If you want to understand the process she went through to get to Mockingbird, read Watchman.
She wrote it whilst being urged on by several friends and when she took it to her agent was told that she had some good ideas, but it was stronger in some parts than others. She should focus entirely on Scout's youth, and to deal with Atticus' battle with racial tensions in that town.
She went away, produced Mockingbird, the rest is history. You can see the process right there in Watchman.
If you try and read them as a pair, you will get annoyed: anecdotes repeated in both have key facts changed that change their meaning and the characters involved in them.
It's not as polished, tuned or as well paced as Mockingbird. It's a piece of work that pays testament to a talented writer finding her voice, but hasn't quite found it yet.
And for that, it's fine. But don't read it if you aren't interested in the writing process and just want a good story: just re-read Mockingbird instead.
She wrote it whilst being urged on by several friends and when she took it to her agent was told that she had some good ideas, but it was stronger in some parts than others. She should focus entirely on Scout's youth, and to deal with Atticus' battle with racial tensions in that town.
She went away, produced Mockingbird, the rest is history. You can see the process right there in Watchman.
If you try and read them as a pair, you will get annoyed: anecdotes repeated in both have key facts changed that change their meaning and the characters involved in them.
It's not as polished, tuned or as well paced as Mockingbird. It's a piece of work that pays testament to a talented writer finding her voice, but hasn't quite found it yet.
And for that, it's fine. But don't read it if you aren't interested in the writing process and just want a good story: just re-read Mockingbird instead.