"Furious Hours" by Casey Cep (2019)

"Furious Hours" by Casey Cep is actually 3 books in one. The first is the true story of Reverend Willie Maxwell, a rural preacher accused of murdering his first 2 wives, and a nephew and a niece, over a period of 7 years beginning in 1971. He had taken out multiple insurance policies on all of them, without their knowledge, and collected on them all. But he was never convicted. The killings only came to an end when the Reverend was shot at point blank range, in front of 300 mourners at the funeral of his last victim; his niece. There was no question of his guilt. He even confessed to it. Twice. 

Some claim the Reverand was a Voo Doo Practitioner, others just wrote him off as a homicidal maniac, but try as the State of Alabama might, he was never convicted. It went so far that the entire town was living in fear of who the next victim would be. 

Harper Lee, author of "To Kill a Mockingbird", only enters the story halfway through the book. She had come from New York City to gather material for a book about the Reverend's crimes and his subsequent murder. It should have been easy, but it wasn't. It would consume 10 years of her life, and produce nothing. So this portion of the book is about the book which never was. 

The third part of the book is even more compelling. It delves into her collaboration with Truman Capote and the writing of "In Cold Blood", which was begun in 1959 and took 7 years to finish as the appeals of conviction wound on and on. During this time Harper Lee had finished her masterpiece, won a Pulitzer Prize, sold the film rights and became an elusive, and troubled celebrity. Because of this, her childhood friend, Capote, drifted away from her. Part of this was a difference in lifestyle, part was jealousy. 

You don't want to overlook this book. So much information is imparted within its pages. It really is a well written work, and a tribute to the author Casey Cep, who ultimately wrote the book which Harper Lee could not. That, in itself, is reason enough to read it.

Three things in this book really stand out. First, "Tell a Watchman", Ms. Lee's long awaited second book was really funished before "Mockingbird". It wasn't released for decades because it was written from a critical perspective of her home town. It is the story of a grown woman who leaves Alabama and returns home to find out her father and Uncle, portrayed with such nobility in "Mockingbird", have become members of the White Citizen's Council, which called for "gradualism" in the area of Civil Rights. It wasn't until 2 of her friends gave her a Christmas present of about $10,000 that she was able to quit her job selling tickets for a major airline that she was able to take a full year off work to concentrate solely on writing "Mockingbird."

By the time "Watchman" was published, the public, including me, was in no mood to hear anything negative concerning the nobility of her father and all the other characters in "Mockingbird." No one likes to see their heroes fall from grace.

One of the best revelations in this book is that Boo Radley was based on a real person from her childhood. The son of a local judge had been involved in a crime with another teenager, and both were sentenced to serve time. But the Judge's son was released to his father's custody and kept locked in the house for many years, peering out from the shutters by day, and roaming the small town streets at night. So vividly was his character portrayed that his older sister attempted a lawsuit against both the author and her publisher. 

The third part of the book concerns the unfinished book about the Reverend Willie Maxwell. This is an extraordinary work by Ms. Cep, who not only gives us that book, but incorporates a fresh look at Harper Lee and the demons which truncated her literary career. 

The subtitle conveys the book accurately. Harper Lee's books were all concerned with trials. After all, she was the daughter of an attorney, and she herself left law school only 6 months shy of her degree. First there is the trial in "Mockingbird", followed by her essential collaboration with Truman Caplte on "In Cold Blood", and lastly the unfinished story of the trial of the nephew who shot and killed Reverend Maxwell.

A compelling read, this review hardly does the book justice. Therefore, it is a book which must be read to be truly appreciated.

"Go Set a Watchman" by Harper Lee (2015)

I have been waiting for this book since 1966 when I first read “To Kill a Mockingbird”. I was 12 years old and found the book in the school library. The title intrigued me, and the book became a lifelong friend. I had not yet seen the movie and had only just taken my first trip down south with my family. The South was still the south of Jim Crow; though in its dying day at the time.

Here is the short version: Scout comes home and finds the idyllic town changed; it is charged with a racism she never saw in her sepia toned memory. The dichotomy of the Southerner at the time of this novel was that of Christian values versus Anglo-Saxon supremacy. You can throw in the Civil War if you’d like, though I doubt it would make much difference. This was a dying culture which; after almost 100 years; was still advocating gradualism at a time when the people affected were demanding change “now”.

Scout discovers her father is human and has a need of being able to control that change in society which; though inevitable; could be delayed under the guise of Christianity and Gradualism, much to Scout’s dismay. The conflict which ensues takes her back through some of her own memories; as well as new discoveries. Just as she is about to leave Maycomb for good her Uncle Jack has a final confrontation with her in which he sets her straight on the history and experience of Civil Rights as he sees it. He is surprisingly adept at turning Scout’s mind around about leaving the South forever. He feels that to truly change the place she needs to come home and lead by example.

The dialogue in some spots is over emoted; but the messages on both sides of the issue are clearly stated. And the dilemma of the Southerner of Scout’s generation is laid bare; were the sepia toned memories just that? Or were things really better for everyone concerned when the lines of demarcation were more clearly defined? And, finally, is there really a middle ground to this issue at all?

Well worth the wait and thanks to Sue for buying this for me at lunchtime on Tuesday when it was released. Now, my more detailed analysis;

I have been waiting for this book since 1966 when I first read “To Kill a Mockingbird”. I was 12 years old and found the book in the school library. The title intrigued me, and the book became a lifelong friend. I had not yet seen the movie and had only just taken my first trip down south with my family. The South was still the south of Jim Crow; though in its dying day at the time.

Marja Mills book “The Mockingbirds Next Door” is almost a pre-requisite if you are to get the full benefit of this book. That book, written with the help and consent of Ms. Lee and her older sister Alice, chronicled the real life of the 2 sisters who lived in a modest house; eschewing many modern conveniences, and choosing mostly to communicate by fax machine, even with their neighbors and closest friends. An understanding of the iconic author’s day to day life in her later years will go a long way towards understanding the full scope of this book. In addition you will see Scout as Jean Louise; and vice versa.

To begin with the reader must be familiar with the title’s origin in Scripture. It appears in Isaiah 21:6 which reads “For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.”

There is an article on Alabama.com by Wayne Flynt, a friend of Harper Lee and the Baptist minister who appears in Marja Mills book; his take on the title, from his view as a Baptist minister; is that “Go Set a Watchman’ means, ‘Somebody needs to be the moral compass of this town. ‘Isaiah was a prophet. God had set him as a watchman over Israel. It’s really God speaking to the Hebrews, saying what you need to do is set a watchman, to set you straight, to keep you on the right path. What more elegant title could there be?”

The intent of the title is to set the tone of the 1950’s against the more sepia like era of the 1930’s, when everybody had a defined place in the local social structure. The upheaval of the Civil Rights movement threatened to knock many Christians off the true path; hence the reminder to set a watchman against that occurrence. Now that we understand that we can deal with the book itself.

When Jean Finch returns home from New York City to the small town of Maycomb she is almost immediately aware of a sea change in the attitudes of the white residents towards the town’s Negro population. She is taken aback by this; after all she was raised, like so many others of her generation; by a “colored” woman whom she had always considered to be a surrogate mother. Her own mother passed away before she was old enough to remember. Indeed it was the reliable Calpurnia who ushered the confused Jean Louise into womanhood; making up for the lack of a mother to impart that information which is so necessary for a daughter to know.

To further confuse; make that infuriate her; is that both her intended fiancée Hank, and her father, Atticus; whom she idolizes; have both become involved with the White Citizen’s Council in a quest to thwart the advance of the NAACP and the Civil Rights Movement in their town. Scout is appalled at what she sees while looking on at a meeting of the group in the very courthouse where Atticus had so eloquently defended Tom Robinson for a crime he did not commit in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” She cannot reconcile the man she knew then with the man she sees before her now.

Complicating the situation is the drunken driving accident by one of the Calpurnia’s children; which kills a white man. Mr. Finch has been asked to defend him. His partner Hank; the prospective son-in law; refuses the case in Atticus’ name, but Atticus takes the case anyway. His motive, however, is suspect to Jean Louise when she hears him state that if he doesn’t take it and plead guilty, then some NAACP attorneys will show up to defend him, bringing change; and possibly even violence; to the town. He is also an adherent of White Supremacy, which makes his daughter despise him even more.

It is interesting to note that Jean Louise; early on in the book; faces the dichotomy which is inherent in most Southerners of her era; a total distrust of everything from Washington, D.C. In Jean Louise’s case this distrust begins early on in the narrative; before she learns of her father’s racist attitudes.

She remembers the patch of earth by the school where she used to play a game called “Tip Top”. That area was paved over by a WPA project and resulted in so many skinned knees that the children were forced to play elsewhere. This, she says, was her first taste of that resistance to change. To put it more plainly; she is saying that not only had the federal government changed the rules; but also the game. This metaphor comes back to haunt her later on when she is forced to deal with her Uncle Jack who just may be the real hero of this story.

But it is how her father and the citizens of Maycomb handle that change is what drives her distaste for them. Even reliable Calpurnia, who raised Jean Louise and her brother Jem, has changed. She now admits to having hated the system under which she so faithfully served the Finch’s; calling into question whether that love which Jean Louise perceived was real.  And if it wasn’t; then the question arises, what is real and what is not? What is right and what is wrong? Remember, this was supposed to be a relaxing summer trip home…

As she comes close to the verge of leaving Maycomb for good it is her beloved Uncle Jack; lost in his own world of reverie; who saves the day and makes her understand that we are all bigots in our own ways. He also makes her realize that the only way to change Maycomb for the better might be if she came home to live there, leading by quiet example rather than urging sudden change from afar. (Uncle Jack also imparts a secret to Jean Louise which will surprise the reader; I know it did me!)

This book was written before “To Kill a Mockingbird” and in some ways is its polar opposite. The sepia toned Maycomb of that book is a child’s view of life in the Jim Crow south. “Go Set a Watchman” is a mature; though sometimes jarring; look at the realities beyond the rosy pictures we all tend to paint of our own, sometimes flawed lives.

For the review of the Marja Mills book "The Mockingbird Next Door" see the following link;

http://robertwilliamsofbrooklyn.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-mockingbird-next-door-by-marja.html

"Hey, Boo: Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird" (2011)

If you have never read “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee then skip this film. It will not be as meaningful if you have not read the book which spawned this wonderful documentary look behind one of the most powerful books ever filmed, and the remarkable woman who penned it.

Through archival footage of New York City in the late 1950”s, and also photos of the small Alabama town where Ms. Harper grew up, the film tells the story of how the book came to be written, and the two remarkable people who made it possible.

It was Christmastime 1956 when Ms. Lee arrived in New York City to visit her friends Joy and Michael Brown. She had been working as an airline reservation clerk and writing sketches of the people she knew back home. These sketches tremendously impressed both Joy and Michael who were fellow transplants form the South. Believing in the integrity of her work they proposed to her that she should remain in New York with them for one year in order to write the book they knew she had within her. That was their Christmas present to her. She accepted the offer and “Atticus” was born.

The initial printing was 5,000 copies, which scared everyone except the publisher. By 1960 the book was released and the awards began to flow in. The book garnered the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was made into the classic film starring Gregory Peck in 1962. The film, just as the book, was an instant hit and is considered one of the finest contemporary American classics ever written.

With commentary about the book from such luminaries as Andrew Young, Richard Russo, Roseanne Cash and Oprah Winfrey, the film tells of the impact this book had on the Civil Rights Movement from the perspective of the people who lived through the Jim Crow years down South. When she wrote the book, Ms. Lee had no idea of the impact, and change, that her book would engender.

Sometimes, when explored through the eyes of a child, the image of what we see around us becomes clearer. That is what happened with “To Kill a Mockingbird”. When the nation looked at the plight of Tom Robinson, and then walked around in his skin; as Atticus would say; it became harder and harder to look in the mirror. Though Ms. Lee never wrote another book, “To Kill a Mockingbird” will stand the test of time for the gem that it is.

"To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee

Happy Birthday to Harper Lee. She is 84 years old today. In 1960 she gave us one of the greatest literary treasures of all time - "To Kill A Mockingbird." This is the only book Ms. Lee has written. In a way I am glad. I can't imagine anything more perfect than this story.

Based loosely on her own childhood and growing up down South during the years of Jim Crow, the book crackles from beginning to end. The first time I read it, and I have re-read it many times, I just couldn't put it down. I ran into this book when I was 11 years old and it became an instant favorite. I have several copies so that I can give them away to people who have not read it. I buy them at yard sales and used book stores.

The story, as if you did not already know it, involves Scout and her brother Jem, who both live with their father Atticus Finch. He is a widower in the town of Maycomb, Alabama. He is somewhat of an embarassment to his two children. Jem complains that he doesn't play football, while Scout bemoans her fathers rule against fighting.

The Finch family lives next door to Boo Radley, a young man whose family has kept him locked up in the house for years. Apparently the boy suffers from some sort of mental illness and so the family keeps him locked away. He is a constant source of intrique for Scout and Jem. When the neighbors nephew, Dill, arrives for summer vacation, they decide to try and lure him out.

As all this is happening, a young woman who lives on the edge of town, near the Negro section, is beaten and possibly raped. She claims it was done by Tom Robinson, a local black man with one bad arm. Mayella's father Bob Ewell, is local white trash, seldom sober and always mean as a snake. He has Tom Robinson arrested for the crime and a trial is to take place. This is Alabama in the 1930's so it is a foregone conclusion as to what the verdict will be.

The trial is the biggest thing to happen in Maycomb County since the Civil War and so it attracts a lot of attention. What happens both shocks and sickens you, even as the sweet scent of magnolia seeps from the pages to surround you.

If you have read the book, then my review will annoy you. If you haven't read the book, you should. It is a book about growing up, learning tolerance and also understanding the other fellows position before lashing out. Atticus Finch often tells his children not to judge another person "until you get in his skin and walk around a bit."

After the trial of Tom Robinson,in which he is found guilty in spite of the evidence, Mr. Ewell is hell bent on revenge. He considers Atticus Finch to be a race traitor for trying to defend a Negro. His savagery comes to a head on Halloween night with traumatic results for all.

A little trivia on the character of Dill. He is based on Ms. Lee's freind from childhood, Truman Capote. Mr. Capote used to visit his aunt next door to Ms.Lee as a child. They remained freinds until Mr. Capote's death.

The 1962 movie version, starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, is true to the book and still ranks in the top 100 films, placing at number 34. The role of Boo Radley is played by Robert Duvall in his first screen appearance. With only a brief role and no speaking lines, his presence, thanks to Ms. Lee's writing, dominates both the book and the movie. Unseen, he serves as a metaphor for all that we do not understand. The fear of the unknown is akin to the fear engendered by the racial segregation of "Jim Crow."

Happy Birthday Ms. Lee, and thanks for giving us the best present of all - a great book that will always stand the test of time. And that is our gift to you.