A great American novel I missed when too busy reading Dragonlance growing up, now it’s time to catch up. For the first 2/3 of the book, I wasn’t sure what made this book special, as the plot, characters, and setting all felt mundane.
I can see, however, why teachers and parents would recommend it as a must read for American students, as this felt like me the sort of story that affluent parents would want to tell themselves and convince their kids about their own interactions with children and society.
It presents Atticus Finch as a Mary Sue of parenting, always setting the right example, fighting for moral actions even when unpopular, revealing no prejudice towards anybody through all of the our protagonists’ childish travails.
After a few wikipedia articles, I think the historical context of the book makes it more relevant as a narrative that was direly needed in the 1960’s similar to how Brokeback Mountain 断背 moved the narrative (especially internationally) in the early 2000’s. From that perspective, it was probably worth a read.