Review (sort of) of The Help by Kathryn Stockett

So I'm not going to do a full-fledged review of The Help because so many other people have reviewed it.  But let me just say that it definitely deserves all the hype it's gotten.  I ate this book up, I loved it so.

I LOVE the relationship between all the characters.  It feels so real.  Skeeter's friendship with Aibileen was so special, yet they were always on guard with each other because it wasn't exactly safe to let others see their friendship.  Basically, I came super close to crying at a lot of parts in this book.

The writing, also great.  I love how Stockett changes her writing style based on which character is narrating.  Each narrator has such a distinct personality, I think if I read a passage without being told who was narrating, I'd be able to say which character it was.  Stockett definitely has a way of making the reader feel what the characters are feeling.  For instance, when Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny are waiting and waiting for the town and Hillie to read and finish the book, I was also feeling the suspense. 

So basically, read it, because it is a powerful read that will stay with you for days after you've finished it.  Have you read it?  What did you think?

Some favorite quotes:
Page 73: "Ever morning, until you dead in the ground, you gone have to make this decision."  Constantine was so close, I could see the blackness of her gums.  "You gone have to ask yourself, Am I gone believe what them fools say about me today?"
She kept her thumb pressed hard in my hand.  I nodded that I understood.  I was just smart enough to realize she meant white people.  And even though I still felt miserable, and knew that I was, most likely, ugly, it was the first time she ever talked to me like I was something besides my mother's white child.  All my life I'd been told what to believe about politics, coloreds, being a girl.  But with Constantine's thumb pressed in my hand, I realized I actually had a choice in what I could believe.

Page 303: There is undisguised hate for white women, there is inexplicable love.  Faye Bell, palsied and gray skinned, cannot remember her own age.  Her stories unfold like soft linen.  She remembers hiding in a steamer trunk with a little white girl while Yankee soldiers stomped through the house.  Twenty years ago, she held that same white girl, by then an old woman, in her arms while she died.  Each proclaimed their love as best friends.  Swore that death could not change this.  That color meant nothing.  The white woman's grandson still pays Faye Belle's rent.  When she's feeling strong, Faye Belle sometimes goes over and cleans up his kitchen.

Page 414: The Sun and Sand Bar is closed and I go by slow, stare at how dead the neon sign seems when it's turned off.  I coast past the tall Lamar Life building, through the yellow blinking streetlights.  It's only eight o'clock at night but everyone has gone to bed.  Everyone's asleep in this town in every way possible.

Title: The Help

Author: Kathryn Stockett
Date of Publication: 2009
Number of Pages: 544
Genre: Fiction
Source: Personal copy

Review: Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn

Set in Victorian London, Silent in the Grave is the perfect murder mystery for a cold night by the fireplace.  Or no fireplace, if your mom is like mine and hates the thought of a draft blowing smoke all through the house....Lady Julia Grey is not really all that shocked when her husband falls ill with a seizure and dies.  He does, after all, have a heart condition.  She doesn't even faulter when a man who claims to have worked for her husband comes forward and tries to warn her that her husband may have been murdered.  She shoos Brisbane away and thinks nothing more of the subject until months later when she finds a strange note in her late husband's desk.  Together, she and Brisbane set out to find her husband's killer, even if it means opening up secrets about an unhappy marriage and why it ended the way it did.

I loved Silent in the Grave.  I mean, strong female main character, great writing, Victorian England.  Oh, and also the mysterious Br. Brisbane, who himself has a secret he's trying to keep hidden.

Julia was a very compelling character.  In the beginning of the book, she is as her last name says-Grey.  She is living in the shadow of an unhappy marriage to a man she once loved but turned out to be a complete stranger.  Julia, however, slowly comes into her own identity and by the end is pretty much bursting with color.  It's not so much that she's changed, it's more that she's letting out the real Juilia that was pent up inside for so long.  I'm excited that this is the first book in a series because it's going to be interesting to see how Julia grows as a person. 

The mystery of the murder is in itself very intriguing and well done.  In the beginning of the investigation, Julia treats it like a game, despite Brisane's (who actually is a private detective) warnings that they may be dealing with a very dangerous person.  As the mystery deepens and they get closer to the truth, Julia realizes that her life really may be in danger.  As a reader, my feelings where similar to Julia's.  Oh, the murder happened a year ago, this won't be bad.  But as the book went on I kept thinking "OMG something bad is going to happen!"

The end of the book leaves a lot of questions unanwers, but in a good way.  The reader is left thinking about certain things, like what Julia will decide to do with her life now, or what else Brisbane might be hiding, and the awkward moments between Julia and Brisbane because of their growing attraction to each other.  I'm excited to read the next book because I'm sure a bit more will be uncovered in it.

Title: Silent in the Grave
Author: Deanna Raybourn
Date of Publication: 2007
Number of Pages: 512
Genre: Historical Fiction
Source: Personal copy

New Books Coming From France, yay!

So first of all, thank you all for being awesome and letting me have my time. 

I have like 7 book reviews that will be posted in the next few weeks, and I've realized that it's better to write them as I read them or else I will have a huge stack of books to review and then shit happens and I have no time to write them and then nothing gets blogged. 

Lesson learned.

Now on to fun stuff:
I have ordered my yearly big box of books from FRANCE!!  I am excited.  Super.  Last year's box had mainly newer contemporary stuff because I hadn't read much of it and wanted to give it a try.  I discovered some really great authors, my fave of which is Amélie Nothomb.  But Maryse Condé and Philippe Labro were also pretty kick ass.

This year's box contains mostly classics and whatnot, seeing as I am currently in the process of applying to grad school for French lit.  I figured I should read some classic-y stuff for that.  So, without further ado, the contents of my box of books from FRANCE!!:

1. Les liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons) by Pierre-Ambroise-Francois Choderlos de Laclos
2. Le Voyage d'hiver (The Winter Journey) by Amélie Nothomb
3. Oeuvres completes (Complete Works) by Louise Labé
4. L'Amant (The Lover) by Marguerite Duras
5. Le deuxieme sexe (The Second Sex)by Simone de Beauvoir
6. Le rouge et le noir (The Red and the Black) by Stendhal

And #7 I can't put here just yet because it's a gift for Twin for Christmas and she reads by blog because she's pretty much awesome.  Most of the time anyway.

Some personal time

Just doing a quick post because I know I haven't posted anything in a while and wanted to let my readers know that I'm here just haven't had time or energy to post.  My grandmother has been very sick these last few months and passed away last Wednesday.  I've been dealing with her apartment and the funeral, etc., and I'm just physically and emotionally exhausted.  So if it's a little quiet around here a few days longer, don't be surprised <3