Category: My Reading List

Book Review: The Help

Thanks to A for choosing such a great book club book! The Help has been on my to-read list for quite a while, but other books kept getting moved to the top of the stack. So glad I finally got to read this one!

Book Review:

The Help

by Kathryn Stockett

The Help is Kathryn Stockett’s debut novel set in the 1960s, about the race relations. The Help follows the lives and stories of three women over the course of a year or two – two “colored” maids and one recent white college graduate, all living in Jackson, Mississippi.

Skeeter comes home from college – the sole woman in her group of friends unmarried and looking for a job, as a journalist. She sets off to anonymously write a book about the colored help – their experiences and feelings about their jobs and their lives. There are happy stories and sad stories. Stories of racism and stories of a kind of friendship. Skeeter’s liberal leanings end up isolating her, putting both herself and the women who are interviewed all put themselves and their families at risk in hope of truth and change.

The Help was enjoyable, the characters likable. The stories told by both Skeeter and the maids evoked a wide range of feelings – a bit of laughter, some sadness and joy.

Grade: A

Book Review: Simply from Scratch

Book Review:

Simply from Scratch

By Alicia Bessette

Simply from Scratch is Alicia Bessette’s debut novel. The main characters is Zell, a widow whose husband died in an accident while on a volunteer trip to help Hurricane Katrina survivors. As Zell struggles to come to terms with her husband’s death, she befriends her 9-year old neighbor, Ingrid. Together, the two enter a Desserts that Warm the Soul baking contest – Zell to win the $20,000 prize to donate to Hurricane Katrina efforts and Ingrid to meet cooking sensation Polly Pinch.

Simply from Scratch was well-written and witty. I enjoyed the creativity (i.e. Zell had “memory smacks” instead of flashbacks; the moments of pirate-speak when she talked to her dog, Captain Ahab) that was mixed into both happy and sad scenes. Bessette created a relatively light read, which was particularly impressive considering the emotional struggles of the main character.

This book was incredibly moving and had a bit of everything – a little romance, some sorrow, funny cooking adventures, lots of friendship and kindness… I laughed and I cried.

Congrats to Alicia Bessette for her first novel! While I’m looking forward to your next novel, friends and family are already fighting for my copy of your first!

 

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Book Review: First Comes Love….

Book Review:

First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria

By Eve Brown-Waite

First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria is a cute story about the author’s years in Ecuador through the Peace Corps and then in Uganda with her former Peace Corps-recruiter-turned-husband through CARE, another non-governmental organization. Brown-Waite detailed – in her funny and slightly sarcastic voice – her short Peace Corps adventure in Ecuador, falling in love with her recruiter back in the States, and their 3 years living in Uganda.

I appreciated Brown-Waite’s manner of storytelling and could see her maturing as the memoir progressed. When the book began, Brown-Waite was in her early 20s, and there were the stories about falling head over heals in love and her idealism about saving the underdeveloped peoples of Ecuador. At this time, Brown-Waite clearly seemed like both a young, silly girl and a bit spoiled. But with age and experience (Ecuador, marriage, schooling, and finally Uganda), Brown-Waite matured substantially.

First Comes Love, then Comes Malaria was a fascinating glimpse into life in a third-world country, the struggles faced, and the interesting contrast between the seemingly elite Western CARE representatives to the native Ugandans.

Recommendation: I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a lighter read, but something much different from most books on the shelves (or at least the ones I’ve come across!).

Grade: B+

Book Review: Garlic and Sapphires

Book Review:

Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise

By Ruth Reichl

Garlic and Sapphires is a quick read about Ruth Reichl’s years as a food critic for the New York Times. Each chapter begins with a one or more personal stories about a food, a restaurant, or her personal life, and goes on to include a recipe or two and a restaurant review.

I enjoyed Reichl’s incredible, elaborate descriptions about the food and her service in the various restaurants. The thing that amazed me was how she seemed to be able to identify almost every flavor in a dish. (As a fellow foodie, I hope to someday know food that well!) It was clear that the good dishes really transported Reichl to another world.

At the same time, Reichl struggled against critics to sample and review all types of food (instead of the traditional high-class French food of the previous critics) and struggled to come up with an honest review – how does the restaurant treat people who are not restaurant critics or wealthy persons? To achieve this latter goal, Reichl created characters to disguise herself, such as her mother or hippie Brenda. Its incredible to think that restaurant service and food depends in part on your appearance and I applaud Reichl for standing up and giving these restaurants poor reviews because of it. These characters also helped Reichl find and better understand herself.

Overall, this was a great book for food-lovers.

Grade: B+

Book Review: Sarah’s Key

Book Review:

Sarah’s Key

By Tatiana de Rosnay

In July 1942, French police gathered thousands of Jews living in Paris and the French countryside at the orders of the occupying Germans, to be deported to the Nazi concentration camps. Sarah’s Key is the story of a young girl who survived Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup – the challenges to her survival and dealing with the awful aftermath of that summer. Sarah’s story is intertwined with that of Julia, an American journalist living in France, researching Vel’ d’Hiv.’ Julia learns of a personal connection to France’s dark spot in history, and becomes increasingly invested in researching the roundups.

Life in France during WWII was something I was unfamiliar with, and therefore enjoyed learning a bit about the country at the time. I found Sarah’s Key well written and easy to read despite the difficult subject. De Rosnay also did a great job depicting the range and the conflicting human emotions, that the 1942 events stirred up, as well as the often conflicting emotions of everyday life (Julia is also going though through some personal crises as she’s researching Vel’ d’Hiv’).

Recommendation: Would highly recommend Sarah’s Key.

Grade: A