I agree with you Taylor. To Kill a Mockingbird became a kind of sacred text.Taylor wrote:Harper Lee manages to define her story and its particular situation, I don't get the impression, that through her story she had hopes of presenting a larger picture element, that's what society tried to do with the small story she told.
As I read Watchman what I see is more a Huckleberry Finn,Lake Woebegone days type humourous depiction of the foibles and idiosyncrasies of a small society.
She enjoys recreating the world of children's games with their rules and imagination. That's her literary gift.
The grown ups don't really seem that grown-up and are quite pretentious and self important. No wonder she didn't write another novel with the weight of solemn expectation placed on her.
For sure the race issue will become important as the book goes on and she does see things clearly. Reviewers describe the book as meandering but the meandering is much of what she is about,I think.
She actually finds these things funny and maybe has a satirist's eye for the absurdly comical and sometimes tragic in human life and behaviour.