The Help by Kathryn Stockett – a review

 

Disclaimer : this blog is affiliated with third party sellers. If you make a purchase through the links in this blog, I might earn a small commission from the sale. This does not impact the cost of items, and it does not influence the content of this blog. 

As I read The Help, I was reminded of dystopian novels that depict some possible future or alternate reality. The characters are constantly on edge, afraid that if they say or do "the wrong thing", they will lose work, status, or even their lives. Except this novel is not a portrait of an imagined dystopian society, a warning of what might be, à la 1984, but a piece of historical fiction, and a reminder of how things really are.

The main characters of the novel, the eyes through which we experience 1960s Jackson, Mississippi, are Aibileen, a black maid who raises the children of white people while processing the death of her own son; Minny, a black maid who has found it difficult to keep work because of her inability to remain silent in the face of wrongs done by her white employers; and there is Skeeter, a young white woman recently returned from college, trying to figure out her way in the world.

Then, there is Hilly Holbrook, the epitome of racism and cruelty in the book. It is interesting to note that she, a wealthy Jackson socialite, married to a future politician, is motivated by a selfish desire to maintain the status quo. A fear that societal change might tip her own world into disorder. She strives to maintain the divisions between blacks and whites as The Civil Rights Movement makes it's way across the south to protect herself from some imagined threat. Out of the same selfish desire to protect her own interests, she bullies, manipulates, and threatens the white women in her social circle that do not conform to her own views and wants.

Interestingly, Skeeter's mother, another example in The Help of someone deeply flawed and desirous to maintain social and racial divisions also shows a desire for control. She is overbearing and is always critical of her daughter's appearance.

This speaks to the white fear that we might lose all that we have, that societal change might mean a loss of control and wealth, and how we use violence and intimidation, how we justify prejudices and bigotry, to maintain our hold.

There is a danger in reading books like The Help – white readers can come away believing the themes explored within to be problems of the past, that such attitudes are antiquated, and "thank god things aren't like that any more!" 

But just a little tumble down some of the darker spots of social media, or sliding down some of the comment threads, is enough to prove those attitudes to be alive and well. Yeah, we might not be able to say it as brazenly as we could in the past, but it's there. 

The author herself has spoken about conflicting feelings for the novel and the fears she had about crossing a line, writing in the voice of a black person. 

"I don't presume to think that I know what it really felt like to be a black woman in Mississippi, especially in the 1960s. I don't think it is something any white woman on the other end of a black woman's paycheck could ever truly understand. But trying to understand is vital to our humanity."

Much of what can be discussed about this novel feels so beyond the scope of a little book blog . . .

The Help is a masterful novel full of hope and humanity. A novel that reminded me of dystopian settings, but in fact a novel that considers the past. However, not long past. An excellent debut that feels more like the work of a novelist much more experienced.

Kathryn Stockett was born into the world she describes in the novel, in Jackson, Mississippi, 1969. And she, like the white children in the novel, was raised by a black maid. After graduating from Alabama university, she moved to New York and worked in magazine publishing and marketing for nine years. The Help is her first novel, inspired partly by the place she came from.

You can purchase a copy of The Help by Kathryn Stockett here.

Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this piece, or found it informative, I ask that you please consider buying the author a coffee here. 

If you can't do that, you can show support with a like, a comment, a share, and a subscription. If we support writing on the internet that we really enjoy, we might just end up with more than just adverts disguised as articles and other clickbait!

The Choice by Claire Wade – review

 

Disclaimer: this blog is affiliated with third party sellers. If you make a purchase through the links in this blog, I might earn a small commission from the sale. However, this does not affect the cost of the books, and it does not influence the content of this blog. 

Who ever our next Prime Minister is, they might benefit from reading one of those novels that throws totalitarianism under the spotlight. A novel like The Choice.

My waistline gives away my own enjoyment of sugary things. And, though you will not often find me in the kitchen, apron adorned and flour on my nose, I have dabbled in baking. 

I think it would be a slightly less joyful world without sugary treats and baked goods.

And, that is the central theme of this novel.

Originally, Claire Wade intended to write a fairly light story about friends who secretly baked cakes in a world where sugar and baking is illegal. However, as she began to consider the implications of a government that monitors what its public consumes and makes certain behaviours mandatory, she ended up writing something darker.

The author, has said, "The story might have started out about baking, but it rapidly evolved into something darker. It forced me to think about choices, mine and everyone else's, around what we eat, how we live and the role the government has in those decisions."

In recent years, discussions about what we eat have come to the fore. How sugars and fats impact our health are but one part of that. We desire more transparency too about how our food is sourced. We want to know how our dietary choices impact upon the environment and climate change. There is also more discussion about the dietary needs of those who are intolerant of certain ingredients, additives, proteins, and whatnot. Then, there are those fad diets that make their dubious presences felt now and then.

Wade does not address these themes in her novel, instead focusing on the question of how much governments should concern themselves with what we eat and how much we exercise for our health. Is it a loss that the author doesn't acknowledge these other issues? Who knows. Perhaps. But then, maybe the novel would have been a thing too convoluted to enjoy. Perhaps too though, it would have made for a more interesting novel, to add these themes to a discussion on our modern eating habits. 

We could speculate all day on what could have been, though . . .

The totalitarian nanny state of the novel is a frightful place indeed, though we are reminded throughout the story that Mother Mason, the leader, was voted in by the public. Perhaps the choice to which the novel's title alludes. At one time, it seems, Mother's policies on health and wellbeing seemed benevolent to the characters of the novel. Which makes the reader wonder; what happened between Mother Mason's victory for leadership and where we meet the characters in the novel? Did the harshness of her policies only become truly apparent after she was in office? Or, did a desperate and fearful electorate elect a leader they didn't really understand? Was the election a near thing or a landslide victory?

Unfortunately, we might look to the real world for the answers to some of the above questions. Even more unfortunately, in looking to the the real world, we might not necessarily find some of those answers. Sometimes, as fantastic as fiction can be, the books we read make much more sense than real life.

I'll tell you this, I would collapse into a sweaty and panting heap in one of the mandatory exercise classes Wade describes in the novel. And I am not sure I would get back up again!

I'm also not sure that I would be one of the rebels of the novel. I would like to think that I might be, at least sharing subversive content across social media. Perhaps I would act, like Olivia in the novel, once I saw that I was not alone. But it takes strength to go up against corrupt authority and the indoctrinated masses.

Who knows. In the UK, we're not quite living in a totalitarian state (at the time of writing anyway – check with me again next week!), so, fortunately, I haven't been tested in this way. And, for now, sugar, cakes, and alcohol are still available to the public (though rising prices and a cost of living crisis might put paid to that – again, check with me next week). 

Here's hoping, for the foreseeable, these terrors remain the stuff of fiction.

As dystopian novels go, I don't think this novel is going to knock 1984 or Brave New World from their pedestals, but it might inspire readers to discuss the government's role in what we consume and how much it polices our behaviour. It might inspire the reader to question what is considered healthy.

We live in a time where the majority bounce from one screen to another, not just as viewers, but as performers ourselves. A time that makes many feel that they are not valid unless their life looks good in an Instagram reel. And, of course, slimness and attractiveness goes hand-in-hand with that. It's a shallow old world. And any novel that asks readers to consider that, just maybe, healthiness and wellbeing doesn't just look one way is a good novel. I think this book might have gone further with that idea, explored its themes further, but it is still worth a read.

In a world of cost of living crises, energy crises, corrupt and corrupting world leaders, and more than enough shame and hatred being thrown around on social media to last a lifetime, yeah, I think our incoming Prime Minister might benefit from reading such a novel. But then, that's assuming they wouldn't be using it as a how-to-guide on running a totalitarian state.

You can purchase a copy of The Choice by Claire Wade here.

Have you read this book? Would you like to? Let me know in the comments. Like, share, and subscribe!

You can support this blog with a coffee for the writer here.

Thank you for reading!