'Mockingbird' sequel fails to excite Guwahati

GUWAHATI: While Harper Lee's 'Go Set A Watchman' took the world of publishing by storm, the city's response to the widely-anticipated novel remained lukewarm. There were hardly any takers for the book at prominent bookstores here on Tuesday when it was released globally.
As Lee fans elsewhere queued up to get their hands on a copy of the book, which was generating plenty of excitement for months before its release, proprietors of some bookstores here said there were few inquiries about the book.
"I was surprised to find no one talking about the book here. I am a huge fan of Harper Lee. Once I got to know about the sequel, I was eagerly waiting to lay my hands on a copy," said Tapashi Das Khatanair, an avid reader.
Although publicized as a sequel, the book is actually the first draft of Lee's first and only other published novel, the Pulitzer Prize-winning 'To Kill a Mockingbird' (1960). Booksellers attributed the low interest in 'Go Set a Watchman' to readers choosing online retail platforms for pre-orders.
"The copies of Harper Lee's book arrived on Tuesday afternoon. I think reader interest will rise in the coming days. Readers here often rely on word of mouth publicity," said the proprietor of a bookstore in Panbazar.
Many also blamed the declining passion for reading among youngsters for the muted response. Bookstore owners said the book was perceived as being for 'older' people. The scene was very different in 2007 when JK Rowling's final installment of the Harry Potter series, 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows', released. There were flex prints advertising the title outside shops and children and young adults lined up outside stores to buy the book.
While some stores received the first copies of 'Go Set a Watchman' on Tuesday, others chose to bide their time. "We are still waiting for copies of the book to arrive. It is true that traffic to bookshops has lessened as readers now prefer to place orders online. I feel, however, that there has been no decline in the reading habit of people here. I hope readers will return to bookstores," said Sanchet Kumar of 'Not Just Books', a bookstore in the city.