“I reckon I know pretty well what would happen if the white ladies found out we was writing about them, telling the truth a what they really like. Womens, they ain’t like men. A woman ain’t gone beat you with a stick…..No, white womens like to keep they hands clean. They got a shiny little set a tools they use, sharp as witches’ fingernails, tidy and laid out neat, like the picks on a dentist tray.”

Book Review:

Reviewed by Eleanor Bukowsky (JUL 31, 2009)

Kathryn Stockett’s The Help opens in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962. The story is told by three narrators: Aibileen, a kindhearted maid in her fifties, Miss Skeeter Phelan, an ungainly twenty-three year old who longs to be a writer, and Minny, another maid who cooks and bakes like a dream but can’t seem to keep her opinions to herself. Aibileen works for Mrs. Leefolt, a skinny and thoughtless woman who treats her baby, Mae Mobley, with indifference. Aibileen tries to make up for the mother’s apathy by affectionately fussing over Mae. Skeeter is a college graduate, but her mother’s main concern is finding a suitable Southern gentleman to take her tall and frizzy-haired daughter off her hands. Minny has a bunch of kids and an abusive husband. She has lost a number of jobs because of her penchant for backtalk. She finally lands a position with Celia Foote, a naïve and friendless woman from a poor background who wears tacky clothes and is shunned by her disapproving neighbors.

Change is in the air. Although segregation is still firmly entrenched in Jackson, there are stirrings of rebellion. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. are household names and although all of the black maids desperately need to work in order to pay their bills, they secretly resent having to defer to their patronizing and hypocritical bosses. When Skeeter embarks on a project to interview the maids and record their stories for a book that she hopes will launch her career, she is only vaguely aware that she is detonating a time bomb that could blow up in all of their faces.

The author, who was born and raised in Jackson, knows her subject intimately. She captures the stifling atmosphere of a place in which a culture of racism is passed on from generation to generation. It is taken for granted that black people must use separate toilets, restaurants, and even libraries. Walking through the streets of Jackson, one would never know that Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation and that the south lost the Civil War.

The voices of the maids come through loud and clear and they are the book’s crown jewels. Although “the help” may not feel free to speak publicly, they notice everything. Using dialect effectively, Stockett captures Aibileen’s horror when Miss Leefolt recoils at her newborn baby. The maid can’t help but notice that her mistress “look terrified a her own child. ‘What am I doing wrong? Why can’t I stop it [from crying]?’ It? That was my first hint: something is wrong with this situation.” Throughout the novel, there are scenes of great poignancy in which the maids dote on the white children in their care as if they were their own, support one another through times of sorrow, and thank the Lord for the gifts that He has bestowed on them. They stand stoically, listening to themselves being referred to disparagingly in the third person as if they were not within earshot. There are also many passages of great hilarity in which the narrators reveal thoughts and feelings that they would never dare utter out loud.

The female characters are beautifully defined, including the imperious, ignorant, and nasty Miss Hilly, who makes such outrageous statements as, “Everybody knows they [black people] carry different kinds of diseases than we do,” and therefore should not share bathroom facilities with white people. She declares, “I will do whatever I have to do to protect our town.” Skeeter is a maverick who wants to transform the hidebound traditions of her hometown. Minny is a caring mother who can be tough and angry, but who allows herself to be mistreated by her no-good spouse, Leroy. Aibileen is highly intelligent and intuitive, and it is only with her help that Skeeter gets her controversial project off the ground. The book’s prime weakness is that the male characters, for the most part, hover in the background and serve as little more than window dressing. The few men who have speaking parts are either clueless, obnoxious, drunk, or all of the above.

In her afterword, the author admits that no one can capture exactly what it was like to live in the Deep South in 1962, but she insists that “trying to understand is vital to our humanity.” The Help takes a step in that direction. In this involving work of historical fiction, Stockett gives twenty-first century readers an opportunity to imagine what it was like to walk in the shoes of those disenfranchised individuals whose backbreaking labor made it possible for southern white families to live a life of ease. The author also points out that, in some cases, a bond of affection grew to exist between certain maids and “their families” that lasted for many years. Even in a society poisoned by intolerance, occasionally love finds a way of penetrating the bigotry. Skeeter thinks to herself at the end of the book that a black and white woman should not automatically view one another with suspicion and resentment: “We are just two people. Not that much separates us.” This is a lesson that can never be repeated often enough.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 7,393 readers
PUBLISHER:	Putnam Adult; 1 edition (February 10, 2009)
REVIEWER:	Eleanor Bukowsky
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Kathryn Stockett
EXTRAS:	Reading Guide and Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	This book is similar to: The Color Purple by Alice Walker But also makes me think of these books: Rush Home Road by Lori Lansens Sugar Cage by Connie May Fowler

Bibliography:

• The Help (2009)

Movies from books:

• The Help (2011)

“Mother,” said Bruno, marching toward her, “what’s going on? Why is Maria going through my things?”

“She’s packing them,” said Mother.

“Packing them?'” he asked, running quickly through the events of the previous days to consider whether if he had been particularly naughty or had used words out loud that he wasn’t allowed to use and was being sent away because of it. He couldn’t think of anything though. In fact, over the last few days he had behaved in a perfectly decent manner to everyone and couldn’t remember causing any chaos at all. “Why?” he asked then. “What have I done?”

Book Review:

Reviewed by Jana L. Perskie (MAY 19, 2009)

John Boyne’s novel, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is outstanding. It is beautifully written with a most powerful storyline. Nine year-old Bruno is an innocent, carefree boy growing up in Berlin during WWII. He has three “Best Friends For Life,” and wants to be an explorer when he grows up. Bruno lives in a beautiful mansion, complete with gardens and servants, along with his older sister Gretel, their lovely mother, and their father, a high ranking SS officer. The boy comes home one day after school, in 1943, and finds Maria, the family maid, packing his belongings into wooden crates, including things he had hidden and were “nobody’s business.” He learns that his family is moving away from Berlin and he must go with them, leaving behind his school, best friends and beloved grandparents.
Following a formal dinner that the “Fury” attends, Bruno’s parents explain the reason for the move. His father has received a huge promotion to “Commandant.” They are going to live in a place called “Out-With,” (Auschwitz), in Poland and will remain there for the “foreseeable future.”

The house is a cold and somber place, located in a desolate countryside. Bruno hates his new home and misses his friends. He feels terribly isolated and bored. There are no boys to make friends with here and he wants to return to Berlin. From one side window in the house, he can see a high-wired compound inhabited by sad-looking people in striped pajamas. He wonders what these people do all day and why, in fact, they wear pajamas in the daytime. He wants to go and play with the boys he sees there. When he asks his father who “those people” are, his Commandant Dad responds that “they aren’t really people.” Lieutenant Kotler, a supercilious young SS officer on his father’s staff, constantly ruffles Bruno’s hair and calls him “little man.” Bruno’s anger at Kotler’s condescension is just a part of the rage and helplessness he feels about his living situation, where he feels like a prisoner.
Since there is not much to explore within his own compound, where the family lives, it is inevitable that Bruno would seek excitement elsewhere. Thus, he finds a way to escape his confined quarters and eventually makes his way to the barbed wire enclosure where now he can clearly see the inhabitants within – all wearing gray striped pajamas with gray striped caps on their shaved heads. On one of his excursions, he meets a boy named Shmuel, a broken waif of a child wearing a numbered uniform. Shmuel lives a very different life than Bruno. He is a Jew, and along with his father, a prisoner in the camp. He sometimes hides by the fence, during work detail, where he meets Bruno and the two form a friendship. They even share the same birthday. Shmuel tells Bruno about how his family was transported here from a ghetto in Poland. Bruno talks about his wonderful life in Berlin, and smuggles food from the kitchen to give to Shmuel. But Bruno still doesn’t “get it.” The enormity of the evil confronting him is beyond his comprehension. He believes that the numbered striped pajamas are part of a game played inside the barbed wire enclosure. He asks his friend what is burned in the chimneys. I won’t go any farther with my summary as I don’t want to include “spoilers.”

The narrative is in the 3rd person, but the story is told from a child’s perspective. The boys’ friendship is an allegory of sorts, the author calls it a “fable.” Children are able, if given the chance, to overcome differences in culture and identity. Their innate innocence allows them to believe that people ultimately can get along if they’re not encouraged to hate. Conflict and distrust are cultivated by governments and the media.

Of course, this is not a “real” story of Auschwitz, where prisoners would be shot or killed by the electric barbed wires if they spent time hanging out there. And, of course, Shmuel, would not have survived the camp long enough to befriend anyone. Most children, who were of no use in the labor force, would have been sent to their death immediately upon arrival at the camp. And, it is beyond me how an intelligent, albeit naive and self-centered child like Bruno, would be calling the Fuehrer, the “Fury” or be unaware of the war. But as I mentioned above, I do think this novel is allegorical in nature, in which case, I allow for author’s licence.

This book is labeled “young adult” and I believe this to be very misleading. First, many adults who do not read young adult literature, might be put off by the category. More important, although this story is allegorical in nature, it is certainly powerful and frequently disturbing, as any book about the Holocaust would be. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas themes are the nature of evil, the nature of man, and the beauty of the human spirit. The author is explicit in his writing, although there is no overt violence or questionable language. However, there were moments when I had to stop reading because I felt actual pain. And the more I got to know the characters of the two boys, Bruno and Shmuel, the more emotional I became. The book is meant to educate young adults about the Holocaust. I believe that the manner in which the content is depicted, although done with great sensitivity and compassion, is too harsh for a young person – a “tween “- to read. I think it more appropriate for someone in high school or college. I am Jewish, and a mother, and I feel that it is so important to educate all people, especially our youth, about this most heinous event. But I prefer to do so by introducing books, like The Diary of Anne Frank, before exposing children to a disturbing drama like this one. If you disagree with me, I would suggest that you discuss this book with your child before and after reading. It would make for a good discussion on WWII, the Holocaust and morality and evil.

The novel brings to mind 2 quotations, which I will share with you.

“Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows.” John Betjeman

“When childhood dies, its corpses are called adults and they enter society, one of the politer names of Hell. That is why we dread children, even if we love them. They show us the state of our decay.” Brian Aldin

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 597 readers
PUBLISHER:	David Fickling Books Movie Tie-In (October 28, 2008)
REVIEWER:	Jana L Perskie
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	John Boyne
EXTRAS:	Reading Guide and or Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Our review of Crippen and try: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Bibliography:

• The Thief of Time (2000; 2007 US)
• The Congress of Rough Riders (2001)
• Crippen (2004; 2006 in US)
• The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2006)
• Next of Kin (2006; 2008 in US)
• Mutiny: A Novel of the Bounty (2008;  2009 in US)
• The House of Special Purpose (2009; 2010 in US)
• The Absolutist (2011; 2012 in US)
• This House is Haunted (October 2013)

Movies from books:

• The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2009)