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.

Nowhere Man - John M Green

Nowhere Man
John M Green
Pantera Pres

PJ O’Rourke describes Green as ‘Just like Michael Crichton… only better.’ After reading this part thriller, part science fiction novel, I can only assume O’Rourke wrote such a glowing review because he was a) drunk, b) bribed by a wad of cash or c) had a momentary absence of his senses. As for the brilliant novelist Michael Crichton, I feel hugely affronted on his behalf to have his talents compared to Green.
Sonya (and no I don’t know what her surname is because the author in his wisdom does not bother to mention it when we, the reader, first meet her. In fact as one astute "fan" told me, you have to turn to page 31 to learn it's 'Wheen') arrives back after her morning run to discover her husband Michael is missing. Suspecting foul play, she sets out to investigate his disappearance. Sonya, the red lipstick wearing, motorbike riding, sexy, University professor(no cliché was spared when it comes to our heroine) comes across a computer software game that accurately predicts the future of the stock market. Which brings us to the only interesting (and surprisingly well written) part of the book. Using the software, Sonya successfully rides through the stock market crash, saving her house from the clutches of the big bad bankers before they foreclose on her.

Does Sonya finally solve the riddle of her husband’s disappearance? Personally, I could not endure the torture long enough to find out. The story told with excruciating clumsiness is a long yawn stretching over far too many pages. What I would like to know however is how the editor could do such a disservice to the author, the publisher and the reading public by allowing such a clumsy work released into the market. 1 star – for effort!

The book Of Emmett - Deborah Forster

The Book of Emmett
Deborah Forster
Vintage
Praise to first time novelist Helen Forster for her sublime portrayal of this Australian suburban family. Growing up in the outskirts of Melbourne Louisa Brown and her siblings endure the daily onslaught of their father’s alcohol fueled rage. Years later, the family gathers for Emmett Brown’s funeral, reflect on their lives and the effects of the long shadow cast by their father.
The Book of Emmet arrived in my hands like a breath of fresh air. Forster’s symmetry and artistry to string words into prose is a pure delight to read. As a writer reading this book, Forster’s talent is nothing short of magic. Retracing the pages, I re-read passages, and underlined so many sentences, no page was intact. I love Forster’s delivery, subtle and effortless in its execution. At no time did the writing feel forced or pretentious.
It’s a privilege to come across such a wonderfully crafted work. It gives me an added pleasure that Forster is Australian and that I, a bookseller, can press this jewel like a cherished gift in to the hands of my customers with the words ‘You’re going to love it.’ And mean it. 5 stars.

The Delta - Tony Park

Tony Park’s compelling tale is the latest action packed thriller set in the beautifully unique yet troubled African continent. Set in Botswana’s Okavango Delta and the neighbouring Namibia, Delta is inspired by real life rebellions and the looming prospect of future wars over climate change and dwindling water resources.

The heroine Sonja Kurtz - an ex-soldier turned mercenary – is on the run after a failed assassination attempt on Zimbabwe’s president. Hoping to start afresh, Sonja takes refuge in the Okavango Delta. Instead of respite however, she finds herself again in the eye of the storm fighting alongside rebellions to destroy the dam that’s threatening the delta’s fragile eco-system.

Since 1995, Park and his wife have spent an average of six months a year in Africa, traveling and researching topics for his novels. Delta is the meshing together of Park’s love and concern for Africa with his knowledge of years serving the Australian Army Reserve. The result is an environmentally conscious, heart-thumping thriller that grabs the attention of the reader from the opening scene and maintains it till the very last page.

Although the audience for this book is males between 30-50, there is a vulnerability and insecurity beneath Sonja Kurtz’s tough exterior that makes her appealing to the female readers. 4 stars