About "Go Set a Watchman...."

My cousin F and I were discussing "Go Set a Watchman" via eMail yesterday....  she hasn't yet read that book, but F's favorite novel of all time is "To Kill a Mockingbird," and we have talked about that story a lot lately.   We both agree:  What could possibly be better than 'Mockingbird'?!

F asked me to tell her about "Watchman," so I did.... and her opinion, after listening to the critics, and reading the articles, and then hearing my take on Harper Lee's 'new' book, was this:  If nothing else comes of "Go Set a Watchman," what we all have now, in glorious hardcover, is the very beginning, the basic embryo, of "To Kill a Mockingbird."

Which makes sense, being that "Go Set a Watchman" was sent to the publishers by Harper Lee and it was returned to her, with the suggestion that she re-write the entire story with Jem and Scout being much younger, and Dill sharing their summer adventures.  What followed was two years of re-writing and editing, and what eventually was published was the classic "To Kill a Mockingbird."

As my cousin F said.... "If there hadn't been Go Set a Watchman, then we wouldn't ever have had To Kill a Mockingbird."

My friend returned my 40th anniversary edition of 'Mockingbird'  yesterday, and I gave her 'Watchman' to read. I didn't say a word to her about the story.... just told her that we'd discuss it after she had read it.  When she left with 'Watchman,' I sat down with To Kill a Mockingbird and re-read some of my favorite chapters.

When I got to the part where Scout looks at the stranger standing behind the door in Jem's room, and she realizes just who it is.... and she says "Hey, Boo...."  my eyes puddled up.  I've read that story countless times over the years, and that part of the novel still gets me. Two simple little words.... and the emotion overflows with unbridled abandon.  Hey, Boo....

A note to Harper Lee, who gave us Scout and Jem and Boo, Dill and Atticus and Calpurnia.... thank you. Thank you. Thank you for letting us see the world as it was, as it is, and (most importantly) how it could really be if we all just tried to not judge people unless we can get into their skin.