This was a Christmas present from my folks and was a wonderful read. A great insight into this incredible book. ( )

The author describes Lee's well-known insistence on privacy, which makes me ashamed to like this book and want to know more about her. Is it wrong... ? ( )

As a life long reader, I am sad to say, I was late to the To Kill a Mockingbird party. I was never required to read it in school. So, I never did. I finally read this book in my late 30’s. What an impact! I am glad I waited to read this. I feel the book had more meaning to me because of my age. After I finished the novel, I immediately rented the movie. Once again, I had to see what all the fuss was about. And the fuss….was very well done!

Mockingbird – A Portrait of Harper Lee added so much to my repsect for Harper Lee. This book takes you from the beginning to the end. Her struggles as an unknown writer to one of fame and fortune are all covered.

Her life with Truman Capote is covered in depth. He was such a large impact and influence on her as a person, as well as a writer. She as well, was probably his only friend. I am going to have to read more of his works.

Even if you are not a fan of Harper Lee, this is a great read. I enjoyed so many aspects. Old Hollywood, how publishing worked and historical murders are all recreated.

Harper Lee became more real to me as I read this book. I understand more about her life and her struggles. And what made her such an outstanding character and such a talent.

I received this novel from the publisher and Netgalley for a honest review ( )

Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee – Charles Shields
4 stars

This was a very readable, well-organized biography. Charles Shields used available information to develop a clear picture of Harper Lee. I was very interested to learn about both her childhood friendship and adult working relationship with Truman Capote. Shields does a good job of charting her growth as a young writer in college through the publication of her book. Although he offered several possible explanations why she never published another novel, he was for the most part respectful of the woman’s privacy. As a reader, I felt I had enough information to draw my own conclusions
( )

I read both the book and watched the movie, How to Kill a Mockingbird. The book and movie are a classic and rightly so. For a child actor, Harper Lee I thought she delivered just as a powerful performance as Gregory Lee did in the movie. Although this is really about the extent of my knowledge about Harper Lee. I am familiar with hearing and seeing the release of Harper's book, Go Set a Watchman but I have not read the book. Having admiration for Harper Lee I was looking forward to reading this book and learning who Harper Lee was from Scout to Go Set a Watchman. I thought that for the task that Mr. Shields had in front of him with not being able to interview his subject matter for this book, he did a fine job of gathering as much information as he could from others close to Harper Lee. Yet as I was reading this book not a lot of the details were sticking with me. It was like just reading fact cards which are fine but not that exciting. Despite my feelings about this book, I still will be a fan of Harper Lee. ( )

A wonderful, balanced biography of Nelle Harper Lee. I thought the author did a remarkable job of fairly portraying this reclusive author's life. ( )

i read this for a library book club. It is not something I would have picked on my own. It was okay and held my interest, but I don't see the point. Where are all of the stories the author heard? Yes, there are some but there is also too much mundane info about car rides and coffee at McDonalds. On a more positive note, it did get me to re-read To Kill a Mockingbird. ( )

I found this an interesting account of the life of the reclusive author Harper Lee. The biographer was not able to interview Ms. Lee directly, so nearly all of the material was obtained from files or interviews with people who had known her or had some measure of contact.

It is also somewhat unusual in that a good deal of the narrative is focused on Lee's association with Truman Capote and their coordinated writing of "In Cold Blood." Nevertheless, it is a fine work of research and an interesting look into the life of an author who was famous for the only book she published. ( )

Charles J. Shields is clearly an accomplished biographer, but it seems he must have underestimated the difficulty of the task of taking on a biography of Harper Lee, given the paucity of material available to accomplish that task. Harper Lee, born in 1926, is a reclusive author who never published another book after her best-seller To Kill a Mockingbird. For more than fivedecades, since publication in 1960, Harper Lee has consistently refused to make speeches or give interviews. This lack of material shows in the biography, which is therefore only moderately successful.

However, Mockingbird. A portrait of Harper Lee does still contain some material that make reading it interesting. Firstly, the opening chapters of the book give a wonderful description of the languid lifestyle in the South of the United States. The biography also reveals and describes in detail the longstanding and personal friendship since childhood between Harper Lee and Truman Capote, as they grew up in the same small town. Shields describes numerous influences in the works of Harper Lee and Capote, showing how the figure in each other's works under a thin disguise. The most spectacular contribution are the chapters which describe the help Harper Lee gave Truman Capote in doing research for his seminal non-fiction novel In Cold Blood. In effect, the writing of In Cold Blood would not have been possible in its current form if it had not been for Harper Lee.

Obviously, Mockingbird. A portrait of Harper Lee describes the success of Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, and the effect it had on its author. However, the biography remains vague as to why Harper Lee decided to withdraw from public life, and one would expect more detailed description of how that situation came about.

According to later chapters in the biography, Harper Lee is known to have worked or been working on further novellistic work, but little is known about it and none has been published so far. The last part of Mockingbird. A portrait of Harper Lee are vague, and all based on speculation, that does not bring anything significant to light. Supposedly, readers and scholars will have to wait till the estate is executed, to discover an personal details about the author and her ideas before long. It is very unlikely that any other biography could offer more insight that this biography, and therefore, despite its necessary short-comings, Mockingbird. A portrait of Harper Lee is probably the best biography around.

Recommended for readers interested in Harper Lee and particularly her relation to Truman Capote. ( )

(Read in 2011.) A so-so book, but I did learn that Harper Lee was very involved in the interviewing for Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood." The book painted a mostly unflattering picture of Capote. ( )

oh, man. i wanted to love this books so much more than i did. i am pretty disappointed. it was okay. fine-ish, even. but it wasn't very good. the second half of the book, post-in cold blood time, was better going for me and seemed less inclined towards something i have recently discovered i really don't like in biographies: reliance upon supposition and inference in times or situations where such information couldn't possibly be known.

it's clear shields is a huge fan of miss lee and that the book was undertaken with good intentions. i guess i am just a bit confused over what that intention really was though? at moments, it all felt a bit...dirty. quotes were used from correspondence obtained between shields and people who had been in miss lee's life, even if just marginally. i never felt confident that these people really knew miss lee or were adding value to her story.

i realize truman capote was a large presence in miss lee's life. i knew that prior to reading this biography. but it seemed to me an awful lot of page space was given over to the funny little man. i am also aware that miss lee has not given interviews or answered requests for appearances for many years. she's not reclusive - in her hometown she is familiar and social. i was aware of this. but her friends and neighbours are protective. (which is so awesome!) so i suppose i am left feeling that there is only so much information here to build a story upon and that the capote stuff is some sort of padding to give heft to the biography. i don't know?

i loved learning that miss lee was a bit of an eccentric on her university campus - preferring to dress in men's striped pyjama bottoms and shocking other student by smoking a pipe! (HA!!)

the one bit of information i did learn that surprised me was that miss lee "wanted to be the jane austen of alabama." thanks to a wonderful high school english teacher, miss lee fell in love with the novels of jane austen. once 'to kill a mockingbird' brought so much financial success to miss lee, she thanked her teacher (who had also helped proofread TKaM) by taking her on a trip to england, to have an austen experience together. awww!!! ( )

Sometimes success can come too soon, such as in the case of the high school football star who isn't quite good enough to land a college scholarship. The best years of his life can be over by the time he's 18, making the rest of his life seem anticlimactic.

Harper Lee was several years older than that when "To Kill a Mockingbird" was published. Even so she was not prepared for its instant success and didn't know how to deal with life afterward. She had planned to make writing her life's work, yet she never published another book. Why not? Charles J. Shields addresses that question in "Mockingbird," his biography of Harper Lee, known to her friends as Nelle.

Lee did continue writing after "To Kill a Mockingbird" was published in 1960, but nothing she worked on seemed good enough to her after that debut. She spent a decade or more writing a second novel, also set in the South of her youth, and at one time it was even reported to be ready to go to her publisher. That never happened. She worked for a long time on a nonfiction crime book, something on the order of "In Cold Blood," on which she worked with her childhood friend Truman Capote (the model for Dill in "Mockingbird"). (Shields writes that Lee's efforts made "In Cold Blood" possible, though Capote, perhaps jealous of his friend's success, never gave her proper credit.)

In the end, she simply gave up and became something of a recluse, shunning interviews with reporters and attention from adoring fans. Her lone book continues to produce enough income to live on, though she lives much more simply than would be necessary. Never married, she lives alone, winters in Alabama and summers in New York City.

Asked once why she never wrote another book, Lee replied, "I said what I had to say." That may have been an oversimplification, but still her one book said much more than what most of us can say in a lifetime. ( )

Although somewhat dry, this is a fascinating account of Harper Lee's childhood, her family relationships, and her friendship with Truman Capote. It's an unauthorized biography, definitely sympathetic to Lee, well-researched, and loaded with anecdotes about famous people and the publishing world. ( )

This is a great book, especially for any fan of To Kill A Mockingbird. ( )

The author has written an intriguing biography of Harper Lee, who penned the 20th century's most widely-read and acclaimed American novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. Shields explains why Harper Lee never published another novel, provides insights into her reclusive life, and credits her major role in the research and writing for Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. Read an Interview with Charles Shields from the Southern Literary Review http://southernlitreview.com/authors/charles_shields_interview.htm (lj) ( )

A wonderfully written book on Harper Lee. Instantly became one of my favourite biographies. A great job of dipping into her life and showing it yet at the same time showing restraint and granting her the privacy that she desires and rightfully deserves (as everyone in public does). Hopefully Miss Lee sees it that way as well. ( )

I dislike biographies. In fact, I have never read a biography that I enjoyed even slightly. That all changed after reading Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee. I absolutely loved this book. I loved how the stories and anecdotes were woven to tell the tale of Harper Lee, one of the most famous female authors ever. After reading this book I feel as though I know Lee on a personal level and I really like her. I very much enjoyed reading about her childhood, her friendship with Truman Capote, her journey as a writer and how fame has it's price. Mockingbird is one of the very best non-fiction books I have ever read. ( )

It was very satisfying to read about this mysterious woman. She had one book in her and what a book it is. Her biography reveals the importance of those who provided support for her and describes her considerable role in Capote's most famous work. ( )

Shields presents an interesting account of Harper Lee's life documented by careful research and copious endnotes. As a bonus, we also learn about her Alabama neighbor and best friend Truman Capote. Both were in effect motherless. Harper's emotionally distant mother suffered from purported Bipolar Disease and Truman's mother left him in the care of cousins after a bitter divorce. Both children were set apart by their intellect and precocious imaginations, becoming even closer by their "shared anguish."

The book is sprinkled with quotes and references to To Kill A Mockingbird, which is loosely based on Lee's family and neighbors on South Alabama Avenue and her experiences in small-town Monroeville. I learned a great deal about Ms. Lee and admire her for not succumbing to the pressure to write another book. After all, when you have written the perfect book (and I am not alone in this opinion), why not rest on your laurels? Kudos to Nelle Harper Lee for doing just that -- and to Charles Shields for writing such a paean to this unconventional woman and remarkable author. ( )

This slim volume, billed as a “portrait” of Nelle Harper Lee, disappointed me a bit. Shields primarily writes young adult non-fiction, and although the jacket claims he was trying to write an adult book, I fear he has fallen a bit short.

The story is quite repetitive, and the tone definitely favors teen readers. In addition, I noticed a few grammatical and spelling errors. A couple of sentences really required me to pause and dissect them before proceeding.

Another problem with the book involves a chapter and another long section which focuses more on Truman Capote and the writing of In Cold Blood than on Lee and To Kill A Mockingbird. In fact, the best chapter deals with Lee’s experiences in New York surrounding the writing and publication of her novel. Unfortunately, the next chapter rather boringly surveys the critical reviews of TKAM.

All in all, I have to classify this as a mildly interesting, so-so read. 3 stars.

--Jim, 2/26/09 ( )

A book about the author and writing of my all-time favorite book, "To Kill a Mockingbird". Much of this I already knew, but I'm always amazed when I'm reminded of the coincidence of two great future American writers, Harper Lee and Truman Capote ("Dill" in the book) growing up together in the small Southern town of Monroeville. Harper Lee herself seems to be the kind of person I'd imagined her to be from reading the book, and I am grateful for that. Some other bits of interest I didn't know: the New York couple who invested in the struggling young writer by giving her a gift of money so she could quit working for a year or so and concentrate on writing. The extent to which she helped Truman Capote when he did the research for what would become "In Cold Blood". The extent to which Gregory Peck tried to reshape the movie version, even wanting to rename it ("Atticus", I would suspect). And his influence lengthened the courtroom scenes to a far greater percentage of the movie than the novel. And it was interesting to read the biographer's suppositions about why she never published anything of significance again; I still wonder if there is not something that might come out posthumously. Regardless, this is an illuminating look at a very private woman who long ago earned my everlasting respect and gratitude for writing "To Kill a Mockingbird". ( )

Such a wonderful hagiography of the reclusive Lee. It was so intriguing to learn that Lee in no way endorsed this biography, yet that circumstance does not taint Shields love for her life. It is written in a narrative style and extremely engaging. Though every time you feel as though you are getting closer to Lee that initial warning of her refusal to participate in the book's writing, yanks you back and makes you that much more critical. ( )

It's really hard to write a complete bio of someone who doesn't grant interviews. ( )

Fantastic book! Nelle Harper Lee's life, relationship with Capote. ( )

(#40 in the 2007 book challenge)

This is a biography of Harper Lee, author of To Kill A Mockingbird, and the author himself starts off by explaining that it isn't very long because there isn't a whole lot of information out there. The bulk of the information is from Lee's research trip with Truman Capote while he was working on In Cold Blood, which makes sense because Capote cultivated any and all interest in his work and his person, and from the rush of publicity for the To Kill A Mockingbird movie, which also makes sense because it was someone's job to be pushing the publicity. Other than that, things are very sparse, and the author resorts to filling in meandering details about the locations and time periods that intersect with Ms. Lee's life. If, like me, you are a person who enjoys getting lots of information about a typical dormitory at a typical Southern women's college was like, then this is fine, although during these parts you could easily forget you are reading a biography of Harper Lee. This book does provide a bit of detail about the true life events that inspired episodes in To Kill A Mockingbird, and basic information about Ms. Lee's writing process. It was very odd to me to realize that I had never given much thought to these things before -- other than knowing trivia such as that Truman Capote became Dill, I hadn't focused on questions like too much, and I am the kind of person who usually likes to pursue all sorts of issues like this with books I hold dear -- which editor's hands were on it, who among the author's friends were asked to provide comments, which places and characters can be found back in the real world and how similar are they ... But I hadn't previously given any of these things more than a passing thought with To Kill A Mockingbird, it seems so perfect that surely it must have materialized fully formed, or at the very least, someone moving pen on paper while pleasantly reciting the story word for word in a strong Southern accent, "When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow ..." and continuing on without interruption until the end. Unfortunately, this is not a view that is terribly respectful of the author, as we learn that she took great deliberations to slowly and methodically and skillfully outline and write and rewrite and edit, but I hope it is reflective of the very great awe in which I hold the finished product.

Grade: A-
Recommended: To fans of To Kill A Mockingbird, provided they do not mind learning more mundane things about the circumstances by which it came about. Harper Lee does not do interviews or releases, so this is unauthorized. For the most part, I found it fairly respectful.