The Help - Kathryn Stockett

The Help
Kathryn Stockett
Penguin

Set in Mississippi at the time of the equal rights movement, The Help is a sumptuous tale of courage and determination to right what is wrong.

In Jackson Mississippi, segregation is a way of life. While Martin Luther King marches in Washington, the black Americans living in Jackson, continue to live a life of quiet desperation. The laws ensure the two races do not mix outside of the master-servant relationship. For three women suffering under the laws that defines their lives, the time has come to make a change.

Skeeter, young white daughter of a wealthy plantation family, returns home from graduating college to discover her beloved maid Constantine has left and no one will tell her why.

Aibileen and Minny, two African-American maids working for white families, struggle daily with the humiliation of living in a society entrenched in segregation and governed by laws that offers them no protection.

The three come together under the most unlikely circumstances and agree on a project that threatens the status-quo of the town they live in forever.

Poignant and moving, The help effectively cuts through the outer layers of race and culture to reveal the bare bones of humanity. The characters wonderfully narrated are well rounded and believable. Stockett’s loving tribute to her own maid Demetrie rounded the book nicely, leaving the reader with the resonating message that even though we are each individuals with our own separate consciousness, deep down our hearts still beat to the sound of the same drum. 3.5 stars

White Tiger - Aravind Adiga

White Tiger
Aravind Adiga

Witty and sharply observant, White Tiger is the story of Balram Halwai, one of India’s many poor struggling with the filth and the humiliation that constitutes his daily existence.
Servant to a rich family, Balram narrates his life through a series of emails to a Chinese diplomat, beginning with his childhood raised in the Darkness to a successful entrepreneur with a flourishing business.

Balram’s generous spirit and his battle with his conscious for the act he must commit to free himself is terribly touching. Aware of the dire consequences to his extended family once discovered, Blaram is faced with a difficult decision. It did puzzle me however as to why Balram chooses to narrate his life to a stranger in emails when he’s a wanted man living under a false identity.

White Tiger is an enjoyable and engaging read. Adiga has an unflinching ability to describe the harsh reality of India's poor and her democratic duplicity with an acid tongue and a flowing narrative. I do not feel however that Adiga offers anything new in his observations of the Indian society that previous writers have not already covered. Still, in 2008, White Tiger impressed judges of The Booker Prize to award Adiga the highly prestigious prize. 3 stars

Brooklyn - Colm Toibin

Brooklyn
Colm Toibin
Picador

Toibin has produced a wonderfully sensuous novel that as the cover correctly describes, is quietly magnificent. The story itself is rather unremarkable in its account of a young Irish girl, Eilis Lacey, who moves to America and settles in Brooklyn. Working in a large department store during the day, Eilis aims to better herself by studying bookkeeping classes in the evenings, hoping eventually to find a job in an office. The two years living in Brooklyn have a profound effect on Eilis. Summoned back to Ireland following a tragedy, Eilis is aware the locals treat her differently to the girl who left two years ago.

Brooklyn is tender and loving. For me, the real joy lies in Toibin’s talent to choose and fit words to create passages that have a lingering effect on the reader. I found myself thinking and worrying about the characters, eager to return to them in between reads. It is with great sadness that I finally read – and reread – the last page, not wanting it to end yet feeling privileged that I was part of something truly remarkable. 5 stars

Ghost Watch - David Rollins

Ghost Watch
David Rollins

Rollins returns with another installment of his hugely successful Vin Copper character. Following the death of his longtime partner, Cooper agrees to accompany two American entertainers who are to perform for the troops in a secret location in Rwanda. Flying over the dense jungles of Congo, their chopper suddenly stalls and forced to crash land.

Finding themselves in a hostile land and caught between warring armies fighting for stranglehold on the mineral rich mines, Cooper has a complicated job keeping his principals safe. Things are further complicated when some of the principals are taken captive.

Unapologetically testosterone charged ‘Ghost Watch’ squarely targets the male market. Quick paced with lots of explosions, gunfire, near death missions and double-crossings, its an ideal alternative for fans of Matthew Riley and Chris Ryan. Rollins knows his target market well and delivers a punchy, fun, action packed thriller that will keep his readers churning through the pages. The cheesy one-liners and wisecracks work well with the character and add humour to a highly enjoyable novel. 3.5 stars.