TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD

read harper lee's "to kill a mockingbird" over the weekend. a nice novel indeed. think lee won the pulitzer for it in 1961.

if its castes here in india, its the races in america. tells the story o' how things stood as late as 1940s in america. the story's told by scout jean louise Finch, the 8 year old girl child o' atticus finch. think the same style o' narration is followed by arundhati roy in "god of small things" & rushdie's "midnite's children".

finch is an honest widower lawyer & has got 2 children, the other one being the eldest boy named jeremy finch (jem). there r other characters o' the small town of maycomb in alabama that make up this novel. tho' the novel starts of with describing o' the childhood life o' the finch children, the plot unravels all o' a sudden when u never xpect it to.

tom robinson, a hardworking, decent negro is accused by an unworthy white bob ewell, o' raping his daughter. finch argues the case for the negro and ultimately loses it. tom is shot dead while trying to escape prison. bob ewell tries harming the finch children. the children are saved tho' & bob gets killed in a nice climax.

shows how cruel american whites have been 2 their black counterparts. altogether, the book's a real classic, read it if possible.

(July 14, 2003)