Harper Lee to publish sequel

Usher said:

I don't know the state of her bank account or what she might want money for.

Just because someone is comfortable doesn't mean they can't have plans. A lot of this is a case of we don't know. The media are never reliable with things like this.

Click to expand...

I don't presume to speak for Ms Harper, but speaking from experience (working in the geriatric dept. of a hospital, visiting an old age home just about every day, just having said goodbye to the most dynamic woman I've ever known -- my mother, passed away at 96) -- "plans" don't usually fit into the mindspace of 80+ year olds. And nothing wrong with that whatsoever. There could be exceptions, of course, but from what I've heard of Ms Lee and her lifestyle, she's someone who's very content within herself.

I think the people who need (want) money are the sharks around her, not she herself.

She's blind, deaf, and her sister (who was hugely protective of her) died three months ago. She didn't want this published. Now it's happening. I don't think it's right.

Once! said:

Um ... isn't that what I said?

Click to expand...

Um... no. yes! 42!!

July 14th cannot get here fast enough.

There's a pretty long article about all this from the Associated Press today.

Friends dismiss doubts about 'Mockingbird' author's lawyer

It's mostly some "friends" saying that the lawyer had worked with Alice Lee and had been taking over Harper Lee's legal interests, including restoring the copyright of TKAM. To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my favorite novels, though I haven't read it since I read it in ninth grade, and I did wonder how Scout and Jem would turn out as adults.

aruna said:

I don't presume to speak for Ms Harper, but speaking from experience (working in the geriatric dept. of a hospital, visiting an old age home just about every day, just having said goodbye to the most dynamic woman I've ever known -- my mother, passed away at 96) -- "plans" don't usually fit into the mindspace of 80+ year olds. And nothing wrong with that whatsoever. There could be exceptions, of course, but from what I've heard of Ms Lee and her lifestyle, she's someone who's very content within herself.

I think the people who need (want) money are the sharks around her, not she herself.

Click to expand...

But you are presuming to speak for her with the last bit. We don't know what she wants. I grew up around geriatrics who were independent.

Towards the end of their lives they did make plans in particular about what they wanted to happen with their estate after they died. She has family who may want money for something etc The lawyer who looks after her life was one chosen by her sister. Her sister was very protective of Harper Lee and a lawyer yet she did not think her Harper Lee needed to have someone with power of attorney over her or she would have taken care of that before her death.

Rina Evans said:

She's blind, deaf, and her sister (who was hugely protective of her) died three months ago. She didn't want this published. Now it's happening. I don't think it's right.

Click to expand...

I live in AL and this is how I feel, as do a lot of people here. I think we all WANT to be excited, but it is just a little suspicious given how private she was all her life.

Let's put it this way--some people thought she was already dead, that's how much she didn't want to be in the public view. She also routinely said she had written ONE book and would only write ONE book. Given the fact that she is supposed to be less than competent mentally and her sister who was protective of her just died? Can't shake the feeling something isn't right.

I can't wait to read it. Will I have to sleep on the sidewalk in front of the bookstore to get a copy?

This may be more of a historical event than a literary one. There are precedents. William Faulkner left behind an early manuscript of one of his novels, quite different from the version that got published. But after his death, it was released, titled Flags in the Dust, and is of considerable interest to Faulkner scholars. J.D. Salinger apparently has left behind a big pile of stuff. Mark Twain, Hemingway, Charles Dickens, Steinbeck, all left manuscripts behind upon their demise. Kafka wanted all his work destroyed; thankfully, it wasn't.

No matter how good/bad this Lee novel is, it is of interest to the literary public, simply because she did manage to pen one of the most beloved classics of 20th century American literature. I'll read it, and I'm happy it's being made available to public, even if over the objection of its author.

caw

Yeah, that's kind of what I'm thinking, Blacbird. I'm wondering if this will play out like the time they published some early Nabokov where while there were flashes of brilliance in the manuscript (flashes that hinted at the genius he'd become), for the most part, the only people who'd really get anything out of it were Nabokov scholars. I'm wondering if something similar will happen with this Harper Lee novel.

The State of Alabama is getting involved, and they have interviewed Ms. Lee.

Now the State of Alabama has been drawn into the debate. Responding to at least one complaint of potential elder abuse related to the publication of “Watchman,” investigators interviewed Ms. Lee last month at the assisted living facility where she resides. They have also interviewed employees at the facility, called the Meadows, as well as several friends and acquaintances.


It remains unclear what, if anything, will come out of the investigation, now more than a month old. One person informed of the substance of the interviews, who did not want to speak for attribution because the inquiry was ongoing, said Ms. Lee appeared capable of understanding questions and provided cogent answers to investigators.

Click to expand...

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/12/a...continues-to-be-questioned.html?smid=fb-share

hmmmmm....http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jul/02/harper-lee-go-set-a-watchman-manuscript-discovery

With less than two weeks remaining before the literary sensation of the decade – the publication of Go Set a Watchman, the sister book to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird – the manner in which the manuscript came to light has become shrouded in yet more mystery, with seemingly conflicting accounts from people directly involved in the 89-year-old author’s affairs.
New details have emerged that call into question the official story of how and when the work was discovered after being stored in a safe-deposit box for many years. According to both Tonja Carter, Lee’s lawyer, and the publisher HarperCollins, Carter stumbled upon the typewritten text when she was rummaging around a batch of old documents last August.

Click to expand...

... a likely story.

It's all very bizarre. I still want to read the book.

I learned yesterday that Barnes & Noble is planning in-store broadcast readings of Mockingbird in its entirety, in the buildup to the release of Watchman. Not sure what to think of that scheme either!

Perhaps I'm begin naive, but I have a hard time believing that just because Lee's sister died she's going to be open to exploitation. I can understand that the sister 'protected' her from greedy people, but if this was really a concern then surely there was some legal thing/person she could have appointed to continue protecting her? It's not like Lee doesn't have the means of hiring someone to protect her estate & integrity etc.

Rina Evans said:

She's blind, deaf, and her sister (who was hugely protective of her) died three months ago. She didn't want this published. Now it's happening. I don't think it's right.

Click to expand...

I agree. It's very suspicious.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/20...atchman-manuscript-discovery?CMP=share_btn_gp

I don't plan on buying or reading it, but it will be interesting to see what the reviews say.

RightHoJeeves said:

Perhaps I'm begin naive, but I have a hard time believing that just because Lee's sister died she's going to be open to exploitation. I can understand that the sister 'protected' her from greedy people, but if this was really a concern then surely there was some legal thing/person she could have appointed to continue protecting her? It's not like Lee doesn't have the means of hiring someone to protect her estate & integrity etc.

Click to expand...

Well that's the thing. The lawyer, Tonja Carter, who sold the manuscript to HarperCollins is supposed to be her protection. She was Ms. Lee's sister's law partner and is now Ms. Lee's sole legal representative. Ms. Lee has no children and apparently no relatives to whom to leave her estate so the question remains: who will see the proceeds of this sale? If Carter knew about the MS three years ago but didn't discuss the selling of it with Ms. Lee's sister while she was still alive, it seems suspicious, is all. As if she knew the sister would say 'absolutely not.'

Carter admits to being at the meeting 3 years ago when the MS was "found," but claims she stepped out of the room to "go run an errand" during the crucial moments. She claims not to have known of its existence. Now, if Carter has nothing to gain, I suppose it could be just a tempest in a teapot, but if not, if she knew Ms. Lee's sister (and by extension, Ms. Lee) would not have wanted the MS released, she is at the very least violating the spirit of her protection of Ms. Lee's interests, and perhaps her ethical duties to her client.

There is a very interesting article here about "The Duties Lawyers Owe To Elderly Clients" with this particular situation as its example.

Lots of speculation. Little certainty. Sounds like a tempest in a - thimble?

As someone who grew up in the fifties and early sixties I am more interested in seeing the public reaction to a time capsule from those undeniably narrow minded times opened in this century. The attitudes and language from those days, not just about race, but also about women's roles and social mores, are going to be hard to fathom to younger people. I'm talking about a time when a woman was expected to dress like Mamie Eisenhower even at home; when a young mother going to the grocery store in bluejeans was a social scandal; when Pepino, Rochester and Beulah--all servants-- were the only dark faces on television; a moral atmosphere so stifling that a woman could be fired from her job for staying out too late with a man; when "going on the pill" was spoken of in accusatory whispers. I know from reading about her that Harper Lee had a hard time conforming to expectations in her lifetime: social, dress, attitude, romantic, literary. Cannot wait to see what kind of woman Scout grew up to be. --s6

SPOILERS(?)
There's an article floating about the interwebs at the moment (DailyMail, so make of this what you will), which might add something to this. Warning: URL will contain potentially spoiler-y hints. I would cover it, but I'm posting on my iPad and the touch typing is wearing my last nerve thin as it is. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...e-novel-presents-unsaintly-Atticus-Finch.html

The entire first chapter has been made available.....

Just started reading it and ... um ... I am feeling a little underwhelmed. I can see why her original editor advised her to focus on telling the story of Scout as a young girl. I'll reserve judgment until I have finished it, but so far I am not feeling the love.

Well, here we go....reviews coming in....


Entertainment Weekly:


"...Look, I’m very aware of the fact that no reviewer is going to be able to stop the Watchman juggernaut. I just want people to understand two things: First, this is all about the money. And second, reading Watchman will forever tarnish your memories of one of the most beloved books in American literature. D+"


http://www.ew.com/article/2015/07/14/go-set-watchman-harper-lee-ew-review

Too many reviewers are being politically correct here. The most brilliant thing Harper Lee could do, the one thing that proves she knows real people extremely well, is making Atticus Finch a racist in his old age. This is how it almost always was, how it worked, how people really were, including those like Finch who might sacrifice everything for the sake of justice in a trial.

And I bet too many reviewers (and people who haven't read it yet) will jump to the conclusion that it must be good because it was written by Harper Lee and TKAM is a masterpiece.

I'm trying to be objective and basing my conclusions on what I am reading. And so far it doesn't read like the classic that we probably all want it to be. It reads like a first novel. Not a bad book, but certainly not TKAM.