Book Reviews by Victoria Andrew

Book Reviews for West Orlando News
By Victoria Andrew

Hardcover Fiction

The Help by Kathryn Stockett. 451 pages. Amy Einhorn Books/G.P. Putnam’s Sons. $24.95

Skyrocketing to her 45th week on the NY Times Bestseller List, Kathryn Stockett has launched an explosive fiction debut unveiling a heartbreaking yet inspiring portrait of African-American women during the nascent 1960’s civil rights movement in Jackson, Mississippi.

Juxtaposing narratives of three women in the deep south with lyrical dialect that would make Zora Neale Hurston proud, Stockett paints an eye-opening character study capturing unbreakable spirits of African-American maids whose limitations are great, yet whose strength, wisdom, courage are limitless.

Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, a white girl from Mississippi, is home from college in 1962 proudly sporting a diploma. Her mother refers to her degree as a “pretty piece of paper” in an era where societal success for a woman is found through marriage and not a career. Rebelling against pressure to find a husband, Ms. Skeeter fulfills her burning ambition to become a writer. Witnessing inequities in her own hometown, she is inspired to risk everything to pursue a taboo quest of uncovering the truth behind the lives of black maids. Elitist white women of the Jackson country clubs depend upon their maids to run a household and raise their children. Yet, behind closed doors, their “invaluable” hired help are mistrusted, disrespected, and exploited. Fiesty Ms. Skeeter is outraged!

She joins forces with Minny, an outspoken, confident, unapologetic black maid who is often unemployed due to her shameless moments of “mouthing off” to her white employees and Aibileen, a regal, resilient black woman who raises over 17 white children with quiet grace and a dignified aura of wisdom. As different as these three characters may be, they unite in collecting the scathing and often shocking untold stories of black maids, and the humor, hope, and unwavering faith they emanate to survive.

Suffocating in the lines that define their town and their times 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, Ms. Skeeter’s writing project stirs an uprising in a sleepy southern town about to be transformed with a movement to change the way women – of both races – view one another.

Although set in a turbulent time in history, Stockett’s compulsively readable novel instills hope and inspiration. Stirring up riveting discussions on issues of race, discrimination, and the dynamics between white and black women of the south, The Help is sure to remain on the NY Times Bestseller List and as a book club hot title for quite a long time.

Hardcover Non-Fiction

Traveling with Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor. 282 pages. Viking. $25.95.

Sue Monk Kidd has enchanted millions with her bestselling novels, The Secret Life of Bees and The Mermaid Chair, and her acclaimed nonfiction. Now, in this dual memoir, she and her daughter chronicle their odyssey through Greece, France, Turkey, and back home to South Carolina. Ann is a recent college graduate battling depression and an existential crisis over what direction to take her life in, as her mother simultaneously undergoes her own metamorphosis on a physical, creative, spiritual level. In the process of redefining themselves, they rediscover each other.

The thrill and intimacy of global wanderlusting through sacred sites gives voice to the internal struggles and archetypal powers of the mother-daughter connection. In distinctly different yet harmonious voices (both lyrical and introspective), this modern-day Persephone and Demeter tale explores the sacred symbolism, feminine spirituality, and personal meaning found together in sacred sites such as Athens, Eleuis, Paris, and Rocamadour.

For fans of Kidd’s momentous novel, The Secret Life of Bees, this beautiful travelogue will prove to also be stimulating, as she unveils the creative process behind her novels. During her travels with Ann, she crafts a personal religion melded from a cult of Mary, classical mythology, and ancient goddesses. Readers will delight in recognizing this is the same unique Mary/Goddess worship found in her smashing hit novels.

Although Taylor’s writing style pales in comparison to the complex examination of the interrelationships of myth and life within her mother’s fiction, she is a strong new voice capable of capturing your heart. For those hankering for a rhapsodic Mediterranean, mother-daughter odyssey, Traveling With Pomegranates will be sure to satiate readers on many levels.

Children’s Literature

Cloud Tea Monkeys by Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham, illustrated by Juan Wijngaard. 56 pages. Candlewick. $15.99. Picture Book, Ages 4 and up.

A richly illustrated children’s book inspired by ancient Chinese legends of tea-picking monkeys comes to radiant life in the hands of Carnegie Medal-winner, Peet and Graham; illustrated by Greenaway Medalist, Wijngaard. The author’s vivid powers of description draw the curtain and set the stage:“The sun had not yet found a way through the mountains, but it was coming; a light the color of lemons was soaking into the sky and painting out the stars.”

A tiny yet resilient little girl named Tashi lives in a village at the foot of the mountains. Every day, as her mother works in the tea fields, Tashi surreptitiously saunters away to play and share her lunch with the wild, mountain monkeys. Her life is carefree until her mother suddenly falls ill. As Tashi intrepidly tries her best to pick tea to earn money for a doctor, she discovers life isn’t easy. She is far too little to harvest the tender shoots, which enrages the mean Overseer. Despite her valiant efforts, Tashi flounders in frustration and despair until something extraordinary occurs.

The monkeys witness her sorrow and despair. With love in their hearts for their little friend, they conjure a plot to save her mother and to help her afford a doctor by disappearing into the cloudy Himalayan peaks. They return with a rare “cloud tea” and visit from the Royal Tea Taster, who presents to Tashi a challenge promising a magical, life-changing reward.

Winjngaard’s comical illustrations capture every nuance of the compassionate monkeys, mockery of the cruel Overseer, flamboyant renderings of the self-important Tea Taster, and an enigmatic empress. Unique and inspiring, the tale presents the karmic rewards of kindness and one little girl’s determination.