Review of “The Help”

“All I'm saying is, kindness don't have no boundaries.”

Aibileen and Minny are two of the many African-American maids working in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s. Skeeter is a young white girl who wants to be a writer. When Skeeter hears that her friend wants to put in a separate toilet for her maid, she starts wondering how these maids feel about being treated this way. While it is extremely risky, the maids agree to tell Skeeter their story for a book that may be published. The problem is for Aibileen, Minny and the other maids – the consequences of their actions could be deadly.
I absolutely loved this book even though it took me so long to read it. Going through three main characters’ stories was time consuming but enjoyable just the same. I guess I didn’t want the book to end. There weren’t any dull parts or anything that wasn’t sincere about this book. The story was written in the best, most candid way a white female writer could have done. I appreciate Kathryn Stockett adding to the end of the book, her personal account, just as Skeeter did about Constantine. She addresses the criticism that comes from her writing from her perspective too:

What I am sure about it this: I don’t presume to think that I know what it really felt like to be a black woman in Mississippi, especially in the 1960s. I don’t think it is something any white woman on the other end of a black woman’s paycheck could ever truly understand. But trying to understand is vital to our humanity.

I think that is enough of an explanation to give the writer credit for trying to teach us something about our own human experience – and that is what makes for good literature. Reading for entertainment is fine but when you understand yourself and the world around you makes the experience that more impactful.
I’ve also heard someone say they hate narration written in dialogue, which makes me assume they don’t like many quality writers either. The big names such as Dickens, Twain, Hurston, and Faulkner write in dialect because it would be ineffective and unauthentic if they didn’t capture the voice of the characters. I’ve also heard that the book is funny which is true, in parts, but the overall tone of the book is so sad. But sad in a good way because you take something from that emotion – you feel for the characters, and, again, that’s what makes for a good book.
Anyway, I’ll have to watch the movie now and I did what I could to not think of the characters as the actresses I saw on the red carpet not long ago, but I assume the movie will be very good as well. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 76% which doesn’t mean much to me anymore since they gave Prometheus a 73% when it’s the biggest sci-fi film of the decade. But for students in class being able to compare and contrast with a novel like To Kill A Mockingbird would be a good idea for high school literature classes. It would especially be nice to tie in their history lessons on the Civil Rights Movement as well.

Review of “Goddess Test,” “Iron King,” and “Switched”

I decided to review these three books together as they were the last YA books I read recently. They also all have very similar plots.

Carter, Aimee. The Goddess Test. Ontario, Harlequin Teen, 2011. ISBN: 9780373210268
Kate’s mother is dying and her last wish is to return to her hometown. While Kate struggles to adjust, she finds new challenges. After having a run-in with a classmate over a boyfriend, Kate is approached by a dark character named Henry. He convinces her that he will save her classmate, and prolong her mother’s life, if she lives with him six months out of the year – just as his last wife, Persephone did. In order for Kate to become Henry’s new wife, she must pass the tests of the gods and goddesses in the Underworld where she calls home in the winter.
I read this entire book because it was pretty quick and easy to read. It was interesting to have a book try and use mythology for its paranormal themes too. I can’t say I’d read the rest in the series, however. I couldn’t connect to the situation at all – aside from it being ridiculous, I didn’t feel anything from Kate other than the heartbreak of losing her mother. Henry was only described as dark and young-looking until half way through the book she says he has black hair. I wasn’t interested in their relationship at all and I really felt bad for Kate to be tricked by her mother and being Diana in the end. The poor girl went through the loss of her mother as a test? Plus, having everyone she encountered all members of the Underworld was a bit convenient as well.
In every review I’ve read, no one seems to recall any other characters’ names for some reason. I guess it was all the same thing – girl is the chosen one of some powerful guy and she is “forced” to wear pretty clothes and live in a beautiful palace. That was the theme in Breaking Dawn, The Princess Diaries and that’s the theme for all these books in this review. It’s getting old.


Kagawa, Julie. The Iron King. Ontario, Harlequin Teen, 2010. ISBN: 9780373210084
Meghan’s father disappeared when she was a child, and she’s always had a hard time at school because she’s a “hick” who lives on a farm. She has one friend, a boy who is very mischievous, and a little brother who one day turns feral.  Meghan had no idea that she was a part of a magical world of fairies and she is the daughter of the king. She must travel with her best friend who turns out to be the literary historical Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and rescue her brother, and possibly her father.
I really liked this book at first because of the style and the normal day to day stuff then being transferred into a Narnia-type land was pretty cool. I loved her cat friend and I loved the action but half way through the action drove me crazy. There was always something going on to the point that I was exhausted. I didn’t finish the book because while I knew it would be interesting, I just couldn’t keep my attention up for that long to go through another fight or chase with some new creature that pops out of nowhere. By this time I was getting tired of Fairyland.
This book also had the same themes as the other two. Like The Goddess Test, there is the issue of having to wear pretty dresses and look fancy because the main female character is special. Like Switched, the family member is mysteriously gone and the evil mother doesn’t like the main character and they have to fight in the new, pretty palace that seems wonderful but it’s really terrible. Surely paranormal fiction can come up with something new soon.
Did Not Finish


Hocking, Amanda. Switched. New York, St. Martin’s, 2010. ISBN: 9781250006318
Wendy was always hated by her mother and when she was a child, her mother was institutionalized for trying to kill her. Now Wendy lives with her aunt and her brother but she still has a hard time fitting in at school. She has a power to make people do things if she thinks hard enough. Her friend, Finn, helps her escape when to goths try to attack her. She is forced to convince her brother that she is okay but that she needs to be away for a while. Finn takes her to find her real mother, a queen of the trolls who isn’t at all pleasant. Wendy has to keep her feelings for Finn at bay and try to adjust to not only being different but being the princess of this new world.
I was really excited to read Hocking’s work and I do think she’s  great writer. However, at this point of my three book stint, I was sick of the same plot lines. Not only does this also have the something happened when the heroine was a kid that hints to her being special, but it has the Princess Diaries plot line of having to live in this beautiful place with everything they get ever hope for, except it’s miserable. I didn’t mind the writing style or Wendy’s voice, it was just the troll thing that bothered me, especially since Wendy is short with crazy hair. I kept imagining a lawn gnome trying to put the moves on his fellow garden statue. I may go back to this book later but after reading three books in a row like this, I got tired of it.

Did Not Finish

Review of “Fahrenheit 451”

Guy Montag lives in a world without books. In fact, he burns them. But after meeting a strange young girl named Clarisse, she asks him if he is happy, and Montag begins wondering if being a fireman is worth it. His wife, Mildred overdoses on sleeping pills and nearly dies – something which she denies because she is so caught up in this world of watching interactive television. After Clarisse dies and Montag witnesses an old woman who would rather be burned alive with her books then part with them, he begins to revolt against the world without literature. He steals a book himself. Eventually after Mildred betrays her husband, Beatty, Montag’s boss, decides to burn Montag’s house due to his new-found love of books. As the mechanical house from the firehouse tries to capture Montag, he escapes and finds a group of men who have made themselves into books by memorizing whole texts.
This dystopian novel is astounding even for today with the idea of television over books. What makes the novel so lovely is the language of Bradbury: “The books leapt and danced like roasted birds, their wings ablaze with red and yellow feathers.” I liked the concept of the book very much and I appreciated that the whole thing was pretty quick. It was confusing at first, being in 2012 to get the idea of the family on television but then I understood it as a continuous reality show that Mildred watches around the clock. That isn’t very far from reality now, is it?
I would recommend this one as a good look at a classic dystopian novel. Since The Hunger Games are so popular now, students would be able to get the gist of this, I think. The idea of television rotting your brain so much that books are silly, ridiculous things is something I’m sure young adults can understand that idea.

Review of “A Moveable Feast”

“You belong to me and all Paris belongs to me and I belong to this notebook and this pencil.”

Ernest Hemingway wrote of his time in Paris in the 1920s. This was a time of painters, writers and the Lost Generation between World War I and World War II. While Hemingway and his wife Hadley are poor at the time (as he claims in the memoir)  they enjoy good food and the kindness of others to get good books. Many of these creative minds are wonderful people personally, as Hemingway tells us of Ezra Pound, tiresome and unnerving as well. We get a look inside what these friends of his were really like in the way only Hemingway can do.
I wanted to re-read this after going through passages here and there over the years. The best part of Hemingway, to me, is his life. His style of writing is so interesting when he’s talking about himself and people he comes into contact with. His descriptions of physical features, conversations and the way he feels about these people is extraordinary. You don’t even have to know all of their works to get the idea of them as people who are intermingling in a play, of sorts, during this time in Paris.
For anyone who wants to read Hemingway in a quick and dirty way, I highly recommend this. I know some have been scarred by their high school assignment to read Old Man and the Sea but getting to know Hemingway is really rewarding. It’s all in his style that makes the reading so good. He doesn’t mess around with his readers – he tells you the story as straight as he can and it’s totally worth taking the time to read his short memoirs of Paris.
Best line of the whole book, when describing an Wyndham Lewis, "I do not think I had ever seen a nastier-looking man.... Under the black hat, when I had first seen them, the eyes had been those of an unsuccessful rapist.” Only Hemingway can explain things like this, bless him.

Review of “1984”

The thought police would get him just the same.

We’ve all heard of 1984 and since I wanted to go into some classic literature that I had passed up during my formative years, I decided to read this one.

The story is about Winston Smith who lives in Oceania. The world that he lives in is surrounded by surveillance and continual threat of being caught for even thinking something against The Party’s beliefs. Winston’s job at the Ministry of Truth is to rewrite history, literally. He goes through old newspaper articles and rewrites them in Newspeak, the language of The Party, to make the articles reflect The Party’s beliefs. Winston hates The Party and he hates Big Brother, the ominous presence that The Party has to keep a close eye on everyone. Julia, who fixes the novel-making machines and whom is a member of the Junior Anti-Sex League, gives Winston a note one day that says, “I love you.” He finds out that she too hates The Party and they start a secret affair. However, the more time they spend together the more willingly they run the risk of capture. When they are taken by The Party to jail, Winston is subjected to numerous forms of torture until he breaks and betrays Julia.

Forgive me for talking myself through this book as I do the review because there were some things I had a hard time with. I really hoped and expected to like this book. I heard over and over how much people loved it so I thought it would be face-paced, exciting and interesting. However, I got frustrated with the descriptions of the dystopian world, which I understand is necessary, but I am not interested in politics so this was the worst book for me to chose to read. Orwell took so much time creating the world that I didn’t care about Winston. I didn’t care about that book he got either. I skipped through the entire section. It was dead boring and it just wanted to show that the real history wasn’t what The Party tried to tell everyone it was. I got it.

Maybe I wasn’t supposed to care about Winston either. He says, “I am thirty nine years old. I’ve got a wife that I can’t get rid of. I’ve got varicose veins. I’ve got five false teeth.” This isn’t the most desirable character to chose as a hero, especially when he wants to rape and murder women. I guess he’s supposed to be a product of his environment but his willing rebellion from Big Brother is simply sleeping with Julia. That was his motivation. Julia had been with a ton of Party-hating men so her only form of rebellion was by seducing men (this would make more sense in 1949 when the book was written, I think.) Still, it seems a bit weak for a motivator when you have the whole dang world going to pot. I guess that’s the only way they could rebel since Winston says that the Proles (normal people) were the only ones who could potentially rebel with any success. Those in The Party had no chance.

Once Winston is caught and under unspeakable pain, he still argues with O’Brian, his captor. He even tells him that he hasn’t betrayed Julia so he hasn’t won. I understood that the interrogation was just to show how people have to accept whatever garbage their told to believe. 2+2=5 if you hear it long enough and it keeps you from dying. Winston’s capture was his own fault - he willingly got sloppy. He must have wanted to get caught just to get the looming inevitable over with.  He went romping with Julia, tried talking to people about hating The Party, and then fights them while his back is breaking. He ends up saying he loves Big Brother and he doesn’t feel the same about Julia. They’ve won. His whole purpose in the story was to show us how bad The Party can be.

Again, it’s just not my kind of book. I was interested in the parts about Winston and Julia but that’s only some of the book. The rest was too much description and political discussion that I didn’t have the patience for. I know it’s supposed to be an indicator of present times in society but in the land of the free and the home of the brave, we celebrate vapid, talentless rich people vapid who have 74 day marriages. I don’t think anyone’s going to get a rat cage attached to their face anytime soon for having an opinion on that – thank God.

Anyway, I agree that students in senior high should read this to get an idea of how politics can be. I’m not saying it’s not culturally or historically significant or that it’s a “bad” book. I just didn’t enjoy it as much as other classic books I’ve read. Politics aren’t my thing so any discussion of war puts me to sleep (just like baseball.)

Review of “Pride and Prejudice”

Elizabeth Bennett is one of five daughters whom her parents hope to marry off to rich husbands. Lizzy, being the quick witted, sensible one does not accept any proposal easily, nor does she think her sisters should either. Her encounters with Mr. Darcy prove him to be a mean, unlovable man but he shocks her with his proposal of marriage and subsequent good deeds to help her family. While her sisters are marrying left and right, Lizzy ponders her choice and realizes in the end that Mr. Darcy is not the horrible wretch he thought he was and she agrees to become the wealthy Mrs. Darcy.
I’ve glossed over a lot of the main points to this book because I had to get my head around the plot during this first attempt at reading Austen. I’m sure I’m not the first to complain that the language is so overbearing that it is hard to get into it at first. So I admit, I went to the summary on Spark Notes and prepped myself for each chapter before reading it myself. Me, being a big literary nerd, I loved that. It made me feel like I was back in college and actually challenging myself again.
While many readers would be totally put off by needing help getting the key elements in the story, I loved it. It made me re-think how I read. I had to concentrate and take in the whole world that Austen had created.  I opted for classical music to listen to so my wandering thoughts wouldn’t get in the way. I appreciated each scene on its own and felt as if I were in the scene that I had watched on the Colin Firth film version of the book. It made me a Jane Austen fan even though I have to re-read this to get past the plot and into appreciating her good writing.
There is plenty of study on with this novel and the discussion questions in the back of the book would help even me from a teaching/student perspective. However, unlike Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre the language is much more dense and it wouldn’t be a book you could just throw at anyone and expect them to get caught up in the story very easily.

Five mini-reviews of YA books

I haven’t written a review for any of the books I’ve read since last November so I decided to do a quick catch-up entry. I’ve been on a role with my reading, thankfully, so now the “unfinished” side has changed from the lack chapters read to the incomplete reviews I’ve written. l need to write my reviews in a more timely manner, otherwise I forget that my initial reactions were.

Meyer, Stephenie. Breaking Dawn. Little, Brown and Co., London, 2008. ASIN: B004SIFYYW
Bella and Edward get married but there are complications with a human being in an adult relationship with a vampire. Bella get pregnant by a vampire-human baby that is killing her from the inside. After the child is born, Edward must change Bella into a vampire in order to save her. This creates concerns with the Volturi and the Cullens must build an army of vampires from across the globe to stand up to the ruling class of vampires.
This book took me forever to finish. The wedding was over in a second with no real description, the honeymoon was on “Island Esme” in Portugal where Edward just happened to speak Portuguese. Then after really awkward and brutal nights in the marital bed Bella ends up pregnant with a demon baby – okay, now this is interesting. The middle of the book is in Jacob’s perspective so most of the dialogue is in italicised thoughts between the werewolves. Finally as Bella gives birth in the most dramatic and gory way, she has to be turned into a vampire. But the martyr Bella doesn’t want poor, sweet Edward to know that she is in unspeakable pain so she never even screams as her whole body feels like it’s on fire. This is after she has bones break from giving birth to the demon spawn Renesemee (which is a name no one in the world can pronounce.) Then, of course, Jacob imprints on her (creepy) and then we have to sit for the whole rest of the book to hear about the possibility of a Volturi visit after the hope of cool new born vampire stuff can happen with Bella (because she didn’t want to be out of control so she wasn’t – of course she didn’t.) So there’s even an index with all the characters and clans of vampires who come to defend the Cullens – as if we care at this point because it’s the end of four books.
Anyway, I did like the end where Edward has a glimpse into how Bella felt about him. That was the one redeeming quality in the whole story. Otherwise it just dragged and was just not doing it for me. I think reading all four in a row made me just way too jilted to take the whole thing seriously.

Stiefvater, Maggie. Shiver. Scholastic, New York, 2009. ISBN: 9780545123273
Grace keeps seeing wolves in her back yard. When they become a danger to the town of Mercy Falls, the police take action and try to shoot the wolves. This is when Grace finally meets Sam who has very familiar yellow eyes. This year will be the last time when Sam will be human again and Grace is desperate to keep him with her.
I really liked the story and how it was written but it is a subtle novel – I don’t remember much about it, honestly. A lot of people have reviewed this as “boring” but I quite enjoyed it. I appreciated the language that didn’t exist in the Twilight books (this was listed as an alternative for such fans.) Grace was a character I actually was interested in and Sam played the werewolf boy who was in love with her. Using the two different point of views was a nice way to even out the story because Grace tried to save Sam while Sam was trying to survive. I appreciated that style of story-telling a lot and while I’m not really super eager about reading Stiefvater’s other books, I know I will get to Linger and the Ballad series eventually.

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Scholastic, New York, 2008. ISBN: 9780439023528
Katniss Everdene is a teenager from District 12 who has to volunteer for the annual Hunger Games in order to save her little sister Prim. Katniss is thrown into the Capitol where she is created to be a reality-show star for a deadly game. Her partner, Peeta, confesses his love for her and with the insistence by her mentor Haymich, she gives the audience the star-crossed lovers show that they want. Once in the arena she fights to the death before saving herself and Peeta – at least for this year.
Ah, our beloved Katniss! She is the heroine that we all cheer for these days. I made sure to read this before I saw the movies. I had bought the series before moving and I’m proud to say I own a hardcopy and an ebook copy of two of them now.
I know plenty of people have written better, more in-depth reviews about how great these books are. The fantasy, dystopian novel is so well done that you are on the side of Katniss from the first page. I appreciate how the first person point of view works so well and the reality mixed with the touches of science fiction make it that much better of a book.
No, it’s nothing like Twilight. This is amazing.

Collins, Suzanne. Catching Fire. Scholastic, New York, 2009. ISBN: 9780439023498
Now that Katniss is back in District 12 as a winner of the Hunger Games, she has defied the Capitol with her cunning ability to save herself and Peeta. The government is tightening their grip on all of the Districts and after President Snow makes a personal visit to see, and warn Katniss that her actions are not forgotten, she finds herself going back into the arena in a special all-winners fight to the death. What Katniss doesn’t know is that she has now turned into the symbol of a revolt and her survival is eminent for the hope of every district who wants to overthrow President Snow.
Of course, I picked this book up immediately after reading the first but I dragged with it a bit. The impact of the first book was great because you were learning about the world that Katniss lives in and the Hunger Games themselves. With this book, however, there was a lot of “Where are they now” kind of description at the beginning. But Katniss’s life is still in turmoil and we still have to go through more pain with her.
I have not read Mockingjay yet and I’m holding off for a while. The subject matter of these books is awesome and intense and after two books in a row, I felt drained. I’ve heard plenty of reviews saying the last book isn’t as great and that Katniss isn’t the strong female heroine that we loved in the first book anymore. But I’ve also heard that people loved it, so I’ll read it soon but not just yet.

Bushnell, Candace. The Carrie Diaries. Harper Collins, New York, 2010. AISN: B005UVQE68
Our beloved Carrie Bradshaw was a girl once herself. She had best friends, gay men, unrequited love interests and a deep commitment to her writing from her teenage years.
After all the intensity of the Hunger Games books, I decided to pick something easy, fun and pink. Not having read all of the original Sex and the City novel, I can only assume that what kind of upbringing Carrie had in the television show was completely made up by HBO. While this book wasn’t jam-packed with excitement it really harkened to my love for a good, real-life first-person girl’s story. I saw Sebastian as an early Mr. Big and the betrayal by her best friend and the conflict with the over-popular bully are just hints at what Carrie will have to learn to live with in New York City.
By the way, Ms. Bushnell, awesome twist to Donna LaDonna’s secret family member. I cheered. I’m also super excited that they’re making a movie for this book now. Something else to cheer about!

Smith, L.J. The Secret Circle: The Initiation and The Captive, Part I. Harper Teen, New York, 1992. ISBN: 9780062119001
Cassie Blake and her mother move to New Salem where she meets a group of witches. She discovers that all of their families have been bonded together by the making of a new city, and the untimely deaths of their parents. Despite her acceptance into the group by Diana, the cruel Faye holds Cassie captive (hence the title) in lieu of blackmail. Cassie and Adam know they are destined to be together but the friendly and beautiful Diana already has been in love with Adam for years.
I read this book as an alternative to The Vampire Diaries popularity with the books and TV show. Unlike the Secret Circle show, the ideas that were brought forth in this first book were pulled together nicely to make a basic plot to work with for all of the episodes. I can only assume that the second book has more about the witch hunters and the other boys that Cassie has tried to be involved with but as far as the book goes, it was pretty bland.
What I did find interesting is that I felt like a teenager again as I read this because it reminded me so much of the Christopher Pike books I devoured in high school. After I just looked at the publishing date as 1992, this makes complete sense and it just goes to show that there may very well be a time for your book to hit it big – even if it takes twenty years.

Now that I’ve finished my stint of YA books, I am planning on a few classic books to get under my belt. More updates soon!

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