The Mockingbird Next Door: Life With Harper Lee (2014) - Plot & Excerpts
2.5 This book is interesting, if not highly repetitious. This book reads more of a love letter to Alice Lee the motherly eldest sister of Nelle Harper Lee.Mills gains access and friendship to the usual inaccessible Lee in 2001. As a friendship is struck she ends up living next door to Alice and Nelle. Nelle is oft depicted as overbearing and controlling. I also feel like Mills holds back on interesting stories, and skips over things. I don't think it's in an attempt to spare the Lees their privacy as there are things in the book that they may not have appreciated, or appreciated how it was worded. I felt like it was a lot of the same thing over and over again with a few stories thrown in. The relationship seems awkward and fragile even as the friendship deepens which gave me a sense of anxiety while reading it. I felt for all that I was learning about the Lee sisters I wasn't learning much. The book held my interest, but a lot of the stories don't hav a lot of depth, some of them incomplete.I can also see why Harper Lee would not like this book. It makes her sound overbearing, controlling, and manipulative. I had high hopes for this book - 1) because I really like memoirs and biographies and 2) because of the promise of insight into one of the greatest books ever written (according to a lot of people). This book was a huge disappointment. It was amazing to read about the friendship that flourished between the author and the Lee sisters. Hearing stories about their lives and their friends was quite interesting - but everything was very superficial. And I understand that, the author made it clear that the Lees were private and wanted to stay private. So why let her write this book? She teased us with information she was told but was "off the record" or of stories or situations Mills was specifically told to leave out of the book. Because of this, Mills filled the pages with a lot of personal stories and repeated facts quite a bit. After while I found the book to be boring and not very insightful.I was also mildly shocked that the author did not dedicate the book back to the sisters....really?Anyway - I'm glad I showed self control and skipped purchasing it - instead checking it out from the library. I think this book will have a very short shelf life.
What do You think about The Mockingbird Next Door: Life With Harper Lee (2014)?
I didn't learn much about Harper Lee, but did learn Marja Mills' favorite word is "I". Ugh.
—Kristina
Unconvincing. Repetitive and boring. I seriously doubt that she had Lee's cooperation.
—JaminBen
I give the book 3 stars for the story, and a 4th for the educational value.
—liababy
An interesting take on Harper Lee's life.
—magilbert338
