The Help by Kathryn Stockett

 

 

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      I like books, ones where I can relate with the characters.  Ones where I feel what the characters are feeling.  Ones where I connect.  Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan is the outcast in Jackson, Mississippi, comparing herself to Boo Radley from To Kill a Mockingbird.  She doesn't exactly fit the description of a woman in 1962; she has a college degree, she has kinky curls, she's a smart individual who is interested in the equality of her friends.  

     

 

 

 

      There are two groups of white people in Jackson: those who care, and those who don't.  The colored women, the maids who have taken care of these said people, are now taking care of their children.  The average housewife is more worried about appearances than fair treatment.  They dress their babies in nice clothes, punish them like they are really the ones bringing them up, and mistreat the women who keep up the appearance of their homes for less than minimum wage.  Women like Hilly Holbrook and Elizabeth Leefolt leave their duties in the hands of women who have their own homes to take care of, their own children to feed, and their own lives to handle, but manage another family as well.  Aibileen and Minnie face the every day challenges of discrimination and segregation from these families, even random strangers off of the street, but still have the strength to keep on going. 

 

 

 

      Skeeter is one in maybe the three percent of people who care about the help.  She's a amateur journalist who takes on the anonymous title, but wants to do more than just a column in the newspaper.  When she returned home from college, she realized she didn't view the help the same way the other women in Jackson did.  She didn't think of them as "help"; she viewed them as human beings who had a choice and a say.  The longer Skeeter stayed in Jackson, the more she tip toed into the growing Civil Rights Movements.  Though she is an activist, she hides this, and succumbs to her mothers expectations of becoming a wife.  Against all views Skeeter had on herself, she had a healthy relationship with Stuart, and was even talking about marriage.  All the while, she was beginning a revolution of her own by writing a book of tales from the local help.  She isn't afraid of visiting the women at night so she can record their stories.  Against the odds, Skeeter's anonymous book was a huge hit, and her life seemed to be going relatively well for her.  Until she confided to Stuart that she was the author and an activist.

 

 

 

 

      Aibileen and Minnie never left her side, though, and were very grateful that their voices were able to be heard.  They even picked up another activist along the way- the very odd, but very interesting Cecilia Foote. 

      I didn't choose this book out of whim, like I usually do when I read novels.  I chose it because of its meaning.  I chose it because it addressed an issue so prevalent then, and even now.  It was made to, not only provide entertainment, but to also prove that we are all equal. 

      I definitely recommend this to anyone who are willing to read it.  It's a fabulous, well written historical fiction that captivated me from the very first sentence. 



The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

 

 

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      "As the tide washed in, the Dutch Tulip Man faced the ocean: "Conjoiner rejoinder poisoner concealer revelator.  Look at it, rising up and rising down, taking everything with it.""

      ""What's that?" I asked."

      ""Water," the Dutchman said. "Well, and time.""

-Peter Van Houten, An Imperial Affliction

      A brilliant excerpt of a fictional novel, within a fictional novel.  Oh, how it woes me that An Imperial Affliction is non-existent.  More so how John Green refuses to make it existent for the fans of The Fault Of Our Stars.  After all, it is Hazel Grace's favorite novel of all time.

 

 

 

 

 

      Depressing, I know.  There's just something about the first paragraph that absolutely entrances one, though.  Hazel Grace is not what would society would consider an average teenager; who would consider a seventeen year old girl with cancer average. 

      -Wake up

      -Get dressed

      -Go to doctor/Go to Support Group (depends on the day)

      -Watch America's Next Top Model or read An Imperial Affliction

      -Sleep

      The life of a cancer patient isn't all glamorous, after all.  At thirteen Hazel was diagnosed with Stage IV Thyroid Cancer, which then developed into Satellite Colonies in her Lungs.  As she lay dying- fluid overflowing her lungs, not being able to breathe, swollen hands and feet, etc..- they tried Phalanxifor (a completely made up drug), an experimental drug for her Cancer Doctors, AKA: The Miracle Drug.  Four years later, Hazel still has tumors and satellite colonies, but she's alive.

      Regular Dr. Jim suggested to Mrs. Lancaster, when Hazel's depression was not getting better, that she go to the Cancer Support Group at church.  It was the same routine for Support Group.  Support Group Leader Jim would tell the story of how he beat testicle cancer, how his girlfriend left him, and how he found God's Love.  He would hold the sessions in The Literal Heart Of Jesus, or the heart of the church.  They would go around in a circle, talking about how they felt. 



 

 

 

 

 

      Needless to say, Hazel hated Support Group.  That is, until the fabulous Augustus Waters.  He's charming.  He's hot.  He's overcame cancer.  He is everything she didn't think she could have.  The two of them blossomed. She slowly overcame her fear of loving someone outside of her family, and let Gus into her life, letting him slip into every crack and crevice her sickly heart had.  Hazel even shared her most sacred possession, An Imperial Affliction.

      When he heard how Hazel spent her wish from the Genies- which was, in his eyes, a hasty way to spend a free trip while staring in the eyes of Death- he decided he'd take the two of them, and her mother, to Amsterdam to meet the ever famous Peter Van Houten. 

 

 

 

 

      Of course, all good things had to come to an end, and Augustus Waters, the best thing to ever happen to Ms. Hazel Grace, had his relapse with the battle, danced with Death, and lost.  His impact on her, however, lived on.  He still continued to be the love of her life, her infinity within her number of days.  Never did she imagine he'd go before her, but she took comfort in the fact that he loved her to his last breath. 

 

 

 





      



      We all have our Go To book that is able to give us the thrill we seek over and over and over again.  As a reader, I want to be blown away whenever I read.  From the first page, the first sentence, I have to be hooked.  The Fault In Our Stars is my Go To book.  I laugh.  I cry.  I groan in frustration.  I feel what the character feels.  This book has been read so frequently I can quote it in my sleep. 

      The Fault In Our Stars: You earned a 10 on my scale from 1-10.  The only thing you will need food, drink, and tissues. 

 

      Now, if only John Green would write An Imperial Affliction, there would be two Go To books. 

      

 

 

 

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

       As a reader, I am not subjected to one particular genre.  In fact, I enjoy many types of books.  I began my love of reading with The Classics, and, to this day, a majority of my favorite books are Classics.  To go along with my modern day book reviews, I'll also have some older fictions, like the one today.  I'll have to be honest; when I first read Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, I was not particularly fond of it.  In fact, it took me two reads to really understand what Mr. Achebe was trying to get across in the novel.

 

 

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      Things Fall Apart tells the story of a tribesman, Okonkwo, and how he handles the steady changes in Umuofia and Mbanta.  It begins by explaining why Okonkwo has such a hard character, and, when it comes right down to it, it is because of his father.  Unoka was in no means a horrible man, but, in the eyes of his fellow tribesmen, he was a coward who was indebted to many men.  In everything Unoka could have possibly taught Okonkwo, it was that cowards never amounted to anything. 

      As Okonkwo grew older, he proved to his tribe that he wasn't anything like his father.  And, though deep down inside he may be compassionate, he never showed it outwardly.  Okonkwo gained land, had three wives, and was a successful farmer.  Despite all of those amazing, honorable qualities, he still wasn't happy, and lived his live in inseparable fear.  Not only was he fearful, he had a terrible temper.   His children were often fearful of him, and his wives too.  When his second wife sassed him about never shooting anything, because he was a terrible at target, he drew the gun on her.  Another incident was when his third wife left her children with his first wife to get her hair plated, and didn't have supper ready, Okonkwo beat her mercilessly during the week of peace. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      Okonkwo wasn't always cruel, though often times he was.  Ezinma, his daughter, held a special place in his heart, where most of his children did not.  He often wished that she were a boy, because she showed immense potential.  Ikemefuna, his foster child so to speak, also was near and dear to him, but he allowed his fear of failure to overcome him, and acted against his compassion. 

 

 

 

 

 

      Okonkwo was faced with many challenges from there on out, creating his downfall.  He was exiled, lost a son, and was arrested.  Okonkwo was a narrow-minded man, and was unable to see others' points of views a lot of the time.  When the Christian missionaries settled in Mbanta, he let it slide off as ignorance of his mother's people.  And, when he returned back to Umuofia, he realized that the missionaries had more in mind than just a few converts here and there.  As he was arrested, he vowed revenge to the white people.  When his tribesmen voted against a war, he made his own revenge by killing the messenger.  Ultimately, he betrayed his people. 

      This is a very different book than to what I usually read.  It's political, and teaches its readers diversity between the Christians and the tribesmen.  Though it is a good book all-in-all, it wouldn't be my first pick of a novel to read.