Conflict of Interest: Harper Lee

So, I'm totes late to the Harper Lee party. I think most of the conversation and controversy has ebbed at this point. I have no excuse for my lateness except (1) selling the house is slowly and painfully sucking the life out of me, and (2) I wanted to re-read To Kill a Mockingbird for the 44th time before starting:

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

Some context that one should know before reading this book:

*Go Set a Watchman was written before To Kill a Mockingbird, even though it takes place years later, when Scout is 26 years old.

*Word on the street is that, back in the day, when Lee brought GSAW to her editor's office, they suggested that the back story would be more entertaining than the current story (which relies heavily on flashbacks to the world of young Scout, Dill, and Jem).

*So, Harper Lee ditched her first text and devoted her time to creating one of the best books of all time, the American masterpiece, To Kill a Mockingbird.

*Here is what I find most significant: Go Set a Watchman was never brought forward by Harper Lee again. Harper Collins has been silent (shady?) about the conditions that brought about the book's recent publishing and release to the public. Lee lives in a specialized facility and word is that she suffers from dementia. Does she even know that the book is out? What would she think about that?

"So, daddy, there are a lot of ethical issues here..."

In GSAW, 26-year-old Scout travels back to Maycomb from her home in New York City to visit her aging and ailing father, good ole Atticus, who is still at it well into his 70's while battling severe rheumatic arthritis.

At this time, the Supreme Court has just decided on Brown v. the Board of Education, and the South is in turmoil as both the NAACP and the KKK are active. During this time of complete cultural shifting, Scout and Atticus do not see eye to eye on issues of segregation and civil rights. Could this Atticus be the same hero who once defended a negro at significant risk to himself and his family?

The thing is, GSAW does not read as a complete book. It's very clear that this was an initial draft that was never revised, and can only exist as an intelligible book because of the success of TKAM. Without TKAM, there is no basis for the emotion and drama that takes place as Scout struggles with Maycomb's "prejudiced" ways. The book reads like a shell, and it makes me sad for Lee, who (I suspect) was happy and satisfied with the message of TKAM and purposefully decided not to dredge up GSAW. Will Lee now be remembered for mixed messages? Will upcoming generations of kids be able to understand the complexity of civil rights in the South? I'm not saying the South was right in its resistance to change, by any means, I'm only saying that its agrarian and isolated society differed greatly - and had much more daily interaction with negroes - than the North. Can new generations truly understand complex and conflicted attitudes in the midst of enormous change? Will GSAW now be taught in combination with TKAM?

That said, the snarky country descriptions, colloquialisms, and wonky ways are classic Harper Lee. At times, I was laughing out loud.

I don't know that I would recommend this, but I'm glad I read it. I was curious and conflicted and interested. But I don't know that Lee wanted us to read it.

I'd like to know your thoughts. Have you read it? Do you even want to?