"To Kill A Mockingbird"

Earlier this year my book club read "To Kill A Mockingbird" and it was a book that I thoroughly enjoyed. I was disappointed when I learned that the author, Harper Lee, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her book, has never written another one because I was ready to read everything she'd written.

The book focuses on Atticus Finch, an attorney and widower, and his two children as well as the black housekeeper who helps raise the children. When Atticus is asked to defend a black man accused of raping a white woman, he takes on the case despite knowing it will not be well received by others in the small southern town where he grew up and lives. However, Atticus is a man who believes everyone has a right to the best defense and he also believes in the innocence of his client so he sets out to prove it. It's told from the point of view of his youngest child, a daughter, and I think that is the key to why this book is so well-received and loved.

Although I have a faint recollection of seeing the movie starring Gregory Peck, I didn't really remember the story line of the movie as I was reading the novel so I decided to find a copy of the DVD for my spouse and I to watch for date night. Even though I read the book fairly recently, I can't say for sure but I believe there are some discrepancies in the movie. However, they are not discrepancies that dilute the original message. It's more like they changed the order of some events -- and, of course, shortened them somewhat -- to make it more adaptable to a movie version.

The biggest names in the movie are Gregory Peck and Robert Duvall but Duvall doesn't even receive a credit anywhere on the cover of the DVD. He had a bit part and I suspect it must have been an early role for him.

I've heard that Peck was very particular about the movie roles he accepted and in "To Kill A Mockingbird" and "The Big Country" (another of his movies I love) I see the thread of an honorable man. Was Peck also an honorable man who chose to play those types of roles? I think I'll check out some of his other movies to see if they're in the same vein.

After watching "To Kill A Mockingbird" I can't imagine anyone else playing the role of attorney, Atticus Finch. If you have never seen this movie or read the book, I highly recommend you do both.

pazt

"Forest Gate"

I think it is interesting that my review of "Forest Gate" follows my review of "Serpent Gate" but having "gate" in both titles is where the similarity ends. I picked up "Forest Gate," Peter Akinti's first novel, on the "best bets" shelf at my library. It really is a "modern" book and I wondered as the "Jolie-Pitts" were referenced what someone will make of this book 20 or 30 years down the road. Will they know who the "Jolie-Pitts" are?

Author Peter Akinti, of Nigerian ancestry, was raised in Forest Gate, London, so I have made the assumption that, as a black man himself, he knows the difficulties of growing up there. It is an area of London where poverty seems to be handed down from generation to generation and there is a hopelessness among black men -- especially those who want to find a way out.

The story itself centers around three main characters: Ashvin and his sister, Meina, who have come to London from their home in Somalia after their parents were murdered. Mr. Larry Bloom, a white friend of their father's, arranges their passage to England, their entry into the country, and provides support for them to live in a flat on their own in Forest Gate where they attend school.

James Morrison also hails from Forest Gate where all his older brothers are involved in crime and his mother is a crack addict. His father, who is dead, had a girlfriend with a daughter who is a half-sister to James. James wants a way out of Forest Gate and the family crime business.

After James and Ashvin become friends, they make a pact to kill themselves together. However, Ashvin dies while James is only injured. As he is recovering, Meina comes to visit him and a close relationship develops between them. What they discover about each other and the world together, is a true coming of age novel. They both have a lot of loss to face in their young lives and Mr. Bloom is there for both of them as Meina knew he would be.

The book also includes an original essay by the author and reading it helped me understand how he could have come to write a book with such rich detail about life in Forest Gate and what it is like to be a black male in London where racial disparity exists. In his essay, Akinti states: "The British idea of multiculturalism is in fact a dangerous myth. In London, different races may live on top of one another, but we remain separate and often alienated communities."

This book was not particularly a quick read for me but certainly thought-provoking. If you decide to read it, I suggest you start with Akinti's essay (on page 187 of my paperback copy). It's entitled "Forest Of A Thousand Demons" and I believe it is a good prelude to the novel he's written.

pazt