To kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Audiobook
Narrated by Sissy Spacek
Rating 5/5!
Fictional classic inspired by true events
What more can I say about this classic which hasn’t already been said!
But this audiobook needs special mention simply because the narrator is mind blowing!
Her old country English and accent immediately transports you to the US of those times! Which if you think about is not that long back!
Any serious English reader would have already read this one and most probably seen the classic movie starring Gregory Peck! In a true sense of nostalgia I was watching the movie in parallel!
The movie gives you goosebumps but the narration of the more elaborate events in the novel gives you elephant bumps!
Atticus Finch is probably one of the most perfect character ever written in a novel who would always try to maintain a balance! Who would always follow the law and who would risk his life to uphold the same!
He is a simple person who speaks only when spoken to and is shy of using the gun though it has been told how he is an expert marksman! He tries to solve problems with words and seriously believes pen is mightiest!
But the heart of the story is Jean Louis Finch or Scout and Jim! The events are told in such a simple manner that you do not realise their importance at the time!
Like when a mob sorrounded Finch, the mere hello and small talk by Jean with Mr Cunningham probably saved Atticus’s life! The classic depiction of mob mentality!
Of the classic often repeated dialogue on how you must walk in someone’s shoes! It was nostalgia galore!
An added fun is when you read a section and then go and watch that clip in you tube! The effect is double!
How Atticus implores to the all white Jury members to do the right thing in the name of God! And then they don’t!
How Scout says when the Jury comes back after making a decision and does not look at the accused, it means that they have made a decision of him being Guilty!
The whole court knows that the accused was not guilty but still they can’t do anything…yet!
That was the only thing pricking me and many others! The justice is denied to the Black man in spite of him being innocent!
Of course the end gives you some satisfaction!
Still can’t believe Mayella and her frustrated accusations! The woman who feels she has been wronged or rejected is dangerous indeed! (This statement is only for the novel! Please don’t come to my house with pitch forks!). I would liked to know what happens to her after the trial though. Just for closure!
Then even if you don’t read the whole novel you can get to know the summary in three eyes of another! That’s a fresh perspective! A second or third point of view! Loved that part!
You can listen to the rendition just to listen to Sissy as Scout! Her country accent and her intonations make you want more! The little motherless girl who grows up in a year but still remains innocent in the manner of the world!
This line summarises the feel, ‘That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it. ‘Your father’s right,’ she said. “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy…but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”
It’s a sin indeed! Thank you Harper Lee for this!
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