thought provoking. That being said, I would have enjoyed reading Mockingbird in high school much more than others, such as A Streetcar Named Desire.

Since this was my first reading of Mockingbird, I also read Watchman for the first time. I couldn't finish it. I can count on one hand the times I have not been able to finish a book. Unfortunately, this was one of those times. I was all around bored and kept losing interest. Way too many extra stories that were not vital to the storyline.

As I read these two books as s collection, I will average my two ratings together. Three stars for Mockingbird and one for Watchman. Two stars overall.

[Gomaa Gomaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

These stories still ring true today. We can all learn a lesson from the people of Maycomb County. Strongly recommend reading them back to back. Such a compelling look at the assumptions one makes based on the visible. Thank you for making him human beyond the love we feel for the character we built while reading mockingbird. I really enjoyed re reading To Kill a Mockingbird as an adult. I enjoyed it much more than the first time around.

[Indy Fernandez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found it hard to like this book, at times I labored over the pages. What I fail to understand is if it was a draft which was rejected, why make the decision to publish it? I feel it came in riding on the coattails of To Kill a Mockingbird, with readers picking it up to read solely because of its author. I found it bland and it evoked no great emotion in me.

[Joseph Fountain · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Stars and my review: To Kill a Mockingbird

3 Stars and my review of Go Set a Watchman

[Eilidh · Rating 1 out of 5]

Both of these books plod slowly and painfully. The narrator wants you to know exactly how erudite she is with her highfalutin vocabulary and her overly verbose descriptives of rural southern existance in Alabama. The overt racism of a white author penning the supreme injustice of poor rural black existance of the time leaves a sour taste. She paints Atticus as the great white savior and the black characters as too stupid to allow themselves to be saved. You get no true feel for the black characters - they are not fully developed although her white characters are painstakingly drawn out ad nauseum. I had the same feeling when I read The Help. Insulting to the subject in every way. Without walking in another person's shoes, you can't possibly understand their suffering and should in no way profit from your ambition. It's disappointing to see how beloved these books are and how revered Atticus Finch is. If you don't love these books you "just don't get it". Well, according to GSAW Atticus defended his black client out of a sense of duty (the great white savior narrative) not out of a moral sense of compassion. Read James Baldwin's assessment of TKAM and get a black perspective. Eye opening.https://radicalscholarship.wordpress....

[Shelley Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I checked this out of the library. I only wanted to read To Kill a Mockingbird but all the copies were checked out except for this one bundled with Harper Lee's other book. Maybe I will read Go Set a Watchman later. To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic but I had never read it before so it was about time, especially now when our nation is dealing with so much divisiveness. The story is multidimensional as it describes life in a small town in the South in the mid 1930's through a child's eyes. Atticus is a stable father figure who has good boundaries while also modeling the values of acceptance, kindness, compassion, fairness, respect, integrity and non-violence in a world where human differences are encountered by the family and community in the form of race, age, disability, poverty, and ignorance. The children see the differences in how their father, aunt, and neighbors respond; the hypocrisy at times, and grapple with making sense of it all while also playing together, being curious, and even forming their own opinions.

[GretchenMarie]

Go Set a Watchman was painful to read all the way through. To call it a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird tarnishes the reputation of said novel.
Go Set a Watchman reads like the draft that it is: A sketch of those who would later become the well-rounded characters that have stood the test of time and continue to be relevant to this day.
The narrative is atrocious. Randomly going back and forth from 3rd person to 1st person narrative is something expected of unseasoned writers. Multiple pages of an attempt to pick up on fragments of conversations among a crowd of flat characters was completely unnecessary. The story itself goes against the morals of To Kill a Mockingbird. They live in parallel universes. For these and other shortcomings, I suspect, is why Harper Lee did not have this manuscript published in her lifetime.
To publish Go Set a Watchman seems more like a publicity stunt rather than a genuine introduction of Harper Lee to a younger generation.

[Diana W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too many rambling chapters!

This book has both novels. I enjoyed To Kill a Mockingbird despite the old fashioned lingo. I was seriously dissapointed in Go Set a Watchman. After coming across the many inconsistencies between the two books, I did some research. I discovered that Go Set a Watchman was her first book and inspired Mockingbird. Watchman was never meant to be published. After reading it I think it should have remained unpublished. It ruined Mockingbird for me. Such a rambling, boring book. I had to skip through some of the endless conversations with Uncle Jack and with Atticus. Mockingbird is a 4 star book, but Watchman is a 2 at best. I give the combination set 3 stars. If I had to do it all over again I wouldn't waste my time on Watchman.

[Emily Paton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Go Set a Watchman right after To Kill a Mockingbird and, wow. I loved getting to be in Scouts mind again. The whole book is about disillusionment, so reading it did made me progressively more and more tired.

I think the most satisfying bit was the focus on the beauty of disillusionment... As soon as Atticus became human to her she was free. It's so easy for people to become pillars, and pillars hold a lot of standard and weight. There's a weightlessness that comes when you view the people around you as just that- people.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved To Kill A Mockingbird and my expectations of the sequel were quite elevated, especially since I understood that the original characters would feature in the second book. However, some central characters are not discussed at all, and one has even been killed off (with little explanation offered). The tone is quite morose and dark, and we learn that Atticus is a mere mortal... disappointing for an ardent fan! Overall, it was still a pleasure to bask in the stylish prose of Harper Lee, and learn what happens to our beloved Scout!

[Shreeya Khatiwada · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five stars for To Kill a Mockingbird and three for Go Set a Watchman. It was my second time reading To Kill a Mockingbird and it was equally as good as the first time I read this book. To Set a Watchman didn't deliver the same. I found it dense, it lacked detail, and it hampered my perspective on the characters introduced in the first book. I suppose that was one of the points, Harper was trying to make.

[Dale]

"To Kill A Mockingbird" The Social Justice Literary Classic that aired The South's Dirty Laundry with Grace and Eloquence only found in the South brought to life by the larger than life American Classic herself Sissy Spacek.

Harper Lee, a "Proper" Southern Lady raised in Central Alabama with her best childhood friend Truman Capote penned this amazing piece of literature; "To Kill A Mockingbird." The Audible version, read by the great Sissy Spacek, shouldn't be missed. Sissy's voice, diction, and fluency with southern accent and colloquialisms are the perfect match for Mockingbird's mastery of dialog writing. If you felt engrossed when reading the novel, the Spacek audible version pulls you into Macomb and you forget you are not right there with all the characters, she brings to life each resident of Macomb uniquely. If you close your eyes and take in the vibrant descriptions of Macomb you feel as if you are a silent observer to all that unfolds before Scout and Jim and not someone listening to an audio book. Sissy Spacek puts her heart and soul into this one lady dramatization of the Classic Novel.

I decided to listen to the novel before I read the controversial new book published 55 years after Mockingbird. Harper is alive, but 89 a stroke victim, in a nursing home and has poor eyesight and hearing; many feel if she was more in control of her faculties the publishing of "Go Set A Watchman" a controversial manuscript would never have happened (because Harper and her sister Alice never approved its release). The "new" book is believed to be the first draft (rejected by her publisher) of the race relations novel she set out to publish in the late 50s after integration and as the civil rights movement was bringing to grow.


The published novel hit the shelves ironically in 1960, one could argue that it was a catalyst to the decade that saw more social change than any before or since. To Kill A Mockingbird became a best selling highly acclaimed classic novel voted as one of the best pieces of American literature of the 20th Century ever published. It was and still is controversial because of the dialog that uses language acceptable in parlors and churches spoken by Gentlemen and Ladies alike in 1935 that is not acceptable under any circumstances after 1965. The language is so offensive to a contemporary ear a similar period piece could never be written in a similar manner. Sissy Spacek flows through the offense language, colloquials typical of illiterate people of the time in a comfortable manner that gives you the feeling of the language's acceptance.

In the novel Ms. Lee invites you into the Southern Society of the 1930s the so vividly you feel like a resident of Macomb County, Alabama, and a best friend of Scout's and Jim's and has you witness the personal tragedy of Tom Robinson, the kind young Black man who was a victim of his color, prejudice, and bigotry because justice wasn't color blind then and still isn't today and Sissy Spacek makes you not a reader of history, but a witness to it all in a contemporary manner.

Ms. Lee has an ability to describe the Rural South of the 30's, its Grace, Manners, and hateful bigotry; she doesn't hold back and peels back that grace and manners to reveal the ugly truths that literally took the lives of thousands senselessly and treated 100s of Thousands as less than human and systematically suppressed an entire race of people blocking access to basic literacy and education, to ensure each generation is no better than the previous. Sissy presents it so you taste it, smell it and witness it.


"To Kill A Mockingbird" is the book that best describes and defines the meaning of White Privilege; which persists even today. It's always been around but her book ever so subtlety put it in written works and Sissy makes it real not to be ignored

In my opinion the most important chapters are 17-25; the events and points made in these chapters I believe could not be ignored by American Society; it put in print the shameful crimes against humanity that occurs every day in pre-civil rights America and again Sissy Spacek makes you a part of it, you gain both sympathy, empathy, and guilt and makes you feel accountable. In Chapter 17 she introduces the world to the realities of a lynch mob and brings you to the edge of your seat as you anticipate the horrors to happen, but the mob is disbanded by the innocence of a eight year old girl. Then after the trial In Chapters 23 and 24 defines the bizarre social structuring that persists even today in many areas of the South, the pretentious righteous prejudice and bigotry that is still systemic today including suicide by law enforcement, racial profiling, and inequity in the justice system. She ends that segment by defining what "White Trash" and how the defendants of families of peerage, the actual salve owning land baron families, the 1%ers of their time had evolved into the "progressive" movement in the South and were the ones that spearheaded, supported, and promoted integration, civil rights, and advocated and championed equality. What better group to do so than the educated families that experienced great loss of wealth and land to only retain their refineries and education.

[Jeongmin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A man who does better but never enough. I think this book is about how people are, not how people should be. I would like to read a piece that re-centers the story on Calpurnia, Boo Radley, and the rabid dog while unfocusing the bland heroism of the Finches. Still reading “Watchman”.

[Derek Pendergast · Rating 5 out of 5]

The complexity of those we revere

Such a compelling look at the assumptions one makes based on the visible. Thank you for making him human beyond the love we feel for the character we built while reading mockingbird.

[Stephanie Ireland · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always, and will always, love to Kill a Mockingbird. I understand that Go Set A Watchmen is far from a polished work, but it knocked my love for TKAM back an entire star. It’s very disjointed and the characters don’t seem consistent or believable.

[Lordbaby · Rating 5 out of 5]

the book is totally romantic

[Casey Shelton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't read Watchmen. First time reading To Kill.

[Bethany Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to read To Kill a Mockingbird in high school. To be honest, I think I spark noted the whole thing. Going back and reading it as a grown woman, has opened my eyes. I enjoyed the sequel as well.

[Mahki Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. I read it at a time where books were tge only thing I had. Atticus' words of wisdom speak to me even as an adult .

[JZ York · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve rated and reviewed these books individually above.

[Lana · Rating 3 out of 5]

ocekivala sam vise od ovako poznate knjige

[Marsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books. Have read it many times and enjoy it more each time! Would recommend it to everyone

[P.S. Winn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic collection of books by Harper Lee that anyone who loves the classics will want to add to their collection.