Being a lifelong nerd, I had already read this book, cover to cover, in middle school. However, four years of high school and college had wiped it from my memory, so, with law school on the horizon, I decided it would be good to revisit this classic.
It was like reading a brand new book. My past memories told me mostly that the book had a spooky ghost man in it, as well as a lawyer and some race stuff, maybe. If you had told me that the book was filled to the brim with racial commentary, that there was a trial for rape featuring thinly veiled allegations of incest, and that the final few chapters would present me with the attempted murder of two children, I would have said that we were talking about different books.
You would be right, of course, and I was surprised at every page. I was struck especially by the verdict of the court in the Robinson case, which felt too too reminiscent of the modern criminal justice system. In any case, think I should come back to this book in another decade to reexamine the parent child relationship. I think there is a good chance that I will find it to be a brand new book again then, too.