Last week we received some very disturbing news about one of our (former) literary heroes, but now a mere two days after the Go Set a Watchman's release it seems people are still cracking open the book in droves.
That's right, it seems that our dear Atticus Finch is a racist, and it also seems that nobody cares. Or they care so much that everybody ran straight to the nearest bookstore to find out once and for all what the heck is going on with Finch. Either way, readers have made Go Set a Watchman a record-breaker—it's currently number one on both Amazon's book and Kindle best seller lists, and it was the most pre-ordered book since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. That's no small feat.
But that's not exactly surprising either. Fans have been fascinated by the tale of the long-undiscovered book finally making its public debut, and it's only natural to flock to the follow-up to one of your favorite childhood tales. The real question is what's inside the book. We've had some spoilers already, from the depressing news about Atticus' political views to the even more depressing news of the untimely death of Scout's brother Jem. If you're too lazy to actually read the entire book yourself, try giving a peek at the tome's most popular passages.
Amazon collected all of the most-highlighted quotes from Watchman, and it's a great way to get the inside scoop without cracking the cover. Plus, it's reassuring to see that not the entire book revolves around Atticus the Racist.
1. "If you did not want much, there was plenty."
2. "Love whom you will but marry your own kind was a dictum amounting to instinct within her."
3. "She was almost in love with him. No, that's impossible, she thought: either you are or you aren't. Love's the only thing in this world that is unequivocal. There are different kinds of love, certainly, but it's a you-do or you-don't proposition with them all."
4. "For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth."
5. "The one human being she had ever fully and wholeheartedly trusted had failed her; the only man she had ever known to whom she could point and say with expert knowledge, "He is a gentleman, in his heart he is a gentleman," had betrayed her, publicly, grossly, and shamelessly."
6. "She was a person who, when confronted with an easy way out, always took the hard way."
7. "Just about that time, Jean Louise's brother dropped dead in his tracks one day."
8. "Her favorite game was golf because its essential principles consisted of a stick, a small ball, and a state of mind."
9. "Recorded history's version does not coincide with the truth, but these are the facts, because they were passed down by word of mouth through the years, and every Maycombian knows them."
10. "Prejudice, a dirty word, and faith, a clean one, have something in common: they both begin where reason ends."