Sigh. The very short review is that Watchman is a draft of the beloved To Kill a Mockingbird, it is not a sequel and it is not very good. But that is not how it should be viewed in its reading.
I will spare you the history of the novel and how it came to be, but one fact needs to be discussed, because it explains how to really view this book. Watchman was written first, submitted to the publisher, rejected and it was advised that Lee focus on Scout’s childhood, thats how TKAM came to be.
If you are going to read Watchman you need to get out of your mind that it is a sequel, it isn’t, it doesn’t even read as one. Characters that we knew from TKAM are introduced for the first time, but not as well done. Henry Clinton, Scout’s “love interest” is new to us but described as her childhood friend.
What we can gain for Watchman is insight into the writer’s craft and the writing process. Lee created these people that we “love” but they didn’t just appear to her like we know them; it takes time to develop characters. And I imagine it takes a helluva amount of time to create someone as wonderful and complex as Atticus Finch. Watchman is her attempt to speak as Atticus, a man that above all else loves the law and the Constitution. He is not perfect and during a certain conversation with Scout he is downright cringe worthy. This is not the Atticus we love. Exactly, he is not. Lee went through what every writer goes through, she wrote, she thought, she reviewed, she cut, she added, she altered. She wrote both versions of Atticus. One is better than the other and that is why she published the one we love and didn’t publish this one for so many years. (Even the events surrounding this publication are, well, kinda icky.)
What did I like? Scout. Or Jean Louise as she is know now. She is really a badass. She isn’t interested in being married/tied down/willing to lose her identity. She fights with her aunt, which is one of the best scenes in the book. She is sweet, smart, sassy, and willing to admit that she has more to learn. She is torn between her old life as little Scout from Maycomb and Jean Louise a young woman making her way in NY. She doesn’t belong anywhere, which is often the case of people moving up in social class; she suffers from ‘gettin’ above her rasin’. The book is even worth the read to see Scout as an adult.
There are also neat flashbacks to her childhood, which you can see as a publisher is the good stuff and clearly the reason why they asked for more of that. You get to see her play with Dill and Jem again and have Cal yell at them when they misbehave.
Overall: read it, but know what you are reading. It is not a sequel. Atticus is not the man you love. But if you love the act of writing, the ability to see character change and growth then read it.
Nerd Hearts Books 