“To Kill a Mockingbird”? Honestly… not that great.

I finally read this so-called American classic. 9.3 rating. 135K reviews. Required reading in every U.S. school. I thought it would blow me away. But I dragged myself through it for months. The first 200 pages? Painfully slow. Except for that one moment where they read stories to the sick old lady, most of it was a slog. I gave up, read other books, then came back. The courtroom scene—yes, that part was gripping. A Black man wrongly accused by a white family, convicted based on flimsy “evidence.” That chapter hit hard. But then… the rest just fizzled out again. I couldn’t understand the hype. The blurbs say it’s a “model of moral education,” a “guidebook for parenting,” and a “literary cornerstone of justice.” Maybe it is—if you read it in middle school. Maybe I just read it too late, past that “golden window” where the message hits with wonder. Now? It just felt like another piece of “socially responsible” literature, the kind that gets passed around because it’s supposed to be important. Like the token Black character in every show. Yes, it talks about race. Yes, it tries to teach fairness and empathy. But the sad part? Decades later, real-world racism hasn’t gone away. Think about all the innocent Black men still getting killed. So maybe it is a book for young readers—to help them see what the world should be like. But for me? I wish I had read it back when I still believed books could cha #Entertainment #Books #ToKillAMockingbird #BookReview #RaceAndLiterature #ClassicOrOverrated #RequiredReading #HonestOpinions #ReadingReflections #AmericanLiterature