Harper Lee - To kill a mockingbird

Book: http://bookmooch.com/m/detail/0446310786
Review by: http://www.bookmooch.com/m/bio/selene

What is the story about (copied from wikipedia) :

The novel is a coming of age story about a sister and a brother named Jean Louise "Scout" Finch and Jeremy Atticus "Jem" Finch respectively, who are growing up in the fictional small town of Maycomb, Alabama, in the Deep South of America in the 1930s. The story takes place over a period of three years and is told through the recollections of the younger sister, Jean Louise Finch or "Scout", as she is commonly referred to by friends. During the story the children's father, attorney Atticus Finch, is appointed to defend a black man (Tom Robinson) who has been accused of raping a white girl (Mayella Ewell).

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On the back cover of the book was nothing about the storyline. I only knew that it was someone's favourite book and an important book for American literature. People in American high schools probably have to read it... I don't know.
I enjoyed reading the book. It was told in a kind of 'relaxing' writing style. Since it was told from the viewpoint of a young girl, she sometimes understands things differently from adults. She also mainly focuses on the things that are most important to her life at certain moments. For example, at the beginning of the book she goes to elementary school for the first time. She talks about the classes, about her brother's experiences in elementary school, etc, but later on school is hardly mentioned anymore. Then she focuses more on her father and his work.
Sometimes it also feels a person is randomly introduced - you come across a name you haven't seen before, it's briefly explained who that person is, and for the rest of the book they don't get mentioned anymore OR they get a larger role.
I found the last part of the book (the trial) the least interesting [I'm not that interested in court cases], but it was still described in a 'relaxing' way thus easy to read through. There was also a little bit of a 'mystery' in it so that gave a bit of food for thought as well and made the trial part a bit more interesting than it would otherwise have been.
The English used is easy to follow, though most characters speak with an accent and that is written down as well. You get used quite soon to that, though.

The ending is rather open, but closed at the same time as well. After finishing it, I felt like starting again at the beginning. It is a book I'd re-read.