Can we start yet?

So I have a lot to say about "The Help," but I want to hear what ya'll have to say about it before I just shoot off a massive post with all my feelings. I'm shooting for a more detailed post instead of an overall review if you will. So two things I want to say:

A- Celia Foote was my favorite character to read.

B- I absolutely adored Aibileen continually telling Mae Mobley she was good, kind and smart.

Okay concerning Celia: It may seem odd that she was totally my favorite character when you compare her to ... say... Aibileen, but I just couldn't help but love her! I felt totally sympathetic towards the one person in the book who didn't get the rules. I loved how hard she tried and how very natural she was (okay I know the oober-blonde hair and all wasn't exactly "natural,"but the point is that she was who she was!) I guess she was trying to live by the rules, but she didn't get them, and she put so much of her own natural inclinations into things. And even though you knew she was always going to fail I wanted so badly for her not to! (I thought all the lead up to the big ball, which name is escaping me at the moment, was truly hillarious. The author did such a great job at building and building up to it. I was mortified for her and it was kind of a "I want to look away but I just CAN'T," kind of feeling for me.)

I was so grateful that she had such a sweet and adoring husband who didn't care what anyone else thought. If he hadn't have been in the picture or if he had turned out to be a jerk it would have been too much for me.

I also loved her for the way she was able to love Minny, and I loved watching their relationship develop. I loved how Minny professed she was a "crazy fool," but how her actions spoke louder than words and you knew she was starting to love her in spite of herself. How could you not? Celia is so pathetically loveable.

Now concerning Aibileen telling Mae Mobley she was good. Oh! I appreciated this so much! I have long felt that in ANY relationship, but especially relationships with children it is SO important to tell people they are good! I really believe that we all have such a power within us to help people become who it is they are going to become (did that confuse you how I said that?!?). I just think that if you continually hear that you are bad- you start to believe it and then act it. But the opposite is also true- if you continually hear you are good you believe it- or if you don't believe if you at least WANT to believe it and try and make your actions consistent with what you are being told.

As a child my mother always expressed so much confidence in me. Always, always I was being told in one way or another the same thing that Aibileen told Mae... that I was good, that I was smart, and that I was kind. As a young child I just accepted it and it gave me confidence, as a youth when I screwed up but she kept telling me anyway, I wanted so much to make it the truth so I tried hard to live up to it.

Reading it from Aibileen was really touching, especially where Elizabeth was telling her daughter the exact opposite. I loved her trying to offset her mom's influence. Sad! That she had to do it, but good that she did.

Any thoughts?

ps- I'm sorry I can't just say something short and simply. I have yet to learn that skill.

Couldn't put it down... literally

***Warning***plot spoilers***don't read unless you want to know what happens in the book

Okay, I just have to say first of all, that I literally read this in 5 days straight, which is saying a lot for how crazy busy I am (the same as the rest of you, I realize), but I just couldn't put it down. When I had to go to work, I had my Kindle read it to me in the car, lol. First of all, I thought that the relationship between Noel Strachan and Jean was very weird. And I understand it at the same time. She didn't have anyone else in the world to turn to, so he became his family, and he didn't have much by way of family either, so they suited one another. But all the same, I thought it was interesting how much detail she shared with him about EVERYTHING. And how he basically wished he was younger to have married her himself... I don't know, it gave me the creeps.

I also didn't necessarily love the narrator's voice. I understand that's how Mr. Strachan was tied into the book best, but he reported on everything in such an impassive, unfeeling way. In some parts of the book, I appreciated that, because it would have been way too graphic if it had been too emotional and/or descriptive, but in other parts of the book, it drove me crazy that he just reported on people dying and being beaten as if it was just a walk in the park.

I thought Jean's role in a male-dominated society was very interesting. She obviously learned how to be diplomatic enough to get what she wanted out of everyone, but in a sincere way still, but the part that really struck me was how she was coming in to Malaya after the war to pay for and put up a well and washing hut for the women, and yet she had to jump through all the hoops and make it seem like it was the men's idea and get permission before she could move forward. In some ways, I don't think this has changed much in our society... we all know certain people, men or women, who we have to butter up and sweet talk to get what we want out of them (or maybe it's just me with the University politicking I live with day to day). And I thought it was a very telling comment about the culture of that society that the men were wondering if they had done a bad thing by allowing the women to have something that caused so much laughter.

Mostly throughout the book, I just kept thinking about how every hard thing we do, helps prepare us and teach us valuable lessons. In most cases we wouldn't be able to do what we do if we didn't have some kind of difficult experience to prepare ourselves for what we are asked to do. I have a friend who has gone through an almost literal hell with her husband for the past two years, and has been wondering, why? Why me? What am I supposed to learn from this if anything? She recently was appointed to a fairly large leadership opportunity and is going to be over about 20 faculty members who are all strong-willed and who tend to fight amongst each other. I talked to her the other day, and she was just in awe because she just had realized that day that she was prepared to take on this new assignment because she had learned so much in the past few years about conflict management and resolution, among other things. It has given me a greater resolve to try to learn the lessons I am supposed to at the time of my most difficult situations with a happy heart, realizing that I will be better for it. I thought that this was one of the main points of this book. It was just very interesting to see how Jean turned her horrific experience in the war into a very happy and profitable life afterward. Not that she would wish it upon herself again, but she was just very practical in applying the lessons she learned, almost like Dashti, just very matter-of-fact.

Sorry this is so lengthy, but I want to know....What did you gals get out of the book? Anything that really stuck with you?

Review

As a book club, we voted and gave Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale:

4.3 out of 5

The Help

Here are some questions put out by the publisher on March's book, The Help, to get your brains going as you read the book this month. I read it early and I loved it, so I hope you do too!

1. Who was your favorite character? Why?

2. What do you think motivated Hilly? On the one hand she is terribly cruel to Aibileen and her own help, as well as to Skeeter once she realizes that she can’t control her. Yet she’s a wonderful mother. Do you think that one can be a good mother but, at the same time, a deeply flawed person?

3. Like Hilly, Skeeter’s mother is a prime example of someone deeply flawed yet somewhat sympathetic. She seems to care for Skeeter— and she also seems to have very real feelings for Constantine. Yet the ultimatum she gives to Constantine is untenable; and most of her interaction with Skeeter is critical. Do you think Skeeter’s mother is a sympathetic or unsympathetic character? Why?

4. How much of a person’s character would you say is shaped by the times in which they live?

5. Did it bother you that Skeeter is willing to overlook so many of Stuart’s faults so that she can get married, and that it’s not until he literally gets up and walks away that the engagement falls apart?

6. Do you believe that Minny was justified in her distrust of white people?

7. Do you think that had Aibileen stayed working for Miss Elizabeth, that Mae Mobley would have grown up to be racist like her mother? Do you think racism is inherent, or taught?

8. From the perspective of a twenty-first century reader, the hairshellac system that Skeeter undergoes seems ludicrous. Yet women still alter their looks in rather peculiar ways as the definition of “beauty” changes with the times. Looking back on your past, what’s the most ridiculous beauty regimen you ever underwent?

9. The author manages to paint Aibileen with a quiet grace and an aura of wisdom about her. How do you think she does this?

10. Do you think there are still vestiges of racism in relationships where people of color work for people who are white?

11. What did you think about Minny’s pie for Miss Hilly? Would you have gone as far as Minny did for revenge?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

A Town Like Alice

For those of you who have already read A Town Like Alice, I thought I'd post some discussion questions early. If you haven't read it yet, it might spark some thoughts as you read if you have some of these questions in mind. I am very looking forward to reading this... starting tonight!

I've been getting the questions from different sources, but I thought these ones looked good:

Discussion Questions for A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute Galesburg Public Library Tuesday Book Club November 2006

1. Did you like the book? If so, what was your favorite part of the book?

2. If not, why not?

3. While talking to the narrator, Jean says:

People who spent the war in prison camps have written a lot of books about what a bad time they had....They don’t know what it was like, not being in a camp.

This comment really struck me. Any thoughts about this passage?

4. Did any thing that happened or was said in the book stick with you?

5. When Joe gets caught stealing the chickens, the Japanese soldier who was given a chicken by Jean is punished by the Japanese for “participating” in the crime. When he gets sick later, as the only guard for the women and children, the women nurse him. What do you think about this turn of events?

6. The author uses crucifixion as a plot device. What did you think about this?

7. What do you think about Noel’s attitude toward Jean?

8. Any comments about the way the book ended?

9. In 1998, Random House’s Modern Library published two lists of 100 Best Novels. The list voted on by readers included A Town Like Alice at number 17. What do you think about that? Would you vote to include A Town Like Alice on your personal list of best novels?

10. Has anyone here ever been to Malaya or Australia? Tell us about your experiences.

11. Are there any questions you would like to ask?

Review

The book club gave Three Cups of Tea

4 stars of 5

A great blog

All of you who are interested in great children's lit, check out this blog I found. It's packed with great discussion and review of the best of children's lit. Just thought I'd pass it along.