Superlatives no longer mean much to this venerable classic, and it was one of the best novels I think was ever written. So I'm more interested in describing what makes the book work. Humour is one crucial factor. By never succumbing to the pretentious grandiosity that has plagued many a novelist since the form's rise to prominence in the Victoria era, To Kill a Mockingbird achieves an endearing relationship with its reader. Every character is vivid, with strengths and faults, and Lee achieves that difficult amalgam in first-person narratives presented as recollections: A mixture of an adult's rhetorical power and a child's k