To Kill a Mockingbird

oh man oh man, where do i start? this book went from feeling a little meandering in the first half, to being just so unpleasant to read in the second. i couldn't stop thinking: this was set in 1935, written in the 1960s, but also still so relevant in 2021? :(

overall, it had very relevant things to say about the racism that pervades some segments of American society back in the 30s, probably still does in the 60s, and sadly still persists till now. it does it pretty neatly for a book written in the 60s, but i think it could've done it better now. for a book about racism, we didn't get to know any of the Black characters in it except Calpurnia, who still espoused some kind of white superiority ideas when Scout and Jem asked her why she spoke like the other Black church-goers even though she “knew better”. i wish we knew more about Tom and Helen Robinson. in the end, Tom was never cleared of his crime either and the truth about the Ewells never came out, even if Bob Ewell died.

Atticus's way of fighting the system may have seemed revolutionary back then, but right now it comes across as a little half-hearted. but perhaps the inertia of changing such widespread systemic issues can be incredibly great for an individual to overcome, especially if they are so far entrenched in it.

i'm also a little confused about this whole fixation with Boo Radley???? idk if i missed something but he seemed to be the hook of a mystery in the first half of the book, then completely forgotten about in the second half in lieu of the Tom Robinson trial, and then later pops up again right at the end but there didn't seem to be a point to all of that. the whole Boo Radley thing almost seemed like a different story to that of the Tom Robinson trial. for a character mentioned in the blurb of the book, and to have had an entire first half of the book revolving around him, it kinda fell a little flat for me. i expected him to have popped up as a pivotal last witness for Atticus in the Tom Robinson trial, or at least to have been a half-Black person forcibly kept in hiding by his family but emerges to do something heroic like save the kids from Bob Ewell. but... he wasn't? so i'm still bewildered by his purpose in the story.

i also kinda wish that the pacing and structure of the book was better. it felt a little draggy to me in the first half because it just meandered and there was nothing much about the racism it would tackle in the second half, and then the second half felt too rushed and we didn't have time to really get into the meat of things, or to investigate more about the story between the Ewells and Tom Robinson. it almost felt a bit tacked on somehow.