The Help

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

Three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women--mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends--view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.

Brenda's Thoughts: This was my book club's pick for this month and what a great choice! This was a wonderful book that not only described the lives of women in domestic help, but also of their relationships with the children of families and the sometimes complicated, layered relationships between women. A tradition that the south has--you don't have to be blood to be family. The characters were written in such a way, they became alive and the writing style of the author, telling the story from various points of view, was perfect.

The book also shows a dark side to the life of a black southern women. At times, I wanted to cry and other times I laughed out loud. There were times I was literally afraid and other times so angry. The author did a very good job of creating a positive relationship between black and white southerners while at the same time exposing the negative effects of racism during that time. This is an important story that is a painful reminder of past cruelty and injustice. It shows how far we have progressed and how much more we still have to accomplish. As Skeeter explained, "Wasn't that the point of the book? For women to realize, 'We are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I'd thought.'"

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy (Matthew 5:7, NIV).

P.S. A big thank you to Jackie for surprising us with a delicious "chocolate pie" that would have made Minny proud!

Water for Elephants

As a young man, Jacob Jankowski was tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. It was the early part of the great Depression, and for Jacob, now ninety, the circus world he remembers was both his salvation and a living hell. A veterinary student just shy of a degree, he was put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It was there that he met Marlena, the beautiful equestrian star married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. And he met Rosie, an untrainable elephant who was the great gray hope for this third-rate traveling show. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and, ultimately, it was their only hope for survival.

Brenda's thoughts: We recently read this in the book group I attend and for the most part everyone thought it was a good book overall. The details of circus life were fascinating and disturbing, and seemed quite real. The descriptions of animal care were amazing. To be honest I'd never contemplated how all the humans and animals were fed and housed in a circus. I found the passages with Jacob as an old man melancholy and touching.

The only thing I didn't find convincing was the romance between young Jacob and Marlena. Strange to read a book where I'd much rather read about the relationship between a young man and an extraordinary elephant than about the (human) love of his life! I so longed and wanted more details about the animals and their interaction/relationship with their handlers.

My only disclaimer with this novel is that if YOU do not like sexually explicit descriptions and cussing, I would not recommend this book to you. Regardless of personal feelings about the explicit sexual descriptions, everyone agreed that the book's ability to evoke the travelling turn of the century world was very impressive and we had a great discussion about that and about the role of the animals in the storyline as well. This story is an interesting portrayal of life in a traveling circus, and the ending is an unexpected one that takes you unaware.