I think everyone's had a chance at round one, right? I have really enjoyed this so far, even though I haven't been the best about reading every book. I blame moving all over the country for that. And I also blame this baby fever that seems to have taken hold of everyone else for the lack of comments from everyone else. :) Anyway, I think there have been some good discussions so far, so let's keep going with a good thing! I will do September-October, and then it's back to Losaunne for November-December.
The book I chose for this month is The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I have been wanting to read this for a while now, but I wasn't sure I would get a chance in Israel. Sunday night I realized that it was my turn again, and all I wanted to read for this month was The Help. But where would I get a copy?
And then Monday I went to the bookstore on campus here to get a textbook. And guess what? Sitting in front of the store, in a pile of bestsellers on sale, was The Help. And it was only 20 shekels (about $5.45)! You can bet that I took it as a sign. This was the book we needed to read.
Anyway, I hope all of you can get a copy or at least watch the film. I'm excited.
So...I actually stayed up all night to read this in September, but I haven't commented until now. I hope some of you had a chance to read it--Mom, I know, had already read it, so I look forward to seeing your comment on here soon!
ReplyDeleteI should have posted a warning that there is some swearing in the book, and I hope that no one was offended.
With that said, though, I want to talk about the book itself. I thought it was a very intriguing look at the problems of racism and bigotry that existed not too long ago in America. My favorite part of the book was that it went back and forth between three people--having all of their perspectives was a great way to present the novel.
One of my least favorite things about the book, though, was that the ending (like the last 100 pages) was kind of flat. I felt like I didn't connect with the characters anymore--I cared about them so much in the beginning, but then what was the point of Miss Skeeter becoming all hippie-like at the end? There were details that didn't add up to anything, but they seemed important enough in their presentation that I thought they would add up to something.
So the ending was a bit of a disappointment to me. I wanted to care more, but I just didn't. (It could also be due to the fact that it was, by that time, 4 in the morning when I was reading it!).
However, it was interesting enough to keep me up all night reading instead of sleeping! My favorite parts: the pie (naturally), Minny's sass, and the church's gift to Miss Skeeter and Elizabeth. My least favorite parts: the story about when Constantine was let go (it was a bit anti-climactic, especially after it had been built up the whole novel), the random maid who got fired because of the book (we hadn't heard about her the whole time--it was like she was just a dispensable character), and the random man story at Cecilia's house (what the?).
I could write a long diatribe about the issues involved in the book, but I think I'll leave it as just a book review instead of an issue review. :) What did they rest of you think? Did anyone get a chance to read it or watch the movie?