Book Review: Eating The Cheshire Cat by Helen Ellis

(Source)

Eating The Cheshire Cat
by Helen Ellis

Release: February 13, 2001
Author Info: Website
Publisher: Scribner
Age Group: Young Adult/Adult
Source: Bought (Thrifted $.25)

"Eating the Cheshire Cat" lures us into a world of perfectly planned parties and steep social ladders, where traditional rites of passage take unpredictable and horrifying turns as three girls and their overbearing mothers collide. In Tuscaloosa, Alabama, beauty is as beauty does, with axes and knives and killer smiles. Sarina Summers and her mother will stop at nothing to have it all. Nicole Hicks harbors a fierce obsession with Sarina, which repeatedly undermines Mrs. Hicks's ambitious goals. Bitty Jack Carlson, a nice girl from the wrong side of the tracks, is caught in the crossfire but struggles to succeed outside the confines of this outrageous yet eerily familiar Southern community. It's survival of the fittest. Which girl will come out on top?

Covering everything from summer camp to the University of Alabama's Homecoming game, this fast-paced and unforgettable novel will keep readers guessing until the bitter end. (Source)

Warning: Mild Spoilers!

Apparently, the subject and style of this book is meant to be dark humour. Whereas I, didn't find it funny. At all.

I had almost no idea what I was walking into starting this book, if I had known, I wouldn't have ever picked it up. All I knew was the story was about three girls that unexpectedly cross paths throughout their lives, each time having more effect on them than the last.
There is so much more to it than that; webs of lies, deceit, trauma, mental illness, obsession, harassment, bullying.
I found this story in a simple phrase to sum up my opinion "Seriously messed up". This book was difficult for me to read, not the book it's self (under 300 pages, took me two sittings), but the issues and situations that were addressed and encountered; most of all, how they were dealt with.


This is a changing narrative book, between three characters; Sarina, Nicole, and Bitty Jack. Each section of the book, 3 total (Through the Looking Glass, Down the Rabbit Hole, and Off With Her Head), serve as a sort of time lapse and the level of seriousness as to what issues the girls have in their lives. (Starting with middle school, high school, and finally college which starts to look into their futures.) From kids, to teens, and finally "(young) adults".

Each time we meet the characters time has passed. Starting at 16 with Sarina, and flashing back to the age of 13, back to 16, from there ages start to blur and school is used as a sort of age gauge. 10 grade, first year of college, second year of college, occasionally playing catch-up to fill in some blanks. Finally the book ends around the 3rd year of college.

Sarina is always the #1 it girl. Miss Popular, Miss Cool, Miss Everyone-else-falls-in-line-behind-her.
Top of the food chain, perfect, perfect, perfect! Sadly only her image is perfect. (Of course) Her personal life is beyond messed up, always plotting, always scheming, always out to turn things into her favour. She will do what she has to, lie, cheat, and manipulate; for what she wants. She is pure evil, if you can even imagine.
But at the same time, I feel bad her, in a twisted way. Most of what she does and thinks, was taught. Thanks to her jaded mother and her failed marriage, and living her life for what she wants, regardless of who she hurts to get it, including herself
What she does, is all she knows. It's all about getting what she wants and living with the thrill of achieving the results, however short lived they might be.

Nicole is Sarina's #2, always. Nicole mother is beyond controlling, always pushing her to be the best, try harder, be better. To the point she completely smothers her daughter. To the point her daughter fails in most areas of her life just to prove her mother wrong. "Push me all you want, but I still control the outcome" even if it ultimately makes her more miserable.
Nicole is crazy about Sarina, while through most of the book it's unsure if she see Sarina as 'more than a friend' but over time the issue becomes addressed. Throughout most of the book, she just adore Sarina, to the point of obsession.
She wants nothing more than to be there for her. To be the one Sarina trusts with everything, to tell everything, to do everything with her. To have someone in her life that cares for her just the way she is, without trying to change or control her. That just wants her in their life.
Once again, in a twisted way, I feel bad for her as well.

Bitty Jack, the daughter from a low-income family in a small 'never heard of it' town. They live and work on a summer camp site where do to their work and living arrangements (able to live on site if they become care-takers of the place) Bitty Jack used to attend as a kid and eventually becomes a counselor during the summer season.
Out of all the girl Bitty Jack as the best grasp on reality and how to work for what you want, not cheat, lie, or steal to get it. Nothing has been handed to her. She understands you can only accomplish through hard work, and while life isn't always easy, it's better to go through it with a bright outlook and positive attitude.
However she sadly crosses paths with Sarina more than a few times, who continues to cause havoc on her life and threats to tear their lives apart. Over time there are negative changes and actions from Bitty Jack as a result of her not-so-easy life.

Each one of them is selfish to a fault. At the end of the day, out for themselves.
While this isn't true for Bitty Jack, life and situations sometimes force her into a corner, and she makes a few horrible decisions, more than once.


All in all this book is just... twisted. At the same time it's like a train-wreck, I couldn't stop reading it to see what would happen.

I can not recommend this book. I can't. I can't even tell you the level of "What the.." I have towards this book.
Which I apologize, is why the "review" is fairly short. (Although it's more like a detailed synopsis, I couldn't find much else to say or explain without entirely ruining the book.)

Recommend: Not recommended, unless you really enjoy what's apparently meant to be 'dark humour' and extreme teen social issues along with questionable mental state.

Shelfari | Goodreads

Summer Reading: What's on your list?

(Source)

Hey everyone, I know I missed the official first week of summer, but that's okay! (The first day of summer being June 20th.) As summer is still here and not going anywhere, I think all is fine.

Like most people, come summer time I decided to make myself a few summer goals. One of those, being a summer reading list! sadly I only came up with a few things I really wanted to read. I'm hoping to get some more recommendations or find something I really want to read.

Summer Reading List (No order)

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

My list is actually very short, it's kind of embarrassing. Considering I've already read half of it.
That said, am looking for some recommendations!

Any books out there you think I should give a read?
I'm looking for 2-4 more, at least! I'm hoping to add some more YA to the list but not too many.

What are you guys planning to read? Do you have a reading list or just read what catches your eye/interest?

Extras: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

(Source)

With my specific "Now a Major Motion Picture"copy of The Help by Kathryn Stockett (See image source link!) there are two extras in the back. Whereas I'm not entirely sure what other version these are included in.
I wanted to share my opinion of them and hopefully spark more thought on the story, maybe some dialogue between readers.

There is an essay by Kathryn Stockett and "Reading Group Guide".

The essay is titled "Too Little, Too Late Kathryn Stockett in her words".The essay tells of her personal life, but mostly of her relationship with her own maid, Demetrie.

Personally, I love little added tidbits of information about someone. Even more so, if it's about their private life, I feel it really fleshes them out as a human being, rather than the person we have set in our minds, that is mostly a name attached to what they've done.
Finding out something personal about them, makes you realize they're just as human as everyone else. Especially if they are willingly sharing it.

The funny thing is, most of what I said in my personal note on the actual review for The Help was said by Kathryn Stockett, herself.
She admitted to having the difficultly of trying to imagine what it much have been like to a black, female, domestic worker in the 60s.  How much she fought with herself about trying to be a voice for these women and their views. While also trying to show the complex relationships and lives of everyone involved.
How embarrassed and ashamed she was for being the topic up because she was taught not to discuss such things, but that they do exist. Trying to sweep them under the table just because you don't think it's appropriate, doesn't make the issue go away. Although some people don't believe or even realize there is an issue.

She talked about her life, her maid, and their relationship. Only to realize how important and special it was after it was gone. How her view of the world, and her life, changed as she grew up. How naive and immature she had been, although maybe based on the time and the South.
While the book is dedicated to her grandfather, she said Demetrie is the reason she wrote the book. For the conversations she never got to have, the things that were never said, and the relationship she wouldn't realize she'd miss. For never asking her about her life and how she felt.

It's only a few pages longs but worth the read.

Reading Group Guide

SPOILERS! 

For those who have not read The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

What followers are discussion questions about the book. Meaning, they are filled with spoilers and an open discussion of the book, it's characters, and events.

Book Review: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

(Source)

The Help
by Kathryn Stockett

Release: February 10, 2009
Author Info: Website
Publisher: Penguin Books
Age Group: Adult
Source: Bought (Thrifted $.50! Featured)

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women - mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends - view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't. (Source)

Excuse me while I make a few notes. People have had many things to say on the topics of this book, both in the intentions of good and bad. I'd rather say what I have to, and be done with it. You can skip down to the review if you'd like, but I can't bear to cut out my personal opinions on the issues of the book and the topics addressed within the story.

Notice: Given the fact there is a movie based on this book, I intend to stay as far away from the topic of those differences and my preferences. This is strictly a book review.

Warning: This book does have quite a bit of language and deals with the topic of race during a time of segregation in the South during the 1960s.
Frequent usage of the N-word and some adult situations.

I recommend for 18+.

Personal Note: I know there are people that feel a story such as this is nothing but fluff, hiding behind or using topics such as the ones touched on in this book as a way to write something 'greater' than they might have produced on their own. Using 'controversial' issues as a way to make their stories more important and launch them into a more serious sort of spotlight. Personally, I think that's a bunch of bull. Someone's going to do it no matter what you think or say, the issues are there, the topics will be discussed, get over the possibility of judging someone for it, and judge the product of it. Which at the end of the day is the point, they aren't telling you what opinion to have, they are merely presenting the idea.

The idea of African-American domestic house-workers in the early 60s, and their view of things. It may not be 100% accurate, but I feel presenting the idea and possibility is what brings this story attention. And it should, what were things like back then, how did African-American women live, what did they think of the world, they family they worked for, and the children they cared for? The world was beginning to change, and they were in the middle of it all, living most of their lives (working) in a white household.

I find stories such as these interesting, because of how I've been raised. Let me briefly explain.. I'm from California, where my both of my parents were born and raised, issues such as a race where never an issues even in my parents lives. It was something I never witnessed until I was 5 and had moved to Tennessee. Moving to the South at an early age was a culture shock for me, going from never judging anyone to having everyone judge everyone else, from the colour of their skin, to what accent they had, their native language, to what church you went to (which was never the right one). I spent almost 18 years of my life there.. I can't believe the way some people think and still live. But some people do, it's sad and appalling. /end

Hopefully I didn't bore everyone to death, with that out of the way, let's begin our review!

This book uses the changing of narrative, which is an amazing literary tool when used correctly. While fairly common I feel it takes a very good writer to pull it off well, Kathryn Stockett did more that than; this is by far one of the best changing narrative books I've ever read. I always find the concept interesting, reading from more than one character perspective, however I rarely enjoy it. I can't imagine this book written any other way.
What I appreciate most was, the lack of repeating situations over in different narratives that often, because it does happen. There was also very brief moments of playing 'catch up' between characters to get them up to speed, but it never took long or dragged. Whenever mentioned it added to the situation and what information was being shared.

Let's talk about the characters because they are each different and you see from each of their views, I'll try to avoid saying too much as the summary introduced them decently.

There's Aibileen who is wasting her life away because she sees no other means to providing for herself.
When she's introduce she's beginning to come to the end of her rope, working as a maid all of her life. She specialize in babies, until they start going to school and becoming more like their mothers/fathers. At that point she moves on because she can't stand to see everything she's taught them be over-turned by a women that hasn't paid them any attention or taught them until it's time to 'correct' what they've learned and know about the world.
Aibileen is a fairly quiet, calm, level-headed, loving character. Always ready to give some words of wisdom or bring some reason to the chaos. She put a lot of value into teaching children to feel good about themselves, along with overtime learning she can teach them things about the world before the roles of race begin to set in.

Minny is.. a sass-mouth. She's known for saying what's on her mind and finding herself without a job because of it. At the beginning of the story she crosses paths with Miss Hilly, the ring-leader of anyone-who's-anyone in Jackson, by working for her mother, Miss Walters, who's starting to lose her mind a little (probably more than that..). Hilly sets her up to be out of a job, in planning on taking Minny for herself, as she's known as the best cook in Jackson and Hilly has to have her. Only, everything falls apart and Minny does indeed find herself without a job, and on the wrong side of the worse possible person in Jackson, Miss Hilly.
At home she's got 5 kids, two of who are already old enough to work (and doing so) and an alcoholic husband who is border-line abusive, and only getting worse with time.
She's stuck between a rock and a hard place, putting on a tough act trying to keep her life together, with only Aibileen who sees through her and knows how bad things are.

Miss Skeeter, is that different breed of women that didn't go off to college for her "Mrs." She went to school for an education and a chance to make something of herself in the world, only to find herself back in Jackson, back on her parents farm, and not knowing who the women in Jackson are anymore, especially the ones that used to be her friends. She finds herself no longer able to relate or even enjoy speaking to her old friends, who are more concerned about being married, having babies, and keeping their help in line.
Skeeter dreams of being a writer and gets her chance when someone for a publishing company in New York gives her the time of day, to write her a letter that starts communication on what she needs to do in order to be 'a writer'.

I felt the flow of the characters and their differences worked. There's friction, that never quite boils over, and conflict that is met with reasoning as time goes on. For the most part Miss Skeeter and Aibileen get along, it's Minny that's the problem. Trusting no one, wanting no on in her life, but feels she has to look out for Aibileen, even if she won't admit it.
At the end of the day Aibileen and Minny only have each other to rely on, they know all their worried, dreams, and concerns, they know how to balance each other, even though their personalities are so different. Aibileen knows the times to wave Minny off and when to calm her down, Minny knows when to act up and when to quietly watch. Adding Miss Skeeter to the mix is found to create tension at first, although over time it begins to fade as Minny warms to her. Again, even if she'll never admit it.

What I enjoyed the most, was the differences in the people in Jackson, from the workers to their employers. How you learn more about a person when you talk to their help. Everyone in Jackson has an imagine and reputation to maintain, you don't get close to your help or people see you a 'sympathizer' (to put it simply). That doesn't stop people from treating their help better than some and worse then others.

This book is about there being more to the world and what it holds, most of all when it hasn't been talked about. Things happen, even if no one says anything. How you're raised does effect you, but it doesn't decide who you are or how you see the world.

The few downsides I have to state are the speed of the book. There are moments, around the middle, that the story sort of lulls, waiting on someone or something to set everything back in motion. Going through the characters everyday lives, while interesting, I felt like I was waiting on the main plot line to pick back up.
Along with the passing of time jumping around without being mentioned that often. One side character announces she's expecting, only to be 6-7 months along the next time we see her, followed by a few months after giving birth.


I suppose that's what I like about this book, while the location and the time you assume how things are going to be, after reading you find that things aren't always as they appear. There are people and their families that are different from the rest, that care for their help and treat them better than is ever discussed.
(Anybody that knows anything knows Mississippi was one of the worst places to be African-American during segregation. Although it's not like there was much of a safe place in the South during that time.)

Recommend: Issues of race, segregation, personal stories, drama.

Shelfari | Goodreads

(FTW) Finds This Week: #2

Finds This Week: #2

 

"Deals, FTW!"

 

This is my version of all those "weekly haul" memes. (More Information)

This last week I did some more thrift shopping, while in search of household items and furniture, among those I hit two thrift stores and Target, and found a few things to add to my collections.