"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett

Author Kathryn Stockett debuts with a page-turner that brings new insight to the moral issues involved in The Help. Stockett spins a story of social awakening as seen from both sides of the American racial divide intertwined with emotions that provokes timely thoughts. Set in Jackson, Miss in the 1962, the story is told from the perspective of three narrators. First and foremost is Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, an aspiring writer attempting to simply tell a story that will impress and sell to an abrasive New York editor. Skeeter's novel idea is to interview the black maids in her hometown in order to fabricate a story of truth about what it's like to work for white women and raise the white children. Taking a risk of an integration violation, for which the black maids could be fired, jailed or worse, Skeeter forges ahead and finds two brave women who are fed-up enough to participate in the project.

Next the readers are introduced to Abileen. Since the death of her son, she has struggled to find acceptance, patience and the unconditional love of a child. She's lovingly raised more than a dozen white children, moving on to the next family "when the babies get too old and stop being color-blind." She is finding it hard to hold her tongue with her current boss, Elizabeth Leefolt, a childhood friend's of Skeeter's. Elizabeth is a neglectful, unloving mother and Abileen feels it necessary to compensate for her Elizabeth's lack of love, affection and acceptance by repeatedly telling the young daughter, "You is kind...you is smart. You is important."

The third narrator is Minny Jackson, who is known for her quick temper and fiery disposition. She's Abileen's best friend that finds herself without a job after tangling with Hilly Holbrooke, the head of the Junior League chapter, Skeeter's childhood friend and high and mighty above all else. Hilly takes her disdain for "the help" so far as to start a "Home Help Sanitation" initiative for "separate toilets as a disease-preventative measure." It is this hurtful, malicious attitude that proves to spur the black maids to tell their stories.

Filled with mystery and intrigue, readers are enticed to keep reading page after page. What "terrible awful" thing did Minny to do Hilly before leaving her mother's employment. What became of Constantine - Skeeter's beloved childhood maid that disappeared while she was away at college? What deep secret throws Minny's current boss into depression and causes her to keep big secrets from her husband? Will the maids suffer consequences and repercussions for telling their stories?

Stockett skillfully weaves the characters' stories reflecting their courage, fear and pride. Writing of her hometown, Stockett says she wrote The Help because she regrets never having asked her beloved family maid "what it felt like to be black in Mississippi, working for our white family." The novel addresses not only the injustice but the "inexplicable love" that blooms between the maids and their young charges. The Help evokes both admiration and respect and as Skeeter said of her writing, "please let some good come out of this."

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"Scoop" by Evelyn Waugh

What happens when the nature writer for a London newspaper is mistakenly sent to Africa as a foreign correspondent in the place of a fashionable novelist who shares his name? Scoop, by Evelyn Waugh, follows William Boot, who is torn from his quiet life on his family’s country estate to the fictional nation of Ishmaelia, where civil war threatens to break out. He meets other journalists, all anxiously crawling for news to wire back to their editors. In the mean time, they buy each other drinks as a comradely gesture (and charge them to the newspaper’s expenses).

Boot eventually gets the “scoop” the other more experienced journalists are scrambling for, and he goes back to London a hero and reluctant celebrity. Of course, the case of mistaken identity that sets the novel in motion cannot be ignored, and the newspaper’s editor must face the inconvenience of the two Boots, and avoid the wrath of newspaper magnate Lord Copper in the process.

There is much to enjoy when reading this novel. As a master of satire, Waugh’s biggest theme is the absurdity of human nature. Most of the novel’s humor comes from its very human characters. The newspaper’s editor is so afraid of his superior, that instead of answering questions with “yes” or “no,” he says, “Definitely, Lord Copper” and “Up to a point, Lord Copper.” There is humor in the names of the newspapers, like the appropriately named the Daily Beast and the Daily Brute. There is also pleasure in watching the hapless protagonist be dragged to another continent with little say in the matter. But because this novel is ultimately comedic, the characters end happily, no matter how much they sweat and worry between its covers.

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Reviewed by David.

"Dangerous" by Diana Palmer

Dangerous is a continuation of the Long Tall Texan series and one of my favorites so far. The author, Diana Palmer, is famous for adding details about previous characters and storylines, and I like to follow along. Dangerous makes the reader feel involved in the romance and the story, which is set in present day Texas. The heroine is a 911 dispatcher, and Palmer also includes many realistic details about FBI agent Kilraven. You can imagine how he walks and talks, and I just fell in love with this character. Diana Palmer’s stories always have a lot of romance and a little mystery. If you like Julie Garwood and Linda Howard, you will love Diana Palmer.

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Reviewed by Becky.

"World Made By Hand" by James Howard Kunstler

World Made By Hand takes place in our country's near future, but you won't recognize it. The United States has fallen apart. The electricity comes on sporadically, but the only person on television is a ranting preacher. There may or may not be a president in Minnesota, but no one remembers voting for him. For Robert, a software executive turned carpenter, the world is the small town of Union Grove; everything beyond its borders is built from speculation. Those who survived flu epidemics and other disasters have learned to be self-sufficient and must now grow their own food. This new world looks very much like 19th century America, and the daily routines reminded me of Little House on the Prairie.

There is the looming threat of violence from a gang of “former motorheads, greasers, bikers, and quasi-criminals.” While the novel is most noticeably post-apocalyptic, the plot feels very much like a western, in that the town must be protected from a gang of thugs in a lawless territory.

With the economy down, two wars, and seemingly endless debate over climate change and divisive moral issues, books that depict a world where our worst fears are realized have a strong emotional hook. A loss of oil is the culprit in this novel, or at least the final tipping point. When reading post-apocalyptic fiction, I always want to know: what doesn't survive? Besides our modern conveniences, what cherished ideals also become unaffordable luxuries?

While still containing death and loss, World Made By Hand is an easier, less bleak read than The Road by Cormac McCarthy, which I thought of several times while reading. The writing may not be as strong, but there is ultimately a sense of hope that these characters will not only survive, but actually build a new life in this world.

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Reviewed by David Hill

You Know When the Men Are Gone

Siobhan Fallon's short story collection offers a glimpse into a world few civilians will ever experience: Fort Hood, TX. Fort Hood is a massive military post where sons/husbands/fathers pack their weapons, gear and hearts to leave for deployments of a year or more What is left behind are the sisters/wives/mothers with broken-hearts, feelings of helplessness and no choice but to move on. What is left behind are families that must learn to function without a integral piece of their puzzle.

Each of the Fallon's stories describes a different spouse or family coping with such a prolonged absence. While each story is different, somehow they are all the same. The wife and mother that has battled breast cancer only to face her biggest fight at home; the teenage bride with deep regrets; the young mother unsure of herself; the Serbian wife who speaks little English, but seeks huge freedoms and more. Each deals with the stress and loneliness of her loved one's deployment in her own way. Some seek isolation by choosing to live off base or completely cut the ties and move back home with the stability of family. Others embrace the camaraderie and support of other Army wives and seem to form replacement families for the time being.

This might be a work of fiction, but Fallon's work is remarkably real and written in such a voice that one feels as though he or she is walking that dusty roads of Ft. Hood, shopping in the aisles of the PX or sitting in on the weekly Family Readiness Group (FRG) meetings. Fallon's personal experience as a military wife allows her to write in such a way that each reader will be easily enthralled by her character's stories. Whether you've experienced the life of a family member with a deployed son/husband/father or you simply enjoy contemporary literature that tugs at your heart strings, You Know When the Men Are Gone is an excellent choice for a quick read of well written short stories.