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Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee |  | Author: Charles J. Shields
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Category: eBooks
This item is no longer available
Rating:  reviews
Sales Rank: 16600
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
ASIN: B001DA32IS
Publication Date: May 30, 2006
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The colorful life of the remarkable woman who created To Kill a Mockingbird--the classic that became a touchstone for generations of Americans
To Kill a Mockingbird, the twentieth-century's most widely read American novel, has sold thirty million copies and still sells a million yearly. Yet despite the book's perennial popularity, its creator, Harper Lee has become a somewhat mysterious figure. Now, after years of research, Charles J. Shields has brought to life the warmhearted, high-spirited, and occasionally hardheaded woman who gave us two of American literature's most unforgettable characters--Atticus Finch and his daughter, Scout--and who contributed to the success of her lifelong friend Truman Capote's masterpiece, In Cold Blood.
At the center of Shields's lively book is the story of Lee's struggle to create her famous novel. But her life contains many other highlights as well: her girlhood as a tomboy in overalls in tiny Monroeville, Alabama; the murder trial that made her beloved father's reputation and inspired her great work; her journey to Kansas as Capote's ally and research assistant to help report the story of the Clutter murders; the surrogate family she found in New York City.
Drawing on six hundred interviews and much new information, Mockingbird is the first book ever written about Harper Lee. Highly entertaining, filled with humor and heart, this is an evocative portrait of a writer, her dream, and the place and people whom she made immortal.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Harper Lee August 23, 2010
Nancy M. Martin
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Am reading the book. I think the author has done well considering the fact he had no interviews with Ms. Lee.
 Mockingbird August 20, 2010
Brenda H. Lile (Hopkinsville KY USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I love anything connected to Harper Lee. Good book, quick service from Amazon.
A VIEW FROM THE TOP July 20, 2010
Laurel-Rain Snow "Rain" (Fresno, California)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
A mysterious and elusive woman, Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Perennial Modern Classics), is the subject of this portrait by Charles J. Shields.
A former English teacher, Shields set for himself the task of writing Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee, this compelling biography based on hundreds of interviews, piecing together a picture of this Southern woman who began life in Monroeville, Alabama, the child of an attorney, whose mother suffered from a condition most likened to a bipolar disorder. Growing up, she was known to family and friends as "Nelle." Lee enjoyed a tomboyish existence in the neighborhood, where she first met and became friends with Truman Capote. Their relationship lasted many years, although in later years, a strain hovered over this friendship--perhaps due to her success and his envy.
In her early years in NY, while she attempted to write her book and live the writer's life, she became a part of a small community of like-minded friends that included her agent, Maurice Crain, and others of similar interests. Throughout her life, they would be her support system and conduit to the literary world.
At about the time her book was completed and just before its publication, Lee accompanied Truman Capote to Kansas as his assistant, to gather information on the killings of the Clutter family in Holcomb. Some say that her contribution to the eventual book, In Cold Blood, was huge (yet unacknowledged).
After the several years it took to complete To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Perennial Modern Classics), when it finally came out, Lee allegedly remarked that she hoped that some people would like it. She was definitely unprepared for its huge success, which included bestseller status almost immediately; a Pulitzer Prize; and, of course, the movie.
Throughout this compelling portrayal of a fascinating writer, I could not help but long for something more about her life. More rich details of how she lives day-to-day. From all accounts, however, she blends almost seamlessly into the life of her small community. Occasional trips to NY became less frequent. For a woman who attained a great degree of fame and wealth, she certainly reportedly lives like an ordinary person--maybe less so, since she apparently strove diligently to maintain privacy and anonymity.
And yet, in this biographical sketch, there were occasional accounts of interactions with people that might suggest a more sociable side lying just below the surface.
For the most part, however, she seems to stay connected primarily with her family, her church friends, and others in the community. I liked reading descriptions of how she would be seen sitting alone at a table in a local restaurant, eating dinner, and enjoying her own company--or how her modest home is filled with books in every room. These tidbits reveal a contented person, despite what one might conclude. I especially enjoyed reading a comment she made to someone who asked her why she didn't write another book: "I had every intention of writing many novels," she reportedly said, "but I could never have imagined the success To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Perennial Modern Classics) would enjoy. I became overwhelmed." And in another instance, she was reported to have said something like...when you've reached the top, there's only one way to go.
How intimidating this degree of success must have been for a woman with no pretensions, who had hoped to achieve her dream of writing a book (or several), and then, in one fell swoop, achieves the totally unexpected feat of becoming the creator of the most widely read American novel ever. To reach this level of success and then to live with it afterwards had to be the greatest accomplishment of all. In another quote from Lee that occurred a little more than a year after her book was published, she said: "People who have made peace with themselves are the people I most admire in the world."
She seems to belong in that company of admirable people.
Five stars.
THE AMAZING STORY BEHIND TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD May 26, 2010
Heather Ivester (Georgia)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I checked out this book from our local library during "The Big Read," a program sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. I found it to be a great companion to my fresh rereading of To Kill a Mockingbird. Like movie-goers today who want the DVD "extra" offerings, I loved seeing a behind-the-scenes peek into the author's life and how she came up with her one and only novel.
Charles Shields came and spoke to our community, as one of The Big Read book events. He told several fascinating stories about Harper Lee, and answered many of our questions. Of course, since she refused to cooperate with his writing of the book, he had to gather all of his information from interviewing people who knew her.
After four years of research and over 600 interviews, Shields' book shines a light on why Harper Lee is so quiet and mysterious, and why she only wrote one novel. He quotes her as saying, "People who have peace with themselves are the people I most admire in the world." She has made peace with the fact that she didn't like being in the limelight and wanted to live a quiet life.
Shields said Harper Lee refers to the book as "the bird" and feels like it was written so long ago, almost like another lifetime. It was written before I was born, so I guess that was a long time ago! I did see online that Harper Lee made an appearance at a ceremony for student essay winners, and she occasionally accepts an award.
I enjoyed reading about Lee's friendship with Truman Capote and how they influenced each other. Because of this book, I'm hoping someday to be able to make a trip to Monroeville, home of Lee and Capote, dubbed "the literary capital of Alabama." I think it would be especially helpful for high school teachers who are teaching To Kill a Mockingbird to have a copy of this biography. It's nice to see the real Atticus and learn how he influenced his world-famous daughter.
Answered prayers? May 12, 2010
F. J. Craveiro de Carvalho (Coimbra, Portugal)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I must have been 13 or 14 when I read "To kill a mockingbird". I am sure it was the title, in portuguese and literally "Do not kill the mockingbird", that led me to it. No one around me at the time could have recommended such a reading.
Apart from the usual newspaper or magazine reference, I did not know anything about the author. I even thought that Harper Lee was a man.
It was only when the movie "Capote" was released and I watched it that I became interested in Harper Lee again.
I suppose the main reason why I bought this biography was to know why she was a one book writer. I find myself much attracted to people who, apparently, give up their talent, the french poet Rimbaud being an extreme case.
From a certain point on in the book, it starts to become clear why that happened. She sums it up in a quotation on the final page of the biography: "I had every intention of writing many novels but I never could have imagined the success "To kill a mockingbird" would enjoy. I became overwhelmed.". This and some other events in her life, namely the death of a few people who had helped her through the writing of "To kill a mockingbird".
As someone wrote, this is an "affectionate biography", but it is also compulsive reading, extremely detailed and well supported by notes and a large biography.
When one finishes reading it, the reader may be faced with a natural question. Is it preferable to write just one great book, in this case "the 20th century's most widely read american novel", or never to be that successful but keep on writing and publishing? Obviously, there is no unique answer.
Shields's book is also very good in giving us a portrait of Harper Lee's life long friend Truman Capote. Especially for
the period of their lives when they were concerned with the Kansas killings. The Clutter family murder would give rise to Capote's "In cold blood", a book often mentioned as being a "non-fiction novel", an expression that, in my opinion, is a contradiction in terms.
We cannot but sympathize with Ms Lee when Capote's book is published and she does not get the credit she fully deserved. Also that he never denied in firm terms that he had not written parts of "To kill a mockingbird" was not fair. He was a genius, some people would say, and geniuses do not bother with such common things. Well, I certainly do not buy into that.
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