Harper Lee will publish a second novel

Given Capote's personality, the chances he would have phantom-written TKAMB, seen it mushroom into one of the most honored works in American literature, and kept his mouth shut 25 years until his death seem much more remote than the 'official truth.'

I suspect he may have offered advice and editing/rewriting help to Lee, but she was primarily responsible for the book.

 

Yeah, I can agree that she probably didn't write it "on her own" in the sense that nobody write anything on their own and she probably worked with him on Mockingbird much the same way she was a part of the process with In Cold Blood.

 

Excerpts are out, with a stunner right out of the gate:

Go Set A Watchman: read the first chapter - interactive | Books | The Guardian

Other reviews of the complete novel indicate an even more disturbing surprise is in store.

But, to me, that theme may also indicate that Harper Lee could have a very specific and fully cogent reason for wanting "Watchman" out now, not after her death.

 

My eyes glazed over five paragraphs in. Looks like I can skip Watchman.

I'll never understand the appeal of TKAMB. I found it extremely boring and unmoving. I can't stand children's dialogue, especially with the accents written into it. I don't like Tom Sawyer for the same reason (Huck Finn was at least tolerable to me).

To each their own. The only 'classic' I like less than Mockingbird is Catcher in the Rye.

 

Well, if you found TKAMB boring, odds are pretty overwhelming you were going to hate GSAWM.

 

That is possible, although I'm not sure Nell Lee keeps up on current events enough for that to be a factor. I think that it is equally likely that she had specific reasons for never publishing it. My guess is that if her sister had not died it never would have come out while she was alive. I don't think anything but a specific legal ban in her will could have prevented it from being published posthumously, and even that might not have sufficed. There is too much money to be made by putting it out.

 

If Atticus Fitch was inspired by her father, and in reality, her father was a racist and this version of him is in fact much closer to the truth, then you can definitely see why her sister didn't want it ever coming out.

 

Many people have seen their parents, who seemed like unimpeachable paragons of admirable virtue when we were young and trusting and innocent, harden and shrivel into much nastier beings as they grow older. The courage and conviction of youth (theirs and ours) is sometimes beaten down into the ashes of frustration.

Maybe they changed, maybe we changed, maybe the world changed. Is a dream a lie because it didn't come true, or is it something worse?

 

Style points for the Springsteen lyric there.

 

Then because I dislike Tom Sawyer, I shouldn't like Huck Finn, right? Which I do. A is not B.

After reading this story, I still may give the novel a shot.

New Harper Lee novel presents an unsaintly Atticus Finch

 

LA Times with a much more detailed and probably spoilerish review, so if anybody wants to remain completely unspoiled, consider yourself warned:

Harper Lee's 'Go Set a Watchman' reveals a darker side of Maycomb - LA Times

One item I noticed which I believe might be a factor in Lee's decision to release the book now:

At least in part, the turn of Atticus from a young and idealistic battler for racial justice into a bitter and paranoid old "law and order/keep 'em in their place" reactionary is laid by Jean Louise to the influence of a racist book /pamphlet, "The Black Plague," she discovers in his reading materials.

In the 1930s/40s, the printed word -- books, pamphlets and newspapers -- was probably the major vehicle of political persuasion, certainly in the South. Teevee didn't exist, and while radio was certainly on the radar screen, it was still printed matter that did most of the persuasion among the 'educated,' as Atticus was. Not so much today -- it's hate radio, screech teevee and the Internet.

At least in 2006, Harper Lee appeared quite aware of the development of new media:

Letters of Note: Some things should happen on soft pages, not cold metal

The Brainwashing of My Dad

 

Seems like many of the suspicions were justified:

New Harper Lee Novel Contains Verbatim To Kill a Mockingbird Passages