He says the publication of Go Set a Watchman is a fraud on the reading public.  Here are his points:

1.  Harper Lee is 89, almost blind and deaf, and lives in a nursing home.  Her protective sister died, leaving Tonja Carter as a type of “guardian” for Lee.  Carter announced recently that she’d just “discovered” a new manuscript that Harper Lee had written years ago—which has become Go Set a Watchman.  In fact, Carter knew of the existence of the manuscript as far back as 2011 but as long as Harper Lee’s sister was Lee’s protector, the manuscript never saw the light of day.  Carter took the newly “discovered” manuscript to HarperCollins for publication.

2.  Joe Nocera believes the new book is really the first draft of To Kill a Mockingbird.  The original draft was stuffed into a desk.  Harper Lee never intended that the draft should be published—it’s not very good and wasn’t up to the high standards that Ms. Lee set for her writing.

3.  Ms. Carter and HarperCollins saw a chance to make millions.  They started a huge media campaign months ago and skillfully exploited the public’s yearning to read more from Harper Lee.  Go Set a Watchman has sold 1.1 milliion books already and will undoubtedly sell millions more.  Ultimately, the entire publication was a scam to get the public to buy—if so, it’s working.

After having working in criminal law for over 30 years, I tend to view people in a more cynical way than I did years ago.  I think Nocera is onto something here.  If Harper Lee had wanted this manuscript published, why didn’t she do it during all those years from 1960 (when Mockingbird was publshed) until now?  Go Set a Watchman would have been out to the public years ago.

What do you think?  Has anyone read it?  Some of my friends who have read it say it’s not up to Harper Lee’s standards . . .

The post Go Set a Watchman—Part II appeared first on Colin T. Nelson.