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Go Set a Watchman cover art

Go Set a Watchman

By: Harper Lee
Narrated by: Reese Witherspoon
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Summary

Go Set a Watchman is set during the mid-1950s and features many of the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird some 20 years later.

Scout (Jean Louise Finch) has returned to Maycomb from New York to visit her father, Atticus. She is forced to grapple with issues both personal and political as she tries to understand both her father's attitude toward society and her own feelings about the place where she was born and spent her childhood.

An instant classic.

©2015 Penguin Audio (P)2015 Penguin Audio

What listeners say about Go Set a Watchman

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Ignore all the hype - just listen!

Any additional comments?

All the hype and the crushing reviews from reviewers who had read only the first taster chapter have done a disservice to this book.
If you're expecting another 'Mockingbird' then you'll be disappointed, but taken as a stand-alone novel - and you don't have to have read 'Mockingbird - it's subtle and moving. The flashbacks to childhood flesh out the present and lighten the tone. Jean-Louise's return from her life in New York is realistic and moving. Her home town Maycomb now seems small and nasty-minded and to her dismay, her since-school boyfriend is part of it. Even her adored father Atticus appears to have betrayed his principles.
I found the race politics explored more subtly in this novel than in 'Mockingbird'. Jean-Louise's confusion, hurt and anger are all played out as she learns with Uncle Jack's help to lose her childhood idolatry of Atticus and understand him as a man, and consequently to come to a greater appreciation of the complex issues arising in Maycomb, and to learn that even she can be a bigot.
What really sells this audiobook is the narration. Reece Witherspoon is totally brilliant -once you've got used to the Southern drawl - at inhabiting Jean Louise and portraying all her emotional turmoil. Listening to the whole is an intensely real and moving experience.

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20 people found this helpful

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Just wasn't for me!

I was so looking forwards to this book, continuing the story of To Kill A Mockingbird, which is in my top three books I have read, I just couldn't wait. Unfortunately I wish I hadn't read it, not because it's a bad book or because it wasn't enjoyable to read, but because it broke something in me that To Kill A Mockingbird created, memories, emotions and a philosophy which I felt I learnt from it, yes many of the characters were the same but they had also changed in so many ways that It just didn't feel the same. This is just how It affected me and it may affect you differently but I wish I had preserved the memory of to Kill A Mockingbird just the way it was and now it feels tainted. On a plus Reese Witherspoon was absolutely perfect as Scout, I was impressed and of course it was extremely well written and very funny in places, it just wasn't for me.

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18 people found this helpful

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Good , but don't expect an actual plot

There's no real story line to this book more like a an in depth discussion that I throughly enjoyed , and I say this as a black person : There were things discussed in the book I found more as an eye opener .
Reese's narration can be confusing sometimes because it can be hard sometimes to tell whose character she is narrating . It's Still a very good read and I think people who gave it bad reviews were expecting something else , you just need to accept the book for what it is

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More incredible than I could imagine

Honestly I am at a complete loss for words. This book has such a strong, rich and meaningful story, yet manages to never take itself too seriously, being quite frankly absolutely hilarious in parts. Reese Witherspoon also makes the perfect Scout- exactly as I imagined her in To Kill a Mockingbird. One of the best books I think I have read, or will ever.

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16 people found this helpful

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Fantastic book, challenging a really hard subject

This is not so easy to read as Mockingbird but it tackles the subject of racism in a really different way and gives a "moment in time" perspective of issues in the Deep South. My experience and study of these issues is limited but the Book and film "12 years a slave", the movie "Lincoln" and then both of the Harper Lee novels give a really powerful overview. Thanks Harper Lee for sharing this book, you are a wonderful writer.

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15 people found this helpful

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wondrous

The stage for this story could not have been set better, or with more thought for the culture of the time. I was drawn in and lost in the telling.

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  • 19-08-15

an interesting take on racism in the south

I enjoyed the story of Jean Louise as she went back home to maycombe. it took a while to get past the fact it was Reese Witherspoon reading it, but she did a good job and it was an enjoyable listen.

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14 people found this helpful

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Wonderful narration - a brilliant first audiobook!

I really loved Reese Witherspoon's narration - she brought Maycomb to life for me. It was lovely to be back under the spell of Harper Lee and it was fascinating to hear the story as a draft of To Kill a Mockingbird, seeing what changed and what stayed the same. I did get a little confused over the races politics that I think I may read over physically just to get them straight in my head, but otherwise, really great.

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11 people found this helpful

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Reese Witherspoon is superb

This book has had some much-publicised criticism - and rightly so - but if you have any interest at all, I urge you to listen to this version. The narration is superb....feel the heat. I loved it from start to finish.

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Not Pulitzer material but worth a listen

While this book is nothing compared to To Kill a Mockingbird, I would not criticise it as some have.

It is a realistic narrative of a young girl now grown up who struggles to let go of her idealism in a world that cannot accommodate it. That said, it's worth a read as Lee's charming style shines through.

Atticus Finch has now been branded a racist following this book. I can see why but I also encourage you to read this book to see for yourself how awkwardly today's view of racism sits in the early 1950s time period of this book.

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6 people found this helpful