Friday, August 6, 2010

Scout, Atticus, and Boo ~ by Mary McDonagh Murphy, 2010

Scout, Atticus, and Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird should come with a warning.  I think Part I, by Mary McDonagh Murphy, should come with a SPOILER ALERT.  I suggest you skip Part I, and go straight to Part II.  Murphy took all the good parts from her interviews with (mostly) famous people and slapped them together at the beginning of the book.  For one thing they were out of context.  Then when I read the individual interviews, I would come across something familiar and realize I'd already read those words, in Murphy's Part I.  The more I ran across those "repeats," the more annoying they became.  So skip what Murphy says at the beginning and enjoy what the girl who played the part of Scout in the movie version of Harper Lee's only novel said, and James McBride, and Wally Lamb, and Anna Quindlen, and Lee Smith, and Harper Lee's sister, and all the rest of them.  Their words are worth reading, but save Murphy's commentary until after you have read the interviews.

Rated:  7 of 10, a good book that reads easily, but could have been better.

1 comment:

alisonwonderland said...

I'm still on the hold list at my library for this one. Once I get it, I'll take your advice and start with Part II!