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Personally, I enjoyed the book somewhat. But, the authors obssesion with the southern accent really pissed me off. I mean stuff like, "Nome, ma'am," he slowly drawled (paraphrashed somewhat), really annoys me.
I hold that had she used less intrusive methods that the book would have been much better. Look at Tom Sawyer, by Twain. That has a southern feel to its dialog and doesn't piss the reader off with bizzare wording.
Does anyone here hold that the chopped dialog in this book is worth it, and needed? Just curious, because To Kill is such a popular book...
[This message has been edited by Phanto (edited December 27, 2003).]
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I haven't read it, but written dialect always annoys me, unless it is done very carefully. And the example above sounded painful. Posts: 626 | Registered: Jun 2003
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I think accents work best if the writer uses a word or two as key dialect words. When it is the whole darned sentence it takes more to read what is being said than one gains.
Posts: 142 | Registered: Jan 2003
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If you ask me, "Hucleberry Finn" and "Tom Sawyer" both use alot more phonetic southern dialect in them than "To Kill a Mockingbird". Almost to the point of beating you over the head with it. Anytime Jim is talking I really had to concentrate on what he is saying. I enjoyed reading Harper Lee's story. I feel kinda cheated that she only wrote one, I wish she had continued writing.
Posts: 471 | Registered: Sep 2003
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You should try reading Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange", it'd drive you looney. "A Manual of Writers Tricks" by David Carroll suggests that to write good accents, you only need to use a few instances of these deformed words. Most people, like yourself, have a hard time getting past their overuse in literature. I agree with you completely, it's far too overused a gimmick - esp. in "To Kill . . ." I didn't really think the book was anything special to begin with. If you are looking for good examples of accents in literature, see Dickens, Charles Dickens.
Posts: 12 | Registered: Feb 2011
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