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bethany725

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    Beth's Bookshelf 2010

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted · Edited by bethany725

    the_help.thumbnail.jpg

     

    Pages: 443

    Date Started: January 2, 2010

    Date Completed: January 17, 2010

     





    Synopsis:


     

    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.

     

     

    My Thoughts:

     

    Set in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962, at the beginning of the civil rights movement in southern U.S., this story tells a tale of the relationships between white women and their black maids. Words are offered up chapter-style from 3 perspectives: 2 black maids, and 1 white woman who sees things a little differently than most white people in that place, in that time.

     

    Aibilene and Minny (the two maids) give a glimpse of daily life working for white women and caring for (and oftentimes actually raising) the white families' children. We're let into their thoughts as they polish silver, iron tablecloths, and use their designated bathrooms, built specifically to keep white people from getting the 'colored's diseases.' The young children love their caretakers, and then as they grow older, they become just like their parents and start believing that having white skin means you're better.

     

    Skeeter (or "Ms. Skeeter," as the maids call her) sees things a bit differently. Skeeter's family employed their own maid, Constantine, from the time Skeeter was a baby until Skeeter went off to college. Unlike her other Junior League friends, Skeeter never bought into the stories that being black meant you were less smart, less of a person, or plain old 'dirty.' She loved Constantine dearly, exchanged letters with her through most of her college career, and is determined to find out what happened to Constantine when the letters suddenly stopped.

     

    College-educated Skeeter decides to try to use her writing skills to reveal the truths behind these relationships. She works alongside Minny, Aibilene, and a number of other maids to write what really goes on behind closed doors, how the maids are treated, about their own families and own children, and how they really feel about themselves, their families, and the white women for which they work. Skeeter also offeres up some of her own stories, her relationship with her mother, and her struggles that ensue from being an independent thinker and caring more about her education than finding a husband. The stories are sometimes funny, sometimes heart-wrenching, sometimes happy, sometimes sad... but they're all powerful in their own ways.

     

    I can't say enough good things about this book. The story is a page-turner, the characters are fully-developed and give vivid color and life to each chapter, and the dialogue is accurate of each characters' position and status in the setting. Minny and Aibilene each speak in their own dialects, and their true voices make you feel like you really know them. I actually missed the characters when I wasn't reading about them.. I missed their stories, their voices, and I couldn't wait to pick up the book again to see what happened next. I'd recommend this book wholeheartedly to most readers, and it's a story I'll not soon forget.

     

     

    My Rating: 10/10

    Rachel's reading list 2010

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    I have just finished reading this book and really enjoyed it. I found some of the chapters very long and at times this frustrated me as I like to finish a chapter before I fall asleep.

     

    I enjoyed where she was going between the past and present telling both Emily's and Chris's story. I just feel that it was a bit unfair that nobody knew the real reason why Emily did not want to carry on living and feel that her mother is in the wrong for burning her journal.

     

    Has anyone read this book? If so, what are your views?

     

    Rachel :lol:

     

    I read this a while back, and my memory's a bit fuzzy as well, but I can remember enough to share my overall impression: I liked it, but it wasn't up there among her top 4 or 5 books for me. However, my mom read it recently and she picked it as her absolute favorite of Picoult's so far. Seems like it speaks to different people in different ways. :) I'm glad you liked it! I do remember wishing that the ending wasn't left to interpretation in the blatant way it was, but I usually prefer to have that closure, whereas many readers really like the open-endedness. To each her own. ;)

    Your Book Activity Today - Take 8!

    in General Book Discussions

    Posted

    I'm the proud new owner of a brand-spanking new copy of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.

     

    I rarely buy books brand new and what makes it even more exciting is that the book was half-price courtesy of a magazine token. Add to that a gift voucher and my reward points, it ended up being completely free. :lol:

     

    How great is that?! FREE!! :) Weeeeeeeeeeeee!

    Hope you love it.. I've heard such great things about that book!

    I've managed to read a little bit more of The Help tonight, despite having to take down the Christmas tree, clean up all the needles with Raja, and pack for our trip home this weekend. I'll have lots of time to read on the flight tomorrow.. 2.5 hours. Yey! ;) Hopefully I can finish it up soon.

     

    Next up is my first read of a Janet Evanovich book.

    After that? The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society for the book club here.. Yey :D

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