SparksMarks

Archive for the ‘Book Reviews’ Category

I kicked off my recent push to finish all of the works of Shakespeare with The Taming of the Shrew. I know I at least started this in high school, but I’m not sure if I finished or if I did finish it, if I actually understood most of it. I read it after I saw 10 Things I Hate About You, which is loosely based on it, so I knew the basic story, but wasn’t sure if I caught some of the details and nuances of the plays since I hadn’t read a lot of Shakespeare at that point.

In reading it this time, I’m pretty sure I did actually read the whole thing. Certain scenes seemed quite familiar and not just because of the plot. It’s one of his easier plays to understand, so maybe I didn’t have too much trouble with it back then after all, or maybe it’s because I saw the movie version with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

The introduction to my version, which is in the Riverside Shakespeare, mentions that this play is usually enhanced greatly by seeing it performed, even more so than other plays. In just reading it, I think it comes across as more misogynistic than when viewing it. In the movie version, Katerina’s behavior is so terrible and blatantly needs to be corrected that you’re rooting for Petruchio to succeed. When reading it, however, you don’t see as much of Katernina’s bad behavior and therefore are much more sympathetic with her. And I can certainly understand her desire to to behave in such a way as to detour potential suitors rather than be pawned off on some guy she doesn’t like.

I also think the movie was more palatable because you see Katerina and Petruchio fall in love more, whereas in the play I’m not even sure that they really like each other even at the end. The humor is also more evident when performed because you get to actually see Petruchio’s odd and amusing actions. They are actually quite funny even in print, but seeing him in his very strange wooing outfit would make more of an impact in person.

I had an odd connection that came to mind when I read this. It made me think about reverse psychology, which makes me think of one of the Baby-Sitters Club books that I loved growing up. In one of them, Stacey uses reverse psychology on some of her terrible charges. When they don’t want to clean their rooms, she agrees with them that rooms are better when messy and makes them messier. When they demand she do something for them, she starts doing everything for them. She takes everything a step too far and it’s not too long before the kids correct their behavior. It was pretty funny and was a tactic I sometimes used when tutoring. I think it usually shocked the kids into behaving and it only didn’t work for me once.

Anyway, if you’re someone who doesn’t think they can understand Shakespeare, this is a good play to start with.

I didn’t expect to like Moby Dick. My experiences with Herman Melville thus far have been less than satisfactory. In the words of Bartleby the Scrivener, “I would prefer not” to read any more Melville. And yet, Moby Dick taunted me. “Are you too lazy to read me? Too unintelligent? Can you really consider yourself well versed in the classics without reading me?” the book seemed to say to me.

And so, I’ve finally given in. I’m reading it on my Nook, which I think makes it a little easier because I’m not lugging around this massive tome that reminds me of how far I’ve got to go.

I was surprised to actually like the story from the start. It begins by talking about the importance of travel, how foreign places call to you and entice you, how you begin to feel trapped if you can’t temporarily run away from your daily life to see new sights. As someone who loves to travel, I instantly connected with Ishmael.

I believe it also helped that for about the first 150 pages, Ishmael is still on land. This reassures me that I don’t have nearly 850 pages of being on a boat to read about. We learn why he wants to go to sea and how he prepares for the trip, we meet Queequeg and learn about his interesting background, and we get to know Ishmael. Eventually, he gets the position on the boat and begins hearing rumors of Captain Ahab well before we meet him, which helps build interest.

My own interest was held until about 200 pages in, once they get on the boat. All of the chapters up until this point are very short, often just 5-10 pages. This has helped me feel like I’m making great progress even when reading in short bursts, which is great because I primarily read from my Nook during my lunch break. However, suddenly I’m met with a never-ending chapter on whales. Yes, I realize Moby Dick is about a whale. So, it’s good to receive some information on whales. But it is not necessary to include a much longer than any preceding chapters chapter on every type of whale known to man. The tone in this chapter suggests that Melville pulled paragraphs straight out of an encyclopedia. It is not Ishmael’s style at all. I found myself frantically pushing the forward button to see how long this thing lasted. Unfortunately, I didn’t count the total pages and don’t want to flip back and relive that chapter or I might not move forward, so I’m not sure how long exactly the chapter is. I would guess about 30 pages, so three times as long as the longest of most of the early chapters. It’s never good when you’re pulled out of a story and left wonder what the editor was thinking in allowing that to stay in.

I’m hoping that Moby Dick picks back up so that I can start enjoying it again. I don’t usually post reviews in parts unless I’m participating in a readalong, but since Moby Dick is so long and I already had several items I wanted to share, I decided to do at least two posts. I may continue to post about every 200 pages if I have interesting updates at that point.

Have you read Moby Dick? Did you find the chapter on whales as odd as I did?

 I was familiar with the story of Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe before reading it. I read Faust by Goethe in college, which follows the same story but in an expanded novel form. I enjoyed that story, so I expected to like Dr. Faustus as well.

The story is about a man who makes a deal with the devil. The devil can have his soul in exchange for 24 years of knowledge and pleasure. Of course, this doesn’t end well.

I like the basics of the story – the idea of being tempted, the quest for knowledge, that getting what you want isn’t always a good thing. But while Faust had a lot of depth, I felt that Dr. Faustus just skimmed the surface of the story and used a lot of filler “comedy” scenes.

The beginning and the end were strong and mirrored each other nicely. Dr. Faustus begins by wanting to have infinite knowledge, to be more than human. In the end, he realizes that by giving his soul away he has lost his humanity and has an eternity of torture ahead of him. He wishes he were an animal, who lives and dies with no soul to linger on forever.

When I read the intro to my edition after reading the play, I saw that it is speculated that Marlowe wrote only the beginning and the end of the play and that collaborators wrote much of the middle. Perhaps that’s part of the reason for the unevenness. It also didn’t appear until about 18 months after his death, causing some scholars to wonder if Marlowe left it unfinished and others completed the work after his death. I should also note that there are two texts of Dr. Faustus. I read the A text, which is considered to be closer to what Marlowe actually wrote. The B text appeared after the A text and is much longer and the language is very different. The Norton Anthology includes the A text and the copy I happened to own was also the A text so that’s the version I read. Most scholars today tend to favor that version.

Overall, I would encourage you to read Faust by Goethe if you’re interested in this story, unless you just want a quick overview of the story.

My first Persephone! I was so excited when I saw this at my library. I’ve been quite jealous of all of the other book bloggers reading their Persephones and I’m quite glad to finally join in. Persephone publishes classic women authors who were popular during their time but who have fallen into obscurity for the most part. Good Evening Mrs. Craven and Other Wartime Stories is a collection of short stories framed by two non-fiction letters by Mollie Panter-Downes that were written for The New Yorker during WWII. She wrote for them for nearly 50 years!

Panter-Downes was more known for writing the London Letter for The New Yorker, a letter about goings-on in London that started during the war and continued on for decades. The two letters included in this collection provide a real-life frame for the short stories included, which all focus on England during the war. I just happened to read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society recently and it was fun to read the two close together and learn more about what it was like to live in England during the war. Both books do an excellent job of transporting you back through time, and I felt like I was really there with them through the stories.

I actually haven’t read many stories that take place during WWII. I tend to read either even older classics or contemporary novels, not much from that time period. And what I have read typically just mentions WWII in the background, such as C.S. Lewis does in the Chronicles of Narnia. The short stories in this collection focus on the women – those who are at home worried about their husbands, separated from their children who have been sent to the countryside for protection, dealing with husbands who want to serve but can’t, and/or handling strangers as houseguests for indefinite amounts of time.

I’m not usually a fan of short stories, but I really enjoyed how all of the stories in this collection fit together to show you snapshots of the effects of the war on English women. I felt like I was peeking in through the windows of one house, then moving over to another and peeking in there, then yet another. It is an extremely effective use of the short story.

The theme that spoke to me the most was about how their homes were no longer their homes. Many people lost their homes in air raids or were evacuated to the countryside. Others had to accept strangers into their homes, usually with a parcel of children. The thought of welcoming a random family with a pack of kids into my home indefinitely frightened me more than the thought of the men fighting the battles. Your home should be a place of comfort and rest and these women – both those providing a home and those seeking one – had to go without that comfort at the same time that they were separated from their husbands and loved ones.

A related theme was the change in societal positions. Women were joining the workforce in non-domestic positions, including upper-class women, domestic servants also moved into these types of positions, leaving the upper-class to fend for themselves. One story focuses on a woman whose estate is filled with soldiers. As a result, she begins taking her meals in the kitchen with her servant, who is resisting the change more than the rich woman. That same story had a man who came home to visit and it didn’t even feel like being home. The house and land had changed, and nothing would be the same again.  

Overall, this was a great introduction to the Persephone books for me. I’ve also got Miss Pettigrew Lives for  Day checked out and recently bought The Making of a Marchioness (which is by my favorite children’s book author – Frances Hodgson Burnett) and can’t wait to get to those as well. As we’re supposed to get more snow tonight I bet it will be a good week for lots of reading.

I’ve read so many great books lately that have made me really miss book blogging. Since I found myself writing blog posts in my head anyway, I thought it was time to recommit to this here book blog. I’ve adjusted to my new job and have done away with a few other commitments that were interfering with blogging (how dare they!) and honestly miss it. I miss making myself pause and reflect when I finish a book. I miss the feeling of community with fellow bloggers. I’ve kept up with many, but having been commenting or having any sort of interaction, which I miss. And I’ve also noticed that when I’m blogging I tend to read fewer books at a time and read faster than I do when I’m not. That’s probably because if I’m not blogging suddenly I find my bookmarks in the middle of 10, 12, or 14 books at once. That’s just too many, even for me. When I’m blogging, I want to post every few days so I concentrate on 2-4 books at a time to finish them faster (I’ll never be a one-book-at-a-time person).

So, I’m back! And not only will I post regularly here, I will start tweeting more about books on Twitter. My handle is @sparksmarks if you want to follow me.

I’m not going to review all of the great books I’ve read recently that inspired me to start blogging again, but I do want to mention one of my new favorite authors and the author of two of the great books I’ve read recently – Emma Donahue. Her latest work, Room, was all over the place last year and was short-listed for the Man Booker Award. I was skeptical about the premise at first – it’s written from the perspective of a 5-year-old who has never been outside of the room he and his mother are imprisoned in by his mother’s abductor and rapist. However, as soon as I started reading I was hooked! It is beautifully written – she perfectly captures Jack’s voice and yet it’s not irritating to read. I flew through the story and nearly finished the whole thing in one sitting (and did finish it in one day). That was several weeks ago and the characters are still with me vividly, as though I just turned the last page.

After finishing, I immediately headed to the library for another of Donahue’s works. I selected Slammerkin, and instantly fell in love with it as well. Donahue certainly has a knack for handling seedy topics. Slammerkin is about a prostitute, Mary Saunders. While you won’t like many of her actions, you can’t help loving her and somehow understanding all (or at least most) of her actions. Again, I flew through this book, anxious to know what happened to Mary. Although I don’t approve of her decisions, you finish with an understanding of why a young girl in the late 1700s in England would turn to prostitution. If you’re out on the streets and have no trade or husband prospects, what other option would you have? Donahue paints an clear, unpleasant picture of Mary’s life, and balances sharing enough details to complete the scene without going overboard on the sexual details. (Sidenote: When I double checked that Room was short-listed for the Booker, I noticed that Slammerkin won an award for lesbian fiction. In case you notice that and it turns you off, please note that there are no lesbian scenes in the book.) I honestly can’t recommend either of these two books enough! Run run run to your local bookstore or library and pick them up today if you haven’t already! I can’t wait to read the rest of her books, although I’m going to try to pace myself so I don’t run through them too quickly!

At heart, Th1rteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher is a novel about regret. Hannah Baker has just committed suicide and has left tapes behind for 13 people who she believes holds responsibility. The story is told from the perspective of one of those people, Clay Jensen.

Th1rteen R3asons Why is  a young adult novel, and I wish more young adults would read it. It explains how actions have a snowball effect. It’s not just the final incident that pushes Hannah over the edge. It’s a lot of small things that lead up to her getting to that point. It makes you think about how your actions affect other people, something teenagers don’t usually reflect on.

My one complaint about the novel was that I disliked Hannah. I think that lessoned the impact of the novel for me. A lot of her early reasons that she talks about on the tape are so minor. I know that was Asher’s point, but it still annoyed me. I think partly because one of those reasons she shared had happened to me as well. I had a guy spread rumors about me too. And I didn’t cry about it. I got pissed off and fought back. The first time someone made a snide comment to me about it I slapped him so hard he fell of the stool he was sitting on and I went off on him in front of a room fool of people at a party. The rumors never came up again after that. It’s just not in my nature to cower under somebody like that. To be fair though, I knew I had people behind me supporting me and Hannah didn’t. I did have friends who didn’t believe me though, which hurts too. But I will always remember how Brian Ludwig kept offering to the beat the guy up for me, which was really sweet and made me feel much better even though I made him promise not to because I didn’t want him to get into trouble and because I wanted to fight my own battles.

I also disliked something Hannah does at the end. Well, two things Hannah does at the end, but Asher explained one of them really well so that it made sense in a twisted way. I really try not to give spoilers away, so we’ll just say she sees something bad happen and could have stopped it and does nothing about it. I cannot image not stopping it. Although I do think it made an interesting angle on her suicide – her own guilt over not doing something is really why I think she got to the point where she took her own life. She couldn’t go back and undo it and couldn’t live with herself. So, it was effective in that way for the story, but it made me not feel very sympathetic toward her. 

Clay’s reactions to the tapes was really what made this story a success for me. He had this huge crush on Hannah and yet didn’t see a lot of these things or know how they were affecting her. He doesn’t want to feel responsible for her death and wishes he could have saved her. He doesn’t like learning about the things Hannah did. I do think this was a good way for Asher to choose to tell the story. We get someone who liked Hannah and his perspective on her to temper what’s on the tapes. I think just hearing Hannah’s voice would have greatly lessened the impact. Instead, we get Hannah’s voice intermingled with Clay’s thoughts.

Of course, I can’t really reflect on this book without reflecting on my own regrets. I can go back to one moment in my life where if I had just said “yes” instead of “no” everything would have been different. On one hand, you feel silly thinking like that. I’m not God, and surely what I did or said in one moment can’t have that much of an impact on other people. But I did have such a moment, and that’s really what Th1rteen R3asons Why is about.  

Sure, there are hundreds of other moments I could choose to think about where I should have done something differently, but none of them are so clearly obvious as this one. I can clearly see two timelines separating from that moment, the real one and the imagined one. What’s interesting is that at that moment when I couldn’t get the word “yes” out even though I wanted to, I could see what I thought would be the future if I said yes. And I thought it would only lead to me hurting him, an eventual awful break up, and us both being worse of than we were then, without trying to make a go at it.

And I was probably right about those things. It wouldn’t have lasted, it would have been hard, and maybe I wouldn’t have the wonderful life I have now. But. But if I had said “yes” I would have kept a different chain of events from happening. Perhaps I would have saved a life. But then I would have prevented another life from being born. And maybe I wouldn’t have saved a life. Maybe he still would have done it anyway, when we would have had our eventual terrible split. I wish I could have at least said some of these things to him instead of crying and not being able to speak. I wanted to say “yes” but couldn’t get the words out. I really didn’t even say “no,” I just shook my head and “I can’t” through my tears and then he left.

After it happened it was so hard to go in to the front living room of my house, where we had that talk. We usually only used that room for holidays, and it was like I could still see him sitting there and walking away and me not stopping him. I was almost glad when that house was destroyed by a tornado so I didn’t have to go into that room anymore. 

I guess the point of this post, and of the book, is just to say that you never know how your actions will affect others. Be nice to people. Think before you speak. Treat others with respect. Don’t spread rumors. And don’t ever ask somebody what their biggest regret is during a job interview, like someone did to me!

I am so so behind on book reviews – I’ve been more in the mood for reading than for writing – so I decided to do a book review medley to catch up faster.

First up is Someone Like You, a young adult book by Sarah Dessen. I’ve read a review reviews of Dessen’s books around the blogosphere that were all positive and made her sound like a good choice for research for a novel I’m trying to write. Trying being the operative word!

I wish that I had read Dessen’s novels when I was younger. She does an excellent job of sounding like a teenager and I think they would have been easy to identify with. But I pretty much refused to go to the young adult section after about sixth grade, so part of me wonders how many young adults really read young adult books. Obviously there are wildly successful YA books now such as Harry Potter, Twilight (boo hiss), and The Hunger Games. But do teenagers read many other young adult books?

Someone Like You is the story of a two best friends in high school. One of them gets pregnant immediately before her boyfriend dies in an accident. Don’t worry – that’s on the back of the book. The story is from her best friend’s point of view, as she tries to help her friend and starts falling in love with someone herself.

I felt like both relationships were portrayed very realistically. The love story felt real – not overly sappy like some high school love stories tend to be. But the real story is in how she stands up for her best friend and stands by her when everyone else turns against her. If you like young adult fiction, I recommend Dessen and plan to check out some of her other books.

I had high hopes for My Name Is Memoryby Ann Brashares. I saw a few good reviews for it and it was compared to The Time Traveler’s Wife, which I loved. I knew that was probably hyperbole, but still thought I would enjoy it. The premise is that reincarnation is real. The main character is a rarity – he remembers his previous lives. And he remembers the girl he has loved throughout history, but she doesn’t remember him. The story goes back and forth between the present and different point in history.

This sounds like a story I would normally really enjoy. Instead, I’m amazed I finished it. It was horribly boring. I think part of that was the writing, which just didn’t keep me interested, but part of it was that when you know the characters will be reincarnated, it took away the drama. Who cares if they die or end up happy? It’s just going to happen all over again. Nothing mattered.

Also, there was one rather gross part. You would often reincarnate and be connected to many of the same people. The main character was once reincarnated to be the brother of his wife from a previous life. That was just gross! No one but him realized it, but still. Yuck. Clearly other people have enjoyed this book from the reviews, but I just can’t recommend it.

 I’ve written about Alexander McCall Smith’s 44 Scotland Street series before. I finished up booke three and four in the series, Love Over Scotland and The World According to Bertie. His novels are just a good, fun time. Bertie is one of the best child characters around. He manages to make even me want to run and rescue him from his terrible parents.

Both of these books featured good Cyril stories as well. Cyril is a dog, a very well written dog, with a gold tooth and a love for his owner. I almost cried when he and his owner Angus were reunited. I think that was one of the best reunion scenes I’ve ever read. It was so sweet, this older man and his best friend Cyril back together again. I’m not usually a fan of dog stories, but you can’t help but love Cyril.

I was also quite surprised by the love story turn of events involving Matthew. I let out a happy gasp of surprise! I won’t ruin it for you, but it made me quite happy. I hope they make it work in the next novel.

And last up for this post is Mini Shopaholicby Sophie Kinsella. Kinsella’s Shopaholic series is another great source of fun, light reading. Although I did still enjoy this one, I feel like she may be reaching the end of the rope with this series. It just didn’t keep me quite as interested and I found myself getting annoyed with Becky more than usual.

That may have had something to do with the premise of this one, because Becky’s two-year-old daughter is turning into a shopaholic herself. I guess I just don’t think it’s as funny to see that behavior in a kid and for the parent to not recognize it. It just annoyed me. I think if you’re a fan of the series it’s still worth checking out, but it’s definitely not as strong as her other ones.

She’s clearly not done yet though, because from the ending it’s quite clear that there will be another book and what it will be about. Oddly, it actually sounds a bit more interesting, so maybe the series will pick back up with that one.

Apparently Amazon Affiliates doesn't like the original cover. I hate movie tie-in covers.

I finally gave in and read Eat Pray Love. I’ve been on a bit of streak with actually liking several wildly popular books so I decided to give Eat Pray Love a try. I like travel books, so why not? I have mixed feelings about the book after finishing it. I identified with certain aspects of Gilbert’s life, but found a lot of book to be rather boring. I caught myself starting to read extremely fast in several places, verging on skimming. Her writing just didn’t win me over, even though there were a few high points.

I did really enjoy the Italy section though, which focuses in on pleasure. And overall, I think a lot of the book was about finding yourself and making time for yourself rather than sinking so fully into another person that you lose yourself, the way Gilbert did with her ex-husband and ex-boyfriend.

Rather than focus on a typical book review since this book has been reviewed all over the place, I decided to reflect on my own efforts to make time for myself. People often wonder how I have time to read an average of two books a week, especially since I usually read more literary books. (Compared to a lot of the book blogging world, that’s nothing!) Others wonder how I have time to watch two (and until recently three!) soap operas, never missing an episode of General Hospital and rarely missing an episode of One Life to Live. (The recently axed soap is All My Children, which has been dreadful lately.) I’m also happily married and spend lots of time with my husband. Except for my recent two-month stint as an online marketing manager, I’ve had demanding jobs my whole career. Since co-workers and friends are usually surprised by this, I decided to share my secrets, small though they may be.

1. Make time to do what you love. You have to be determined to make time for the things you want to do. Sometimes life tries to get in the way. In addition to just doing things I like when I want to, I also schedule time for it. If I go more than a day or two without reading much, then I block out time to do some solid reading. I block out an evening a week to catch up on my TV shows, as silly as that may sound. Thursday nights are my TV night. I look forward to having a night to do absolutely nothing productive! And I devote Saturdays to fun. No catching up with work and usually no chores, just fun.
2. Cut down on activities you don’t like. I hate cleaning. And cooking. And most things domestic. Clearly, I can’t just cut those things out completely. I did have a maid for a short time when I had a huge project at work and it was wonderful, but it actually created more work for me! The maid cleaned, but didn’t tidy up, so we had to make sure everything was tidy before she came. As clutter doesn’t really bother my husband and me, we ended up doing a lot more than we did without the maid. We aren’t slobs and our house isn’t gross or hoarder-like, but piles of books and magazines and video games everywhere doesn’t bother us. In fact we like it. And we usually only clean once things start getting visibly dusty/dirty, which usually is once a month, not once every week or two weeks like most people. I do spot vacuum more often because of our cats though. I also sometimes cut corners by say, just throwing the towels in the closet instead of folding them. Why does it matter if they’re folded? And we cook a lot of convenience meals because we don’t like cooking. It’s worth the extra money.
3. Learn to say no. I often hear people complain about things they have to do, appointments they have to keep, tasks they have to perform, that are all things they agreed to voluntarily. If you don’t want to do something, say no! I rarely feel obligated to say yes to a social obligation or volunteer duty. When I do say yes, it’s because I truly thing I’ll enjoy it or it’s absolutely necessary.
4. Don’t have kids. Ha! I’m mostly kidding. But, part of the reason I don’t want kids is because I don’t think it’s something that will really bring me pleasure. Yes, I think if I had them I would convince myself that they do because at that point you’re stuck and have to make the best of it, but I don’t think they would truly bring me more pleasure than my life right now. I don’t want to give up being able to do what I want to do. I’d much rather read than change diapers or care for a baby!
5. Prioritize. Even out of the activities you like, you need to prioritize. You may not be able to do them all, or do them all as much as you’d like. Recently, I had decided to participate in a fantasy hockey league, but just decided to bow out because I’m starting to be spread a little thin. It would have been fun, but not at the expense of the other things I’d prefer to be doing. Even when it comes to reading, if I’m reading a book that’s just not doing anything for me, I try to stop reading it and move on to something else. And with my soaps, if there’s a story that’s really not working or a character who bores me to tears, I’ll just fast forward through that section.

I’m not sure if those are really secrets. Maybe I’m just more laid back when it comes to certain things, and selfish enough to focus on myself really often! I’ve never been in danger of losing myself to a man the way Gilbert did in her past. It’s also why I honestly believe I’ll never change my mind on the kids issue. Or become better at housekeeping. I hope it helped you find a way to find a little more time to focus on whatever it is that makes you happy!   

Join the conversation: Have you read Eat Pray Love? What did you think? What do you do to make time for yourself?

I’m a little bit behind the times and just finished reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett. My skeptical nature always leads me to question books that get rave reviews everywhere and seem to explode out of nowhere. Since it’s usually a PR strategy behind the success this really shouldn’t bother me since that’s what I do for a living, and I do like that it gets people reading who might not normally, but it still just makes me leery about picking up some of the books myself.

I should not have waited with The Help. I loved it! It captured a piece of time brilliantly – Jackson, Mississippi, in the early 1960s. It’s told through the perspective of three different women, two black maids and a white young woman who starts questioning the world she was raised in.

Clearly, I wasn’t alive back then and so I can’t say for certain how accurate a portrayal everything was, but it was beautifully written and seems accurate from the picture my Grandma paints of Oklahoma at the time (although Grandma never had a maid so I can’t judge that part). She does talk about how whites treated blacks at the time though, and how she was just raised a certain way and didn’t think about it when she was younger. It’s just the way things were, then fortunately they changed.

That’s how a lot of the whites are portrayed in this book as well. With a few very clear exceptions, most of the white characters aren’t overt racists. They are simply following in their parents’ footsteps. That doesn’t make it okay, but she doesn’t villainize people as a whole either. She does include a main character who is extremely racist though, and it’s hard to read about how she treats her maid and orders the other women to treat their maids, including starting a crusade to have everyone install outhouses for their help to use. I can’t imagine hearing some of the things she says in front of the help, like they aren’t even there. It’s horrible that people were treated that way. I kept thinking about some of my black friends and putting them in those situations and it was just awful to think about.

While The Helpcertainly makes you think about race, I think it succeeds because it’s not only about race. It’s about the characters. You fall in love with them, root for them, and worry about them. They stick with you after you’re done.  It’s also about standing up for what you believe in, in any way you can. Skeeter, the main white character, knows if she comes right out and starts advocating black rights, she won’t get anywhere. She finds a way to to help in secret and make more of an impact in her case than she would otherwise. Aibileen and Minnie, the two other main characters, also find ways to help their cause, taking enormous risks to do so. I don’t want to discuss that to much to avoid spoilers, but it’s definitely a motivational book that will make you feel like you can make a difference.

Join the conversation: Have you read The Help? What did you think? What other books dealing with race would you recommend? I also really liked Plum Bun by Jessie Redmon Fauset, about a black woman who passed for white in 1929.