Why I Won't Read Go Set a Watchman

There's an old adage "Never meet your heroes". It is one I agree with. People need their heroes, whoever they may be, whether others agree with them or not. Heroes need not be a real live person - look at Superman or Spiderman or any other superhero out there, that millions of children look up to everyday. How devastating would it be to learn that these paragons of justice and virtue really weren't such paragons? There is that one Superman panel out there.

That being said, I can't read Go Set a Watchman. Atticus Finch has long been a childhood hero of mine - loyal, strong, courageous, fair, yet exacting and pragmatic. Remember the rabid dog? That showed us right there his mettle. This is my Atticus Finch, the one whose name I gave to my child as a middle name. His name to grow on, we called it, as it is a second middle name, and my son was a tiny peanut at birth. 

I am also conflicted about the circumstances regarding the publishing of this novel.  I feel that Harper Lee's sister protected Lee in her golden years, and then when the sister died, that possibly opened the door for Lee's new protector to make quick money off the beloved author's name. The New York Times reported on this possible fraud of the American public and of one of our greatest authors, and it left me feeling oogy. I can't participate in that, if that is what truly happened. Why would Lee go her whole life saying she would never publish another book, then do a complete turnaround, at a time when her mental health was so in question there was a competency hearing to discuss her ability to make decisions?

This is a topic I have discussed at length, with many people - other bloggers, friends, friends I run into on the street at wine crawls, and on Facebook. Just the other day someone replied to me on Facebook, saying that they will read the book because it is history, and because NPR told them how to interpret the book the correct way, and that all other opinions were from people who had a different expectation from the book. I think that person was painting with a rather large brush but seriously, I think people really did have expectations from the book - which is why I won't read it. I already have my Atticus Finch. I don't need another one, from a book that Lee may or may not have actually wanted published. I don't need Go Set a Watchman to tell me how racist the Old South was - I already know that. I have read other books dealing with civil rights, racism, antisemitism. I don't have to read them all, and frankly that would be impossible. I never intended to read this book, even before all the reviews and opinions on it became known - I just never saw the need. I am not someone who enjoys reading sequels - in most book series, many times I choose to just stop reading at a certain book, so I can have the ending I want. That is just how I read. Some books don't need any thing else, they are perfect to me the way they are - so I leave them that way, preserving what I want to preserve. Keeping my heroes intact.

This is just me. This book is such a hot button - will you read it, will you not. It doesn't matter to me if people do or don't. I just know that I am not interested right now.

Other people are free to read and choose what they want. This is just what I choose. It may be considered shortsighted but I never want to meet my heroes. 

Rita at View From My Home also recently posted a discussion on this topic here.