One meaning of the word fan, according to my fave dictionary, is “an enthusiastic devotee of a sport (as baseball) or diversion (as ballet) usually as a spectator rather than a participant” and/or “an ardent admirer or champion (as of a person, technique, or pursuit).” In this sense, it’s probably short for fanatic and was first used around 1885.

If you love to read—and I do—you are probably a fan of books.

But being a bookie is a personal thing. We develop our intimacies, we bookies, with certain stories, certain authors, certain arrangements of words that make us swoon … and not others.

Thus it is with my feelings about Go Set a Watchman. You know how I feel because I’ve written about this once already, and I hesitated to do so again. But then I got involved in a conversation on Facebook and found that someone else had something smart to say that I agreed with. 🙂 A good friend of mine posted:

I still can’t decide if I should read Go Set A Watchman. I do worry about Ms. Lee’s wishes being violated for this manuscript. That said, this is the best editorial I have read. It doesn’t address the morality of its actual publication, but examines the role of the book as a “race novel” for the present time.

Many of her friends admitted to being conflicted too. But her friend Victor said, “I for one am not going to read it” and I posted immediately after: “Me either. It’s a money grab.” (Which is, in fact, exactly what I think, though I have never managed to be so succinct about it.)

The reason I feel this way is Harper Lee had a severe stroke in 2007 (at age eighty-one). “Her physical decline,” the New Yorker said earlier this year, “has been well observed: confined to a wheelchair, she’s mostly blind, from macular degeneration, and nearly deaf. Her health otherwise, though, has been fiercely debated, especially during these last few weeks. At eighty-eight, Harper Lee rarely leaves the Meadows [an assisted-living facility]; she was last seen outside the facility in November for her sister’s funeral.”

No one blames her for this. Dealing with an aging body—and I have personal experience in this matter—is not fun. And I can read between the lines here, no matter what anyone in Monroeville says out of love. She’s a frail old lady. The New York Times says that is “[the] picture of Ms. Lee that emerged in a 2013 lawsuit she filed against her former literary agent, in which she said he had ‘engaged in a scheme to dupe’ her by hiding royalty payments and appropriating the copyright to ‘Mockingbird.’ In the lawsuit, which was confidentially settled, she was portrayed by one of her lawyers as infirm and vulnerable to those she trusts.” (Emphasis mine.)

So … I never planned to read Go Set a Watchman. If nothing else, it’s clear to me that Harper Lee couldn’t participate in the editorial process, and I only read first drafts when someone’s paying me to do so. 🙂

In our Facebook conversation, my friend replied,

May I ask why not? Even if it is for money, is it really hurting anyone? That’s what I’m trying to decide.

I told her that it is because of both respect and lack of respect for Harper Lee that I don’t particularly care to read it. Lack of respect, you say? Yes. We all know now that Watchman is the first draft of what became Mockingbird—you know how I feel about sending your editor a first draft, don’t you?—and it’s crap. Reviewers who aren’t afraid to speak truth to power have stated baldly that it’s crap, and I believe them (here’s just one).

We also now know that her editor pushed and prodded for a period of two years to get the rewrite that ultimately became the much-loved Mockingbird. (You won’t see that happen in today’s publishing climate. The margins aren’t there. My publisher clients generally give me ninety days to work with an author. Sometimes less.)

And, finally, in the “disrespect” column, I didn’t love Mockingbird that much. I haven’t read it in years but I’ve been reading reviews of folks who have reread recently, and the reports are that it doesn’t hold up well. (One of my agent-editor friends says the book “has some significant writing flaws. Reading it after years of being an editor, I saw cracks in it that never would have stood out to me before.”) In other words, Mockingbird shone best for readers who were ages ten to twenty—which is when most of us read it the first time. So the question I have to ask myself is do I really want to spend a single moment of my precious and diminishing life reading a crappy first draft of it?

No, I do not.

In the respect column, this: most authors worry about the quality of their work, no matter how experienced they are, no matter how talented, no matter how hard they work. They take a great leap of faith when they hand over that manuscript to someone—an editor—who will help them polish up their rough diamond. I can’t think of an author alive who would want his or her first draft looked at by anyone other than an editor. (An editor doesn’t judge, she just gets to work.) So knowing what I know and feeling how I feel, I am not going to shame Harper Lee by reading Watchman.

Victor, the gentleman who’d also replied in the negative during our Facebook conversation, stated similar reasons:

My reason was that I had heard she had no intention of publishing it. I mean, not every scrap of writing or music or film has to be released. See Queen’s unreleased demo tapes for a great example of music by a great band you don’t need to hear. (Emphasis mine.)

His answer is both shorter and smarter than mine. Sometimes the bird in the hand is enough.

Don’t get me wrong: I do understand the excitement. I just don’t think Watchman is for me. But for some Harper Lee fans, Watchman is a wonderful gift, and that’s fine too.

Tweet: Go Set a Watchman: Sometimes the bird in the hand is enough.
Tweet: Many of my friends are conflicted about Go Set a Watchman. I’m not.
Tweet: I only read first drafts when someone’s paying me to do so. 🙂

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”