Go Set A Watchman-- Reviewed by Hailey Hinrichs

                                                          

                                                          

“Every man’s island, Jean Louise, every man’s watchman, is his conscience.”

                In Harper Lee’s first novel Go Set A Watchman, Scout returns to her hometown of Maycomb, Alabama to visit her father. Upon arrival, she begins remembering things of the past of the small town she grew up in. She also begins to see many differences. Set during the era of civil rights movements and racial tension, Scout finds herself dumbfounded by the behavior of people in her town, including her father, Atticus. As she begins to learn secrets about her once close-knit family, she begins to doubt her beliefs and what she thinks she knows about her family and learns that what will guide her is her conscience.

                I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars. I did like it well enough but I feel like it dragged on sometimes. I did like that it did relate a lot to To Kill A Mockingbird. Since it was written before To Kill A Mockingbird, I was worried it wouldn’t relate enough to the other book. This book is technically the second book to To Kill A Mockingbird, even though this novel was written before it. Harper Lee made a lot of the stories the same except for one major detail that honestly could’ve changed a lot in To Kill A Mockingbird which did bother me a little. A lot of the characters were the same and I like that as well except for one character who did change. I would recommend it to others because it was a good enough read and it was interesting to read this novel 60 years after it was actually written. If you want to read this novel, you should read To Kill A Mockingbird first because knowing in depth about Scout’s childhood will help you understand her behavior towards certain situations in this novel. All in all, I liked this novel well enough.