The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Book: The Help


Author:  Kathryn Stockett

Grade: A 


Recommended To:  Everyone.  Literally everyone should read this book.  


I was skeptical when The Help was chosen for my book club for this month, but oh. my. gosh. was it one of the best books that I've read this year.

I thought this book was a self help book - and I was surprised to learn that it is actually about the relationship between black maids and white employees during the civil rights movement.  I could not have been more wrong.   I think I would have passed this book by, if I hadn't been encouraged to read it by my friends - AND we are going to watch the author speak right here in Chicago.  How exciting.

This book was written in three voices:  Miss Skeeter, the white woman who wrote the expose book about how black maids were treated by their white employees; Minny, the loud-mouthed maid who finally found an excellent place to work; and Aibileen, the woman who has raised 17 children - 16 of whom are white.   Their stories are woven together to create a passionate and extraordinarily well written novel about the relationships between women, children, and racism in the deep south.  


This book has deeply touching moments - like when Aibileen starts telling her white charge about "Martian Luther King" the green alien from outer space and how he came to Earth to teach everyone that they are the same.  Or, when the reader finds out about some of the wonderful things the white women do for their help. 


But, the book has deeply unsatisfying moments, most of which involve Miss Hilly, the evil woman who holds the town in her powerful League grip.  It is unclear in the book why everyone bows to her commands - but she is a powerful voice for segregation and at times seemed a bit extreme.  Unfortunately, I didn't grow up in the south during the civil rights movement (though I've said often that if I could go back in time to any era, I would want it to be the 1960s) so I'm not sure how accurate Miss Hilly is, but she was an excellent protagonist against the other characters.


I can picture this book being read in classrooms all over the United States.  It is as good as some of the classics that are taught in high school English class and far less daunting.  If I ever decide to teach, this will certainly be on my students' reading list.

My one real wish is that Kathryn Stockett does not waste her second book.  Too often new authors with an extremely successful first book are rushed into printing a second and the second is far worse than the first.  Stockett is obviously talented, but writing too fast will waste that talent and her readership.

Pick up this book - I don't give A's often, but this book is well worth it.  I'll update again after we've heard the author speak!

Happy Reading! 

Room by Emma Donoghue

Book: Room

Author:  Emma Donoghue

Grade:  B

Recommended To:   Book Clubs, Fans of Children's Artwork 

Audio book, unabridged. 


I have been doing some super boring work and thought that instead of podcasts, I should "read" an audio book to pass the time.  This turned out to be the best idea of my entire life and I chose Room as my first audio book because it got excellent reviews and is the June book for my book club.

Let me start by saying that some of my review might be colored by the fact that I "read" this as an audio book.  This book was read by four different people that did the various voices for the characters, which made it super excellent, but also ran the risk of being annoying if you don't like the voice of one of the readers. 

If you haven't heard of  Room it is about a woman who was kidnapped and held as a sex slave by a man that is only known as "Old Nick."  She has a baby with this man and she creates an entire world for she and her son, Jack in one room.  They finally escape (this isn't a spoiler because the back of the book says it) and the last half of the book is about Jack and his mother's readjustment to the outside world.

This is a really fantastic book about the love between a mother and her son and her incredibly ability to keep him alive and happy in an 11 x 11 room.   Once they get out, Jack is shocked to learn that other people exist, that there are many copies of books and toys, and that he might occasionally be separated from his mother. 

There are a few parts of the book that just seem callous.  For example, Jack's uncle wants to take Jack to the museum, a mere week after he has been in the "outside."  They stop at a mall and are shocked when Jack flips out from being in such a huge place.  It was surprising that his family members would not immediately put the child first and consider how he might react to all of these new things.  Even the mother had a few shocking bits after the escape, but as a reader, I had to remember that she had been trapped in the same room for the last 7 years.

This book was absolutely intense, riveting and comes highly recommended by this blog.  I enjoyed that this was an audio book because it was easy to keep track of the characters, was extremely easy to listen to (and do some work) and seemed well done because of the various voices.  You should check this out if you haven't.  It made a ton of book lists in 2010 and for good reason!

I have a couple of other audio books to listen to, including Michael Connelly's newest; The Fifth Witness.  Look forward to that review and to a review of The Help, April's book club pick!

Happy Reading!!

Escape by Carolyn Jessop

Book:  Escape 

Author:  Carolyn Jessop 

Grade:  B - 

Recommended To:  Houdini, Monogamists, Women

I was so excited when I picked up this book for $1.70 at the closing Borders by my apartment.  This book was one of 6 that I got last weekend on the final day of the sale.  I couldn't believe they had a copy left! 

Escape is the true story of Carolyn Jessop who was placed in an arranged marriage to Merril Jessop, one of the most powerful men in the FLDS, at the age of 18.  She had 8 children with him in 15 years and she finally escaped his abuse and did it with ALL of her children.   Evidently her story really took off when she was asked to be a commentator on several news channels after the raid on Warren Jeffs' fundamentalist morman sect.

This book was in some ways excellent and in others reeked of the choppy sort of life story that it was. I liked this book because I am incredibly interested in the FLDS and in plural marriage.  Sister Wives, anyone?  Jessop has a really fascinating life, and it was very interesting to read about the FLDS in a first person account.  Several of the other books I've read, Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer being one, tell about the FLDS from a outsiders point of view.   I have no doubt that those books are true, but they are not first-person narratives from a writer that actually lived that experience.

It was shocking to read about the abuse that Jessop and her children suffered in their polygamist family.  This ranged from serious emotional abuse to physical and sometimes sexual abuse to her children.  Plus, it was surprising that there was such a lack of support of Carolyn in the family.  Probably from watching too much Big Love, I was under the impression that wives worked together but this was not the case in Jessop's family at all.  She was often on her own to care for her disabled son and her premature baby even while she was sick herself. 

There were some ways that this book just didn't measure up.  One of the downfalls of reading someone's life story is that it is just a collection of what they believe to be the most important parts of their life.  Things are always omitted, and this can make the story seem very choppy.  That is my biggest complaint about this book, Jessop devoted large chunks of book to what she believed were the most important parts (and I'm sure they were) but that gave the book an extremely choppy feel. 

Overall, I liked this book.  It was a bit repetitive and choppy, but it was certainly one of the more entertaining books that I've read in a long time. 

Happy Reading!!  And, I hope you get to read outside today!  It is absolutely gorgeous in Chicago and I've never been happier to be writing a blog post on my porch.

Crash Into Me by Liz Seccuro

 

Book:  Crash Into Me 

Author:  Liz Seccuro 

Grade:  B 

Recommended To: Sexual Assault Survivors, Women. 

This book is the true story of Liz Seccuro who survived a very violent sexual assault in college and who, 22 years later brought charges against the man that raped her.

This book was really good, but it was very sad and described a very violent sexual assault scene and the ramifications of that event in Seccuro's life.  

This book was educational in a number of ways.  First, I learned that the Commonwealth of Virginia  does not have a statute of limitations for rape.  This was fairly shocking because it wasn't at all what I expected from any state, let alone Virginia.  This was why Seccuro was allowed to press criminal charges against her assailant over twenty years after the assault took place. 

Second, I learned quite a bit about the 12 steps of recover in Alcoholics Anonymous.  Seccuro had, for the most part, put the assault behind her; she was married with a brand new daughter, and suddenly she received a letter from her assailant that was very unapologetic, but "attempted to make amends" for the assault.  This brought the horror roaring back and resulted in the criminal charges. 

This book was powerful, and it wasn't just because of the horrifying rape scene.  It was powerful because of Seccuro's incredible strength to relive the experience and testify against her assailant.  It was also incredibly powerful of her to write this book and give other survivors some hope that they can move past an assault. 

I recommend this book to everyone.  I said before that it was recommended to women, but I don't at all believe that sexual assault is only a female problem.  Everyone should be educated about the ramifications of sexual assault and this book is a riveting first person account of those consequences. 

Happy Reading!!

The Confession by John Grisham

Book:  The Confession 

Author:  John Grisham 

Grade: B 

Recommended To:  Law fans, John Grisham Fans, Confessors. 

The Confession is John Grisham's latest book.  I waited forever for it on paperbackswap and it took me an entire week to finish it because my commute is extremely short, which means I get through about 8 pages and then have to quit.  Taking the fast train is not boding well for my blog. 

This book follows the fictional story of Donte Drumm a high school football hero who is convicted of murder and sent to death row.  The story opens with the real killer contacting a Keith, a Lutheran Minister and confessing to the crime.  That confession spurs a frantic dash to Texas to stop the Drumm execution before it takes place 

This story is very well done.  It is Grisham's first about the death penalty, I believe, and he captures some incredible detail about an inmate's struggle in solitary confinement, the tortuous last days and hours leading up to an execution, the appeals process, and the racial tension surrounding the death penalty. 

I love how Grisham writes.  He wraps up every single story line at the end of the book and his writing is fact based.  He includes some emotion, but for the most part, he writes like a lawyer.  His books are one fact after another.  This is quite a bit different from some of the other books I've been reading lately and it was refreshing to know exactly what was going on at all times.  

This story was reminiscent of Dead Man Walking by Helen Prejean, the nun who befriended a death row inmate and watched him die.   Dead Man Walking launched me firmly into the anti-death penalty camp, (if I wasn't there already), and as a fictional novel, The Confession has the ability to do much of the same.  Grisham casts an evil glow over the proponents of the death penalty and ends up writing a fairly believable and well-written novel.  This story is also resonant because of the recent abolition of the death penalty in Illinois by Governor Pat Quinn. 

I gave this book a B, it should have been a fast read for me and probably will be for someone with a little more time, it was well -written and it was about a great subject.  You should check out this book!

Happy Reading!!