Like so many classics, I knew To Kill a Mockingbird only by name when I started it. I understand perfectly why it's a classic, though. The story is moving and thought-provoking. It is situated in a time and place very alien, distant, and somewhat uninteresting to me (1930s Alabama) but written from such a vivid, refreshing, and profoundly different angle from mine that the events aren't uninteresting or distant for a second: the story is told from the point of view of a child.

The characters are written beautifully: they are multilayered and evocative, make you hate them and love them in a couple of chapters. Especially Atticus and Jem Finch made a deep impression on me, the former being an equalist before the historical time of equalism being normal or even acceptable and the latter a big brother I never had but every child would be lucky to have.

There are many elements in the plot that make it complex and interesting. Especially in the beginning, just when you think that "this is the story that's beginning to unfold," something else happens and a new layer is added to the plot. The part about Boo Radley even has a hint of horror in it. It all wraps up neatly, clearly, and at a good pace, though.

To Kill a Mockingbird is definitely a growth story (of many of the characters too,) but it's also so much more. It is a story about justice, inequality, childhood innocence, friendship, and humanity. It definitely made me think, it made me cry, and it made me realize how far we've come since the 30s but how little progress we've made at the same time.