Michigan: Traverse City Indy Bookseller Offers Refunds on New Harper Lee Book

From the Detroit Free Press:

A Traverse City bookstore is offering refunds to its customers who bought the newly released Harper Lee novel “Go Set a Watchman,” because it feels the volume is “not a sequel or a prequel to ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ Neither is it a new book.”
On its Web site, Brilliant Books goes on to call the second book by the Alabama native who won the Pulitzer Prize for her 1960 novel about race in the South “a first draft that was originally, and rightfully, rejected” and urges its customers not to think of it as “a nice summer novel.”
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The Traverse City independent bookseller also lambasted the publishing industry, though [Peter] Makin [owner of Brilliant Books] hasn’t shared his views directly with HarperCollins.
“It is disappointing and frankly shameful to see our noble industry parade and celebrate this as ‘Harper Lee’s New Novel’. This is pure exploitation of both literary fans and a beloved American classic (which we hope has not been irrevocably tainted). We therefore encourage you to view ‘Go Set A Watchman’ with intellectual curiosity and careful consideration; a rough beginning for a classic, but only that,” Brilliant Books said on its Web site.

More in the Full Text Article (About 700 words)
See Also: Interview with Peter Makin (Melville House Blog)

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