Harper Lee's Kind-of Second Novel and the Danger of Influencers

I’ve been married for a little over a month now, and what a whirlwind it has been! We’ve travelled through the Netherlands, Paris, London, Tokyo, and San Diego before making our way back to Guam. I appreciate everyone who’s been reading my travel blogs; they’ve been such a joy to write! I have quite the backlog of books to catch up on, so I’ll be featuring three today. The first: a fiction book that I knew would let me down but was still disappointed when it did. The second: a nonfiction book that’s making my top reads of the year. The third: a nonfiction read that was just okay for me. 

Next week I’ll be featuring a Civil War historical fiction novel, a buzzy memoir about power and greed (I bet you can guess which one), and a mysterious, atmospheric novel about family and the environment.

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Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

I got to teach To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time last year, and while it is a tragic story in many ways, it is also a story of hope, courage, empathy, and compassion. It’s a story of nostalgia for the innocence of youth, the importance of doing the right thing (especially when it's hard), and how the world shapes us with all of its losses and kindnesses. It’s an American classic for a reason and speaks to the very best and worst of humanity. Go Set a Watchman is the previously unpublished first draft, and I believe it should have remained unpublished for the good of To Kill a Mockingbird’s legacy. You cannot read them together in a way that makes logical and emotional sense. While they share characters and a town and the same questions about race in a time of segregation and discrimination, the reasoning, emotions, and answers are so radically different that you feel whiplash and betrayal as a reader. 

For one thing, the story is incredibly tangential as Scout’s mind wanders from present to past and back again or as she converses with her long-winded circle of family and neighbors. The threads to the past don’t fully align with the original story, and the off-screen death of Jem is jarring. Nothing is perhaps as jarring, though, as Lee’s long, long arguments about race and white supremacy. Scout is appalled, betrayed, and sickened by the man her father seems to be and is scolded and hit by her uncle for her hysterical response to her father’s hypocrisy. The characters are fueled by anger and fear, and the worst of Maycomb is on display. It is a nightmare world where the protagonist and readers feel disoriented by the world that seems tipped on its axis. Scout tries to champion what is “right,” but she is unsupported at every turn by the deep-set prejudices of the way things were, are, and, in the mind of the community, should always continue to be. 

I cannot in any way recommend this book. I had read critiques of it, but I wanted to see for myself what Lee wrote. It is so clear that this book was still in draft form and was not intended for or ready for publication. It almost doesn’t feel fair to review something that wasn’t even supposed to be published. There’s another collection of Harper Lee’s work being published in a few months, but I am hesitant to pick it up after my disappointing experience with Go Set a Watchman. The one redeeming factor is that Reese Witherspoon narrated the audiobook and really excelled at capturing Scout’s voice. 

The Woman Who Fooled the World: The True Story of Fake Wellness Guru Belle Gibson by Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano

Of all the nonfiction that I’ve read this year, this easily finds its way to the top of the list, and I can find myself easily recommending this. Please, do yourself the favor and read this before you watch the Netflix adaptation, Apple Cider Vinegar. I watched the television version first and lost some of the surprise, horror, and suspense because I knew the major beats of this larger-than-life, truth-is-stranger-than-fiction piece of investigative journalism. If you’re like me and have long plane rides in your life, this will keep you thoroughly distracted and enthralled. If you need something to read at the beach, bring this along to make the hours evaporate. Don’t read this right before bed because you won’t be able to put it down–I know I certainly struggled to stop once I got into the heart of the rollercoaster. 

The story follows Belle Gibson, a wellness influencer who, to this day, has not served time in prison for misleading the public, lying about her life, and harming countless individuals with her false narratives. Here’s how it all started: Belle Gibson claimed to have malignant brain cancer. After allegedly trying chemo and the standard treatment protocols, she ditched them all for “alternative treatments” and a new nutritional and wellness plan that miraculously healed her and reversed her dire prognosis. Sounds too good to be true? That’s because it is. Gibson never actually had cancer. Gibson was never actually sick. Gibson acquired a book deal, founded a wildly successful app, and received multiple awards and recognitions for her positive influence on the world as a young female leader. She doubled down and claimed she had multiple forms of cancer. Her lies stacked upon each other until the pile came crumbling down in a PR and media fiasco. The public that once adored her viciously turned on her for lying to, misleading, and betraying people at their most vulnerable stages of life. 

Gibson preyed on the hope people long for, yearn for, are desperate for when they are told that painful treatments lay ahead, that their health will continue to diminish, that they have months left in what should have been a long and fruitful life. Gibson preyed on the belief that we can control our lives, but there is so much we can’t control. We can do everything right and still get sick. You can eat well and exercise and still get cancer. Life isn’t fair, and it is absolutely unfair that Gibson made people feel guilt and false hope that she could “cure” herself in a way that is inimitable because it is impossible. You can’t be healed when you were never actually ill. 

The dangers of social media are all too real as we are fed lies and half-truths, filters and edits, and narratives meant to sell and promote. We idolize without really knowing, we feel defeated without actually understanding the battle, we desire something that doesn’t actually exist. The narrative reads like fiction, and it still blows my mind that this is a true story. 

The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston 

I’m going to keep this one short and sweet. While listening to this as an audiobook provided me with a descriptive experience about an expedition deep into the jungle to find some ancient ruins, I was not as enthralled and captivated as I’d like. I think I struggled with the medium the content was presented in. If this was a documentary series or a long form article with accompanying pictures, I’d be sold. I love museums, I love history, I love narrative nonfiction, but this one didn’t leave a long lasting impression on me. 

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Watching: Tom and I binged Adolescence on Netflix, and I know it will be getting many nods and awards in the coming months. Each episode of this crime drama is shot in one continuous take, and the powerful acting will leave you on the edge of your seat, thoroughly unsettled, and with a broken heart. The show focuses on the aftermath of a teenage girl’s murder and tries to explain how her classmate, a seemingly normal and innocent boy, could be capable of such violence. I admire how the writers did not flinch from exploring the problems our modern youth face in their schools and social media feeds. Owen Cooper did an outstanding job of playing the teenaged Jamie. In one moment he is a quiet boy who wants marshmallows in his cocoa and a plain sandwich and the next he is screaming, threatening, and so, so angry. For such a young and new actor to have such emotional range in a high pressure filming environment is impressive, and his carefully allotted emotional outbursts keep the audience on their toes. Stephen Graham plays Jamie’s father, and his breakdown in the final episode would rock even the most stoic of viewers. This was outside of my normal wheelhouse and a pretty heavy show, but the intentionality and thought behind the show and the layered emotions, tensions, and conflicts made this a standout for me this year. 

Making: Being home more has given me more time to bake, and I’ve enjoyed stepping outside of my comfort zone to make new things from scratch. My college roommate sent me her recipe for potato rolls, and it was my first time working with yeast in 5 years. They came out so well, and the experience gave me confidence to work more with bread in the coming weeks. 

Doing: I had my first volunteer shift with the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society thrift store on base. I spent a couple of hours sorting through clothing donations and prepping clothes to go onto the floor. The 25 cent books are going to be a dangerous temptation for me this year! 

Listening: Maggie Stiefvater is my favorite young adult author, and her series, The Raven Cycle, influenced my writing more than any other book I’ve read. My mom was so supportive and took me to NYC to see Stiefvater speak twice and listened endlessly to my excited one-sided conversations about her work. Now that she’s made her adult fiction debut and is putting out a graphic novel version of The Raven Boys, Stiefvater is popping up on the press circuit. I listened to her interview with OwlCrate, and it made me so excited to read The Listeners soon.