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MarginMan

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To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee I read this in high school. I thought it was boring - very much an example of the 'required reading' that turned me off to school. I won't rehash the plot or characters' personalities, because there are plenty of reviews of this book on here. But I will mention two things:

1. I liked what she did with the town drunk. A minor thing, but I'm trying to be positive.
2. The right-handed vs. left-handed argument was proven wrong by a classmate of mine. It's a quibble, but it was so easy to test, I'm surprised Lee hadn't done so herself.

I've seen a lot of people use its popularity to support their argument that it's a great book. I'm arguing that it's not a great book, so here are some possible reasons as to why it's popular:

1. It's required reading in high school. More people reading it means more people are likely to enjoy it.
2. It's required reading in high school. We've been told it's a great, important book.
3. Harper Lee wrote very little other than this. In fact, this is the ONLY book listed on her Wikipedia page.
4. The movie won three Oscars and was nominated for Best Picture. It starred Gregory Peck, who won the Best Actor Oscar.
5. It's p.c. Racism is bad.
6. People don't usually go out of their way to write negative reviews.
7. Having seen the vitriol directed at another reviewer, I'm really not surprised people who didn't like the book are feeling uncomfortable speaking out.

Great books are special. I don't need to defend my opinion that a book isn't great. The book needs to convince me that it is. TKAM failed to do so.