To Kill a Mockingbird

I know for many this book was required reading in school. Not for me as I was in a different English class due to being behind. I find myself now, many years later, catching up. I am glad I chose to read To Kill a Mockingbird finally. I enjoyed reading the story from Scout's point of view. I can see why this book is required reading in many high schools even though my son groaned when he had to read it, but someday he will understand why he had to.

A very old and classic story, but worth reading over and over. However, I must admit that this is the first time I have read it, even though it was required reading for most schools more than 60 years ago when I was still in school. It is a very touching story that has some deep meanings and messages of life and how we should treat our fellow man. I regret not reading it those many years ago. The morals of this story could have helped me learn to be a better person throughout my life. I highly recommend this book for the younger generation as well as the young at heart. I am adding it to my list of books that I read on a yearly basis.

Harper Lee herself said: "Surely it is plain to the simplest intelligence that To Kill a Mockingbird spells out in words of seldom more than two syllables a code of honor and conduct, Christian in its ethic, that is the heritage of all Southerners." There have been a lot of recent new reviews about the book that say it is all about racial injustice in the South. Many great stories include features that might be mistaken as the main point of the story - impassable mountains, the sea, deserts, jungles, wars etc... These obstacles figure large in the story and it is tempting so say that this is what the story is about. These stories (the good ones) are really about what people choose to do in the face of seeming insurmountable obstacles. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the obstacles are poverty, ignorance, and appalling racial injustice. How Atticus Fitch chooses to live and what he passes on to his children is what the story is really about.

Somehow, when my classmastes were reading this in high school I did not. But I read it recently because I love the movie so much. I will not say the book is better and I will not say the movie is better. Both stand on their own. The movie protrays the book with far more attention to detail than many recent book adaptations and for that I applaud the producer/director. That said, I loved the "missing" characters that I got to meet while reading this beloved story that there likely was time for in the movie. Atticus Finch's sister was just marvelous.

I have to confess to a certain degree of ignorance regarding many of the details of this book, primarily due to the fact that the film version has become so pervasive in my memory, as well as many of the general population, that it has overshadowed the original novel. I say this after reading the novel for the third time, the second having been 18 years ago. This reading has occurred since the recent publication of its prequel/sequel 'Go Set a Watchman' so I have had the experience of reading them back to back with a fresh comparison.

The novel, like the film, has a seemingly random, anecdotal quality to much of it, weaving around the double threads of the curiosity of the children toward Arthur (Boo) Radley and the trial of Tom Robinson. Like any film adapted from a novel, the film 'To Kill a Mockingbird' had to be selective in which anecdotes to leave out and which ones to include.

Fifty-five years after its original publication and 53 years after the film version, a summary of the novel seems superfluous so I will proceed on the assumption that everyone has been exposed to the novel, the film or both. Assuming that familiarity, the rest of the review will largely consist of my new perceptions of portions I had forgotten or connections I had not made until this reading.

The novel takes place over a span of three years, from 1932 to 1935 and in that time Scout's brother Jem makes a transition from child to adolescent while Scout moves from first to third grade. They are not constant in their perceptions of their small-town world. There is much room to grow and so the revelations do not seem to occur as rapidly as the film version would indicate. Scout has more of an inkling of what the Robinson trial is about as a third grader than she would have had if it occurred at the beginning of the novel. The spooky imagined exploits of childhood boogeyman Boo Radley that consumes the children and their playmate Dill at the beginning has receded into mere curiosity about an extremely reclusive character.

I had forgotten, for example, that Aunt Alexandra moves in with the family toward the beginning of the novel because Atticus knows that they need more adult attention than he is able to give them at this time. He probably also feels that they could benefit from a female presence in the house. According to Scout, they already have a female presence—their black housekeeper/cook Calpurnia. She keeps the household running smoothly and does her best to ensure that the children stay out of mischief. She doesn't live with them 24/7 though and she is black. She is also not a blood relation. Alexandra's presence is felt throughout the rest of the novel, although she doesn't strike me as quite as shrewish as she does in 'Go Set a Watchman,' partially because in that novel she treats the adult Jean Louise almost identically to the child Scout.

Alexandra's presence in the house does bring Scout closer to Calpurnia, whom she sees as too much of a strict disciplinarian at the beginning of the novel, yet in comparison to Alexandra, she actually takes the trouble to try to understand the child's point of view. As talk of the impending trial of Tom Robinson reaches the children through the taunts of children as well as raving adults such as Mrs. Dubose, Cal's feelings on the matter are not lost on Scout. As she attempts to understand Atticus's willingness to defend a black man and not respond to the racial slurs that are tossed at him, she gets a first-hand look at the other side of the racial fence when she goes with Cal to her own church. Cal defends her decision to bring a white girl to a black church to some of the black counterparts to Mrs. Dubose and Scout respects her for her courage in going against the tide of what is expected in THAT society. Cal's pastor Reverend Sykes welcomes her and this familiarity also informs his easy reception of her, Jem and Dill to the 'colored only' balcony of the courthouse for the Robinson trial.

I had also forgotten that Atticus's younger brother, Uncle Jack, appears, scolding Scout at a Christmas gathering for using unsuitable language and hitting her cousin for calling Atticus the unmentionable 'n—lover'. When Scout scolds him politely for not giving her a chance to tell her side of the story, he relents and understands why she got so upset.

Another character I didn't recall is the white businessman Dolphus Raymond. He lives with a black mistress and has spawned several mulatto children. He is seen by the society of Maycomb as a scandalous, immoral eccentric. Scout understands him a bit more after she is taken out of the courthouse with Dill after Dill's crying fit over the racist treatment of the prosecuting attorney to Tom Robinson, encounters Raymond and learns that the liquid he drinks out of the container within his paper sack is not whiskey, as everyone suspects, but Coca-Cola. Scout asks him why he pretends, to which he says:

"I try to give 'em a reason, you see. It helps folks if they can latch onto a reason. When I come to town, which is seldom, if I weave a little and drink out of this sack, folks can say Dolphus Raymond's in the clutches of whiskey—that's why he won't change his ways. He can't help himself, that's why he lives the way he does….It ain't honest but it's mighty helpful to folks. Secretly, Miss Finch, I'm not much of a drinker, but you see they could never, ever understand that I live like I do because that's the way I want to live."

He says he confides in children because they are still young enough to understand him, because they 'cry about the simple hell people give other people without even thinking. Cry about the hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think that they're people too."

Another realization I had with this reading is that Atticus is not the sole advocate for equal treatment regardless of race. Their neighbor Miss Maudie Atkinson tells them that there are certain people we hire to do our unpleasant jobs for us and their father is one of them. She is certainly one of the more racially enlightened citizens of the town. As they find out, a white person who believes in treating black people equally must live closeted lives. They learn that Judge Taylor chose Atticus intentionally to be the defense attorney rather than the man that would ordinarily be chosen. Sheriff Heck Tate must maintain order as a lawman and yet he too knows that Tom is innocent and he is sensitive enough to the reclusive Boo to persuade Atticus to 'let the dead bury the dead'. In this town Atticus and Dolpus Raymond are the most uncloseted of the white non-racists in the town.

The novel proceeds in its almost effortless, anecdotal way to reveal steadily stronger moral lessons for both Jem and Scout but particularly for Scout, culminating in the most intense encounter with Bob Ewell and the emergence of Boo Radley. It is easy to see how it earned its classic status. It presents such a clear, articulate and incontrovertible statement regarding racial equality and unequivocal respect for all living things (Jem even adopts a stance of not even crushing insects) that is universal and is why it can still move millions of readers 55 years after its publication. Its success and influence even provided a lesson in tolerance for the real-life model for Atticus, A.C. Lee.

Harper Lee wrote there a delicate and sensitive novel on the coming of age of two children in the South (Alabama) in the mid 1930s, that is to say during the Great Depression. The central issue of the book is the progressive discovery of the outside world by two - or three - young children, a girl and one or two boys. This discovery has to do with the ugliness of some people in our society, the prejudiced white people, the openly lazy white social cases who live on welfare, the miscarriage of justice against a black man who is condemned on the sole testimony of two white people by an all white male jury, the planned and failed lynching of the black man the day before his trial, etc. But it is also the discovery of the neighbors and that the people you see, or don't see, everyday are not necessarily what they seem to be, like this crippled woman who is fighting successfully her morphine addiction and conquers it just before dying, so that she can die clean. But it all centers on one neighbor that leads the life of a recluse and that fascinates the children who want to attract him outside to see him. They will eventually succeed twice, the first time totally unawares of it, and the second time just in time for him to save the life of the two children in the hands and under the knife of a white reject of society. This initiation to society goes along with the desire to make these children fit for southern gentility, for them to be a gentlemen and a lady, even if those ladies and gentlemen are not exactly pure and clean, unprejudiced and open-minded, in fact quite the reverse. But it is by integrating this society that you may make it change little by little because most of them want change but do not have the courage to advocate it, though they will support those who willl stand for a reasonable and progressive change. The book is so touching and full of feeling, that it probably is the masterpiece of a life time, and a time-enduring one.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

In 2014, there are many people who are very vocal about racism but the context of the arguments tend toward political agenda. Harper Lee writes about racism in the context of history, relationships, religion, the human heart, and our daily lives. She captures the truth in the eyes of a child whose only agenda is that everyone should be treated fairly and with respect. From this perspective, Lee gives a scorching indictment of institutional (societal) racism with which one can offer no rebuttal: to which one can only concede: to which one can only respond by endeavoring to reverse. Contemporary minority advocates must regain the moral high ground, arguing with a child's innocence, if they want to change the world the way Martin Luther King Jr. did and the way this book did.

It is fascinating to me how reading a book because you want to and reading a book because you have to gives you a whole new perspective. Oh, don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this story when I had to read it in high school; however, I appreciate the beauty of Harper Lee's voice so much more now. Hmmm, maybe it is just my age...a more mature and experienced mind. Harper Lee artfully wove a thought-provoking story with characters who brought it to life. As a reader, you laughed and cried...got angry, were frightened, and you rejoiced. Lee's ability to use words that created such vivid images of places, events, and, best of all, people made this novel come to life. I, now, better understand why this book is a classic.

A wonderful read, inspiring and comforting.
I first read this book In high school and loved it then, but I enjoyed this warm story with its cast of quirky characters even more today. The characters are described vividly and charmingly, and the town itself is a main character.
If you grew up in a small town, you would almost feel that you were home.
The message of hope, integrity and grace under pressure comes across so well in this novel.
Though it takes place many decades ago the story is still timely today.
I smiled at Scout's escapades, sympathized with Jem's growing up phases and emphasized with Atticus'
dilemma.
The story resonated with me long after I had turned the last page.

A story that has aged wonderfully well, delightful to bothe adults and children. The characters are so beautifully drawn, eliciting our sympathy. Scout is almost heartbreaking in her portrayal as a very old child, the other two almost as beautifully drawn. The story enthrals and enrages us, and even if it is set in the 1930s, is so very relevant to today. Seeing the play live on stage recently sent me scurrying to verify its accuracy. Very difficult to portray all the nuances, the book is far more satisfying.

A must read. A great story about childhood, character and race relations. This is a book I had been meaning to read for years and I'm so glad I finally got to it. The movie is also very good. Note, this book does use derogatory racial language in it's historical context and might warrant a discussion with younger people before reading. I am very much against censorship and actually believe every word has it's place and I think a book like this proves that. We cannot hope to better our race relations without some understanding of the history behind things and what it was like for others before us. Again, a great book, a great look into humanity and character as told through a child's eyes. Read it already.

This book was required reading in High School. I re-read it recently, as I was going to read Harper Lee's other book Go Set A Watchman after that. I enjoyed To Kill A Mockingbird very much. The history of the South was depicted very well, and the story was told through the eyes of a young girl growing up poor in the South, and the tension of the black/white relations.
The book is still very relevant today and teaches a great moral code, about how you treat people no matter what their economic status is or the color of their skin. It should probably still be required reading, as it is a timeless classic.

The book content is excellent, I wanted to re read it and wanted a copy for my library. It arrived today, and it is the worst quality hardcover book I have ever purchased for $30, actually for any price. The printed pages look like they were photocopied, on cheap paper, cheap hardcover, generally cheap feel all the way around. It is apparent this was rushed into print to take advantage of the possibility of folks like me wanting to re-read this classic before Harper Lee's "found" novel is released. I'm sorry I fell for it.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a modern classic, revealing some of the dynamics of the racist South and how they were rationalized, justified, challenged, and experienced. Not all Southerners are racist and there are multiple kinds of racism, some of which are steeped in ideals and genteel values. The book reveals the subtle nuances of those kinds of racism and the raw ugliness of racism at its worst. Reading this book in one hand and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Stride Toward Freedom" in the other reveals the tension of those racist years and the change that would soon occur.

I have never understood those who talk about who will write or when "The Great American Novel" will appear. It has already been written, by Harper Lee.

Sissy Spacek was an inspired choice to narrate this book, with her soft Southern accent. Indeed, as you listen to her read you can well imagine a grown-up Scout reading her memoirs. Ms. Spacek does not try to 'mimic' other voices, such as Jen or Atticus, but simply changes tone a bit.

This audiobook is unabridged: you get every single word (including the wonderful quote about lawyers having been children once). There are no 'sound effects' or such during the reading. At the end of each chapter is some soft music (lutes or such) to lead you into the next chapter.

If you are a fan of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, you will want to obtain this audiobook. I will remind all that there was another audiobook version put out in 1990 or so (I forget who read it); I thought about buying it (at Barnes Noble), hesitated a year or two, and then it was gone. They simply did not make that many copies and they were soon all gone.

I absolutely adore this “To Kill a Mockingbird” book!!! I love it! It is absolutely one of my most favorite books ever!!! I can not wait to read it again! It was packaged really well, and it arrived quick!!! It was a pleasure doing business with you!

I have never understood those who talk about who will write or when "The Great American Novel" will appear. It has already been written, by Harper Lee.

Sissy Spacek was an inspired choice to narrate this book, with her soft Southern accent. Indeed, as you listen to her read you can well imagine a grown-up Scout reading her memoirs. Ms. Spacek does not try to 'mimic' other voices, such as Jen or Atticus, but simply changes tone a bit.

This audiobook is unabridged: you get every single word (including the wonderful quote about lawyers having been children once). There are no 'sound effects' or such during the reading. At the end of each chapter is some soft music (lutes or such) to lead you into the next chapter.

If you are a fan of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, you will want to obtain this audiobook. I will remind all that there was another audiobook version put out in 1990 or so (I forget who read it); I thought about buying it (at Barnes Noble), hesitated a year or two, and then it was gone. They simply did not make that many copies and they were soon all gone.

I absolutely adore this “To Kill a Mockingbird” book!!! I love it! It is absolutely one of my most favorite books ever!!! I can not wait to read it again! It was packaged really well, and it arrived quick!!! It was a pleasure doing business with you!

Reading this again, just before the release of Harper Lee's original manuscript, I find a complexity I had not perceived before. Some of that is a function of the film; even now I see those famous scenes as I read the words on the page. But now I see more clearly Jem's legal insights and Calpurnia's extraordinary position -- is she in fact an unacknowledged Finch? The dying morphine addict, the white man who poses as a drunk so his choice to cross the color line can be tolerated as he is dismissed, and most of all the way racism never quite serves to make inequality rational.

Very good read. Do not remember reading this book when it came out, but I do remember the movie. Actually read (or reread) this book so I could approach "Go Set a Watchman" with some knowledge of the story line. Glad I did. Think it is a good read if you had never read it or just rereading it for context. The characters are real and the story line is applicable today. Race will always be a problem and books like this make us face that fact and hopefully smooth the waters in black-white relationships.

Rich in descriptions that put you in the time and place. I could feel the heat and humidity and taste the lemonade of summer. I felt the boredom of sitting in a stuffy room full of proper white ladies. Pour Scout.
The character development is just as rich. I don't think I've ever known anyone as understanding of human nature than Atticus Finch. The world would be a better place with more men like that to teach their children how to deal with the injustices in this life and remain tolerant.

Such an excellent book! It points out the pointlessness and hypocrisy of most people's prejudices so acutely well!

I love the part where the ladies are all sitting around eating the food Calpurnia cooked at one of Aunt Alexandra's tea parties, talking about how awful it was that Hitler was hurting the Jews for no reason while a fellow citizen in their own town (and a close friend of the woman serving them dutifully) was about to get executed for a crime he didn't commit just because of the color of his skin. People are amazingly like that though.. they can recognize how wrong Hitler was for treating people like that and not the wrong in how they treat people.

This is my favorite novel of ALL TIME; I misplaced my paperback and my husband surprised me with a new phone and tablet for my birthday. I went ahead and purchased this as my first ever Kindle Purchase. I can read, this book over and over and never get bored. It's such a wonderful story and it's just a great overall read. I know in many cases it's assigned reading, but even if it wasn't I'd encourage any reader to read it. I can read it every summer and learn something I didn't the previous time. Harper Lee's best work. A Classic and a Must Read.

A great story of an intelligent family in the deep south where tradition reigns, and only a generation ago there was still a huge divide among African Americans and Caucasians.....even though the civil war was long ago, at least in the south. Things have changed a lot over the years....we have a biracial President (whom I voted for). I was raised in a family much like the finches where people are judged based on character not race. I was born and raised in the northeast and prejudice was foreign to me until I began to expand my horizons and see it in other people. I'm still shocked by it. it's unfortunate that it still exists. I can see why this book is a classic and every child should read this book. it would go a long way to cure the ills that still plague humans.

My daughter recently read this book for school. I had seen where the next book was to be released soon. I had watched the movie years ago and liked it. I decided I would read this book to prepare for the next.
It is amazing how this book is still so relevant to today's world. I spent much of my youth in the south. People unfortunately have not changed much or enough. Race will probably always be an issue in the United States. Hopefully this book opens the eyes of the next generation.

Harper Lee's writing is incredible. She captures the look, feel, and pretty much everything about the South and it's lifestyle. Her characters are wonderfully developed and the story unfolds without weird tangents or confusion. This book is a Classic, and it's worth reading over and over. I have rarely read an author with such insight and articulation. The story is so very compelling and relevant, that it will never be obsolete or dated, unless the human condition ever changes.

As denoted in the title line... one light- hearted and the other... Harper Lee's incomparable masterpiece is the original coming-of-age story about a young Southern girl who recalls her life in Depression-era Alabama. Her father, an articulate, compassionate, educated lawyer solemnly upholds his code of honor, which is tested while defending a black farmer accused of raping a white woman. Within the spokes of the story lies a plot filled with lazy summer days, an eccentric, acerbic elderly lady, the "mysterious" Boo Radley which all the neighborhood children fear, and ultimately the triumph of the human spirit and goodness. Not hokey, but wonderfully sentimental. No other book even comes close.

I hadn't read this great American classic since my junior-high days, but I recently purchased & read Kathryn Stockton's The Help, which sparked the thought that it would be a good time to revisit To Kill a Mockingbird. To Kill a Mockingbird has become, in 21st century America, one of those books that kids all read when they're in their early teens; it gets discussed either as literature or as social commentary or as a coming-of-age story (and without a doubt it stands brilliantly as all three!), and then everybody just moves on. After all, a lot has happened since this book was first published in the first half of the 20th century, and our problems with race in this country have moved on.

Haven't they? Well, reading Stockton's excellent first novel, set in Jackson, Missippi in the early 1960's (the time of my own childhood), caused me to think yet again about the perpetual and on-going issues of race, class, education, poverty, life expectations, and all the other tightly interwoven issues that we continue to grapple with even now, with The United States' first African-American president in the White House. The public struggles, as well as whatever issues we find in our most private examination of our own preconceptions of each other, are very much still with us, even as we have worked to correct so many of the most blatant wrongs. The issues may present themselves wearing different guises, but they are far from being resolved; these questions are at the very core of the American psyche.

Read both To Kill a Mockingbird and The Help, and give yourself a little time to think when you do so. I think that these two books are a natural combination - maybe the store should sell them as one of their "Better Together" deals!

Jean Louise "Scout" Finch is a very keen observer and as good as Leo Tolstoy in describing the people of Maycomb, their inbred racism and arrogance which leads to wrongly convicting an innocent black man and his ultimate death as told through the eyes of a young girl. You live in this southern town of Alabama with her and her brother and see exactly what is was like to be there. You meet all the characters and know them just as well as if you lived next door to them all your life.

FANTASTIC!!! This is a true Classic!!!! I think every school in the U.S. has this book on their mandatory reading list. Harper Lee has done an excellent job bringing this 1930s Alabama childhood to life. It takes you back to a time that was very different and similar from today. To Kill a Mockingbird is a piece of our American history that depicts racism and prejudice, childhood innocence, and the perseverance of a man who risked it all to stand up for what he believed in. If you haven't read this book than you are missing out!!! For a classic this is a very easy book to read.

This classic is worth a second read. After the passage of so many years, I re-acquainted myself with a great book that amplifies life in a small community prior to the civil rights movement. These factors allowed the author to reveal the true feelings of the community as it relates to relations between the races during that dark period. This was endemic in the deep south at that time. In the North ( My part of the country) the feelings were basically the same only not as overt and flagrant. This book will give our younger generations an understanding of that period which would be better than reading bare facts in a work of history that would not express the emotions experienced during stressful periods and events. The author has provided a great service to our historians by providing a novel that truly speaks of those times in a more human manner.

My book arrived for me in Australia in excellent packaging. I would have loved a slip cover but the hard cover was perfect and the movie is amazing but the book is better.
What an incredible story.
I challenge anyone to read the first page and not feel like they can not put it down until they finish it. Harper Lee was an extraordinary authoress....what a book.
It is a book that grabs your heart on the first page and you KNOW you just have to read it all, and then later, again.
Harper takes you into the community, you are a neighbour and you can SEE all that is happening in the storyline.
Harper gives the read two things - the words and, the pictures in your mind's eye.
You will love this book and mine will always be on my bookshelf.

This wonderful classic should be read by everyone interested in the history of the American South. The much discussed topics of racial prejudice and injustice are presented here through the eyes of an innocent child, and therefore force one to look at these issues from a different, unexpected angle. The reader is immediately emotionally involved, which makes the tragic history so much more real.
Harper Lee is a marvelous writer, and it's a pity that after this book she never wrote again.
If you never read this book, or if you read it in school and have only vague memories of it, read it again, you will be enriched by it.

My favorite story, my favorite film. Just had to reread it for the sheer brilliance and pleasure and impact. Just extraordinary.
I grew up in the South in the 60's and the relationships between classes and races in Sothern communities were much the same as thy were in the 30's . In fact, it is still prevalent.

My mom took me to see this film when I was 9 and it rocked my world. I immediately connected with Scout; she was and has remained a favorite friend in my memories of childhood. Seeing the world through Scout, Jem, and Atticus' eyes had a profound effect on me and my own world view.

Having grown up in the South this account of life in a small town was so true to life. The story as seen and interpreted through the eyes of a young girl was brilliantly developed. The girl could have been myself and the Boo Radley character could have been my brother. I'm glad I read this as an adult and not as a teenager as a required reading as I probably would not have appreciated all the nuances of life in a small southern town. The quotes and dialogue are priceless and hold eternal truths that we can all learn from and use to better understand each other.

I remember skimming this book as an assignment in school but was not impressed. Then as a teacher I was asked to read this book to a class of 7th graders in the Deep South in the 80's. I tried but was horrified of the N word and afraid of the consequences. Today I finished a leisurely reading of every page and was consumed with the fantastic storyline and the absence of political correctness. There should be more Atticus Finches all over the country. Today I am looking forward to more from Harper Lee and her second book.

One of the great classics. The movie version is extremely good but nothing beats reading a classic novel with prfound substance, written beautifully. Who wouldn't love Scout and her innocence to see things as they are and speak of it...nor her father Atticus...a tower of strength and moral courage in a time of great and open prejudice toward our fellow man. The humor is warm. The seriousness of predjudice is unsettling and real. The outcome though sad for Tom and his family, is tender and sweet for Bo. Read the book and be transformed back in time...when rolling about in an old rubber tire brought more simple fun than the overwhelming complexities of today's all absorbing electronic entertainment that our children are drawn into. Simple and less really is best.

I somehow managed to not find this book on required reading through the many different schools I attended and am most gratified that I was able to experience this with a few years of maturity added on. It's stunning to experience a book that elicits such a wide spectrum of emotion. The characters are fleshed out and practical in their roles with no trimming or additions needed. Atticus Finch is such a spectacle of honesty and integrity that , I'm afraid, it's too impossible for him to exist in real life. Following the day- to- day activities of Scout and her slightly older brother, Jem, around for a few summers makes me wish I had the childhood and upbringing they had in this story and I feel like I'm stung with such a bittersweet feeling caught in between laughing and crying. A plot synapsis is unnecessary. The writing flows so smoothly and easily you'll be holding most of the pages in your left hand quicker than any book you'll ever read.