As usual, I’ve started 2024 with my yearly Goodreads reading goal of 100 books! Maybe this year I’ll be successful. It’s unlikely that I’ll be successful (I have never once been successful since I started setting this same goal in 2014).
I didn’t read a lot in January, but I did read two books that had been on my bookshelf for literal years. I moved home a year ago, in with my partner, and we do not have the space for books – I have just one singular three-story trolley, which is overflowing, and I have made the agreement that I will read all of them within the year so that I can donate them to charity shops, and read either solely on my Kindle, or books I have checked out from the library.
The two I picked off my trolley for January were The Help, by Kathryn Stockett, and The Way Back, by Sophie Tate.
The Help – synopsis taken from Goodreads.
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.
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.
I absolutely loved the film version of this novel, when it came out in 2011. I think we all resonated with that one scene – keep scrolling if you need a reminder – and I actually think reading it versus seeing it on screen was so much better; the way it was mentioned repeatedly within the narrative helped give depth to the character beyond her POV chapters.
I didn’t read previous reviews before finishing this novel, and I am glad that I didn’t. I know I can never be in a relatable position to these characters, nor with the history and views of the time, and I felt that that was what a majority of the reviews focussed on. And whilst historical accuracy is of course important, particularly for fiction that is spinning a narrative from such a tumultuous time period, it’s not the most important thing. What was more important to me was the character depth, story line, and the writing style. All three of which I enjoyed in Stockett’s work.
In the end, I gave this book 5/5 stars on Goodreads.
The Way Back – synopsis taken from Goodreads
After being missing for two years, Gracie returns home with no memory of what has happened, where she’s been or her life before she left. With old memories and unfinished business, some of the people in Gracie’s life don’t quite believe her story. The truth differs through each pair of eyes and perspective is everything. But who’s truth is the right one?
Decide for yourself but remember, the damsel can’t always be in distress and anyone can be the villain in someone else’s story…
I remember when Sophie published this book, not long after we both finished studying our MA in Publishing – and I can’t believe how many years between then and now that it has taken me to finally get around to reading it!
I felt like this was such an ambitious plot for a debut novel, diving into very complex themes. We get to see the same sequence of events through the five main character’s perspectives – a narrative style that really reminded me of the film Vantage Point. It was obvious a lot of thought went into the plot of Tate’s novel, and each character was unique and important to the narrative.
This novel definitely could have done with another round of proofreading, as there were a few spelling mistakes and what felt like ‘who’s Dwigt?’ at one point, near the end of the novel.
I’m looking forward to reading the sequel, despite only giving the book 3/5 stars on Goodreads.
If you have any suggested reads, get in touch!
Paige Briscoe 