WASHINGTON — The sequel to “To Kill a Mockingbird” is officially on bookshelves.
But the anticipation for Harper Lee’s “Go Set a Watchman” is decidedly mixed.
On the one hand, “Mockingbird” fans are excited to return to beloved characters like Atticus, Scout and Jem Finch to see what happened after the events of the 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning classic.
On the other hand, they’re nervous from advanced hints that Atticus — a patron saint of civil rights — is now depicted as a bigot in the segregationist 1950s.
“This was the big story of the summer so far in the publishing world,” says Mark LaFramboise, senior book buyer at Politics & Prose on Connecticut Ave. in Northwest D.C. “Everything’s been building up to this date, because everybody’s been waiting to get their hands on the book.”
LaFramboise, who decides which books to bring into the store, says this one was a no-brainer. Politics & Prose preordered 12 dozen books. “For us, that’s a very, very large order,” he says. “By the time we opened (Tuesday) morning, about half of those were already spoken for — 77 out of our 144.”
Set 20 years after the events of the original book, Scout travels from New York back to Maycomb, Alabama to visit her father. The manuscript for the novel was discovered last fall, sparking initial excitement, followed by skepticism as to whether the elderly Lee indeed wanted it published.
Eyebrows raised as to why Lee would wait decades to publish it, having written “Watchman” before “Mockingbird,” only to change course and focus on Scout as a child in the 1930s. Satire magazine The Onion joked that the sequel’s title should be: “My Excellent Caretaker Deserves My Entire Fortune.”
WTOP caught up with several “Mockingbird” fans circling the aisles at Politics & Prose for their take.
“‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ has become such an emblematic story for all of us about good and evil and who Atticus Finch was, and then to take this book that was probably a rough draft and bring it out, it’s going to be so disillusioning,” says Beth Israel, who’s visiting D.C. from Boston.
“It’s almost like rewriting history,” says Irma Reshefsky of D.C. “My daughter, who’s in her early 30s, and my son, who’s in his late 20s, they said Atticus Finch is an iconic person and now we’re going to find out he’s not? What happened here? Was it all a facade? They’re really disappointed in it and they both told me they don’t want to read it.”
LaFramboise agrees that it’s going to be bizarre reading this new take on Atticus.
“He’s almost a symbol of moral rectitude, a fearless fighter for justice, but to read about him as a character in the product of his time makes us see him as human, but I’m not sure we really want to see him as human,” LaFramboise says. “We like to see him as somehow rising above all that, and now we see he doesn’t rise above it. Does it make him more interesting? Yeah, I guess so. But it takes away a hero, and I’m not sure people are ready to give up their hero.”
LaFramboise also worries the new Atticus will tinker with the legacy of the movie, which turned Atticus Finch into the American Film Institute’s No. 1 Movie Hero of All Time, ahead of titans like Indiana Jones, James Bond, Clarice Starling, Rocky Balboa and Ellen Ripley.
“No matter how many times you read or study ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ it’s hard to divorce the image of Atticus Finch from that of Gregory Peck. He was just so iconic in that role,” LaFramboise says. “When we read this new version of Atticus, will we be seeing an older version of Gregory Peck in our mind’s eye, and how do we now equate that with this segregationist, intolerant, older man?”
Despite the controversy, LaFramboise says he’s still looking forward to reading “Watchman.”
“I’m looking forward to going back and revisiting Scout’s world and seeing Scout as a grown-up and also just seeing what all the fuss is about,” he says.
Even the die-hard fans, Israel and Reshefsky, admit they’ll probably read it at some point.
“I’m an avid reader and I’m always looking for something to read, so at some point, after everybody reads it, maybe I’ll pick it up. But it’s going to be a long time,” Israel says.
“I probably will read it, but I’m not running right out to get it,” Reshefsky says. “If I’m going to read it, I think I’m gonna read ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ first, after all these years, and then pick it up.”
Love it or hate it, one thing is for sure — folks are talking about it.
“The curiosity factor is super high right now. That’s what’s going to propel the book in these very, very early stages,” LaFramboise says. “Word will get around, opinions will be shared, reviewers will write their reviews, and at some point, the book will either sink or swim on its own merits.”
Check out our gallery of the “Ten Life Lessons from ‘Mockingbird'” and listen to our audio highlights below:
