Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

Why does one book reach greatness while another fails?

For the fourth quarter, Mod Runs Amok. I am going to be selfish and seek answers, ideas, and thoughts to a question that has bothered me for years. Why do some books achieve greatness and others fall into obscurity? I have selected two books to compare. Both books bear certain similarities. Southern authors wrote both. Each book was the author's first and only publication. Both stories take place in the Deep South and feature civil rights and social justice issues between blacks and whites. Both stories are coming-of-age themed and told from the viewpoint of young adolescents. A majority of our group will be aware of one of these books, and thousands of you have read it. For a larger majority of the group, the second book will be an unknown.

The books to be compared are To Kill a Mockingbird and A Cry of Angels

I deeply admire both books. For me, both are 5-star reads. I found the writing in Mockingbird to be more somber than that of Angels, which I feel is more lighthearted and humorous. Both books delve into race relations at the time of their storyline. Mockingbird shows the inequities and short comings of the judicial system, during the Jim Crow era. While Angels does not cast or create doubt about the rightness or wrongness of the mores and laws of the time. Just how regular people black and white, live with them.

The Goodreads rating percentages prove that both books liked and appreciated by readers. The ratings are seriously one-sided in favor of Mockingbird, 6,700,000+, compared to Angel, at 213.
Mockingbird - 51% of ratings were 5-Star
----------- 80% combined 4 & 5 Stars
Angels - 54% of ratings were 5-Star
------- 89% combined 4 & 5 Stars
This shows that both books are deeply admired by their readers but provides no insight as to why one flourished and one floundered.

NOTE: Each book will have its own book thread open in the Current Reads Folder. Please do not make book comparison comments in these threads. If you are commenting only on a single book, please comment in that books thread. Please, when commenting on or comparing the differences as to why you think one book fared better than the other, use this thread.

First Edition Cover



Harper Lee

Information/Thoughts/Notes - To Kill a Mockingbird
-Published July 1960
-Published by J. B. Lippincott Company, in 1978 it was acquired by Harper & Row Publishers, Inc.
-Immediate best seller, selling 40+ million to date
-In 1961 it won a Pulitzer Prize 
-The story takes place in the 1933, Macomb Alabama before much of the civil rights efforts started.
-The books setting 1930's, Jim Crow Laws would be the accepted norm. A big focus of the book illustrates this disparity.
-Civil rights movement was peaking in the early 1960s, a time when racial tensions were accelerating, was the popularity of the novel helped by this tension?
-Did the movie, help Mockingbird's continuing popularity?
-Kim Stanley was the uncredited narrator in the film To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). As the narrator, Stanley is the voice of Jean Louise Finch ("Scout") as an adult. Having seen the movie her voice is captivating.
-Do people who have seen the movie hear her voice while reading?
-Does Stanley's voice subconsciously affect a person's liking it?
-The story is told from the viewpoint of a youth.
-The youth involved were affluent, children of a lawyer.
-The children of the story were independent and willful.
-Except for domestic help the children had no daily direct contact with blacks.
-The children's knowledge of race relations was learned by observing adults.
-Did Harpers connection to Truman Capote help sales? Was the connection widely known?

First Edition Cover



Jeff Fields

Information/Thoughts/Notes - A Cry of Angels
-Published May 1974
-Published January 1, 1974, by Scribner
-Published by Brown Thrasher Books affiliated with the University of Georgia Press, which specializes in an array of works that emphasize the rich cultural and historical narratives of the American South
-Never a bestseller, I could find no numbers
-My internet searches show no awards
-No movie made
-The story takes place in 1950's Northeast Georgia during when much of the civil rights efforts started. 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional.
- At the time of writing and publication most of the Civil Rights laws of the 1960's had been passed.
-Did the lack newsworthy public interest in societal race relations (mid-1970's) have an effect on sales?
-Jim Crow Laws were still in effect, but change is on the horizon.
-This story is told from the viewpoint of a youth, who have direct contact and observations of racial interactions.
-The two characters in Angel are male, one white, one black, both orphans, both are poor.

Link for Non-Spoiler Discussion. Please, only discuss non-spoiler thoughts about Mockingbird. Please do not compare your thoughts about A Cry of Angels.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

A Cry of Angels exists in our Buddy Read folder. It does not have a non-spoiler discussion thread. The below link will take you to a Spoiler thread. Please do not compare your thoughts about To Kill a Mockingbird,

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Excited about this discussion, Bob. What I love most is that it will encourage a lot of new readers for A Cry of Angels.

Sara wrote: "Excited about this discussion, Bob. What I love most is that it will encourage a lot of new readers for A Cry of Angels."

I read it because of your recommendation, Sara, and I really enjoyed it. And, as Bob is asking, why do two books that have so much in common get different amounts of attention and such disparate degrees of accolades? I'm glad that this discussion will bring more attention to A Cry of Angels!

Interesting pairing! However, I must admit that when I read in the initial post: “Southern authors wrote both [...] Both stories take place in the Deep South”, I thought of Patagonia and South Africa :)

Ascanio wrote: "... I must admit that when I read in the initial post: “Southern authors wrote both [...] Both stories take place in the Deep South”, I thought of Patagonia and South Africa..."

Same here: Deep South suggest to me Congo and southwards, not specifically South Africa

This is a really neat idea, Bob. I've often wondered about this too, and admit that in your shoes I would have done the same thing (though in my case I would have selected A Covenant With Death as the much admired lesser-known book).

I'm excited about this thread as I've not read A Cry of Angels and the star rating is so high. AND, Wobbley, I've also not read A Covenant with Death & I live in New Mexico so I'll squeeze that in. To Kill a Mockingbird is taught here in our public schools (in multiple grades!!) so we are very aware of that title.

Wobbley wrote: "This is a really neat idea, Bob. I've often wondered about this too, and admit that in your shoes I would have done the same thing (though in my case I would have selected [book:A Covenant With Dea..."

I went with what I am familiar with, and it doesn't hurt that A Cry of Angels is my favorite book. I hadn't heard of A Covenant with Death before your post. Thank you for that, it looks like a book I would appreciate, another for the TBR.

I would guess that part of the reason for one's popularity over the other is in the titles. I'm sorry but, A Cry of Angels -- I don't know -- maybe if I think about it a while it can become kind of intriguing, but on first glance it sounds a bit melodramatic and niche. While To Kill a Mockingbird has a kind of mystic quality that - at least to me - is quite appealing.

Annette wrote: "I'm excited about this thread as I've not read A Cry of Angels and the star rating is so high. AND, Wobbley, I've also not read A Covenant with Death & I live in New Mexico so I'll squeeze that in...."

I am pleased that you are going to read Angels. I'm sure you will enjoy it a lot. I look forward to hearing what you think about the book and any thoughts you have about why it sank like the Titanic.

Yay, I'm glad a few people will add A Covenant With Death to their lists. I actually first ran across it in this group, when Sara read it and recommended it so warmly. It's probably a top five book for me.

This is a fascinating idea and I look forward to everyone's thoughts. I've heard of Cry of Angels but not read it.

Right off the bat I'd say that TKAM is remembered as a classic because it's so often taught in school, and was already being taught regularly by 1974, when ACOA was published. Also, there's the movie with Gregory Peck, which I remember seeing often on TV growing up. Those things tend to make a book look "official" and "classic" in the public eye.

Xaph wrote: "I would guess that part of the reason for one's popularity over the other is in the titles. I'm sorry but, A Cry of Angels -- I don't know -- maybe if I think about it a while it can become kind of..."

I agree that a book's popularity is affected by multiple variables. The book's title is certainly one of those factors. How important it is, or if it proves to be a big enough negative for a reader to decide not to read a book, to me is uncertain. In non-fiction, the title usually tells what the book is about, so there is not much guesswork for the reader. Fiction titles don't always disclose what's going to be inside. Neither of these titles divulges anything about the book's content. It seems to be about marketing, a means of attracting a potential reader's attention, in hopes they will look closer and read the synopsis.