My Thoughts On: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I have been waiting to read this book since it was released in February 2009. I finally got the chance to read it in all of it’s 444 pages of well-written glory, and I was not disappointed. I cannot believe that this is Kathryn Stockett’s first novel. It is not written like a first novel. This is crafted as if by a seasoned novelist. But I think it is because of the story Stockett is telling. She is writing of the segregation in the South in the 1960’s. Specifically, she is writing of segregation in Jackson, Mississippi. This is where she grew up, and her family knew of these circumstances. The characters in this book where a mish-mash of characters she knew or that her family knew, and this book is written (I think) as an apology to someone who was very special to her…to the woman who raised her and helped her family.

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women—mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends—view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t. -(taken from the author's website)

When I finished this book this morning, I had to stop and think about it for a good, long while. I literally had all kinds of emotions and didn’t quite know what to do with them. I had to sort them out. I think that is what Ms. Stockett was hoping for.

I have a good friend reading this book now, so I will be careful in saying this: The ‘project’ mentioned in the above summary is GENIUS. I am so glad these women came together to put it together and I am glad it turned out the way it did. But the fear they had - and the fear I had - that they would be caught in the process was so intense! It is what kept me reading well into the night and when I should have been doing a million other things…I can’t really say much more than that without throwing out the ever-awful *spoilers* so I will stop there. But I WILL say that I read this book in less than 48 hours. Which has left me exhausted today! I am not sorry. I am amazed by the story inside this book. I am thankful that this kind of life does not exist today, or at least not to my knowledge. I realize that we still have a long way to go, as people, to be kinder to one another and to accept one another for who we are. If I had not read this book, I am not sure that I would have had this perspective on this particular slice of life. I am so thankful that I was persistent and took the time and read it. I will recommend it to everyone that I can because not only was it wonderful, and not only was it book club-worthy, and not only was it entertaining, but it is a story that should be told.

This is without a doubt up near the top of my list of favorite and remarkable recent literary works. I really just don’t know what else I can say about it. That is all.

My Thoughts On: The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

Reading this book was like ripping my heart out over and over and over and over…

The Glass Castle is a memoir written by Jeannette Walls. It is the childhood story of Walls, her brother, and her two sisters as they were moved almost nonstop around the country throughout their young childhood years. They lived as nomads, sleeping on the desert floor, in their car, in an abandoned train depot, in a shack on the side of a mountain, and several other places deemed sad by the standards of our culture. They lived without friends, without water, without electricity, and without food for much of their lives.

The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette’s brilliant and charismatic father captured his children’s imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn’t want the responsibility of raising a family.
The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered. -(summary taken from the back of the book)

The Walls children were raised by parents who were quite brilliant but unconventional. Because of this, these children “suffered” to great lengths. And because of this, reading this book was at times very difficult and laborious. But it was also funny. These children had memorable moments that “regular” children do not experience, and these moments as told by Ms. Walls are so humorous that I often found myself reading portions of this book aloud to my husband.

While I read this book, I stopped to read two other books because The Glass Castle just was too heavy for much too long (I almost never have to stop reading a book once I have started it.). I had to break up all of the heaviness of Ms. Walls’ childhood with another story for a day or two. Today, I finished. I am glad I stuck it out. While there was not a magical “happy ending,” it was refreshing to see that the Walls children overcame their sad and difficult childhood and pursued their dreams.

Being a mother and reading this book was probably what made it so hard. It is definitely one of those I would absolutely recommend to people, but not because it makes you feel all wonderful and happy inside. Maybe I reacted so strongly to it because I am so sensitive to a lot of the issues that Walls wrote about. I don’t know. At any rate, I read it…I’m glad I did…I’m done with it…I’m moving on.

***I’m super excited to announce that my next book is The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I waited for months and months and months for this book to be checked into the library and it finally was just days ago! So I immediately bumped it up to the top of my list and am starting it…..NOW!!!

Post: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephanie Meyer

I read The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner simply because I have read all of the other Stephanie Meyer books, including The Host (which is my favorite Meyer book). I have been waiting forever for it to be checked in at my public library, and it finally was nesting silently there on the shelf when I visited the other day. So I snatched it up. I read it in one day. It wasn’t profound, shocking, or incredible. It was entertaining. That is all.

My Thoughts On: Paper Towns by John Green

Paper Towns by John Green

Paper Towns is the story of Q, otherwise known as Quentin Jacobson, and his quest to find the very beautiful and very missing Margo Roth Spiegelman. Margo disappeared just before high school graduation and left clues specifically for Q so he could find her…or did she? Q, with the help of his pals Radar, Ben, and Lacey, piece together so-called “clues” that lead to the whereabouts of Margo’s elusive paper town hideout and try to track her down before it is too late. The story is absolutely fantastic.

I love Margo Roth Spiegelman because she is a “…big believer in random capitalization. The rules of capitalization are so unfair to words in the middle.” She also reminds me that “forever is composed of nows.” Margo is so complex…so enjoyable as a young character. She almost makes me want to go back to high school and do exactly as she did…she makes is seem dreamy and fun and awesome and exciting. She was willing to give up a big event to do something wild and crazy, and I have to admit that while I was reading this book I completely lived vicariously through this gal.

I loved the ending. I love the way John Green made it true to life. Not every story can end the way we as the reader wishes it would. And so sometimes, our heart has to feel a little less than overjoyed. Not necessarily devastated, but not really ecstatic either. These two people, Quentin and Margo, are two different people that really are drawn to each other…but they live in two totally different worlds. And I love what John Green did with that in the end. I am not sure if the younger audiences love it as much as I do, because I think that sometimes the younger audiences are often still filled with dreamers (and I think that is wonderful). What I mean is that I think I think it is so wonderful because of the age I am, and my station in life, and my ability to see exactly how life probably would have ended up for these two people if this were a true story. It isn’t really happy and it isn’t really sad…it just is what it is.

So, bravo, John Green. Way to go. Love love love this book. Love it. Please read it!