Book Review: Christy by Catherine Marshall

In the year 1912, nineteen-year-old Christy Huddleston leaves home to teach school in the Smoky Mountains -- and comes to know and love the resilient people of the region, with their fierce pride, their dark superstitions, their terrible poverty, and their yearning for beauty and truth. But her faith will be severely challenged by trial and tragedy, by the needs and unique strengths of two remarkable young men, and by a heart torn between true love and unwavering devotion.

Our Thoughts...

This book sounded intriguing when I picked it up off the library bookshelf. Being very familiar with the Christy movies, I decided to read this slightly bigger read. I had vague memories of the stars and remembering how good this story really is. It is a novel about a young girl who tries to find out who she really is and what she stands for, while teaching in a poverty filled town. She learns a great number of lessons that help her mature and some very wise leaders who encourage her in her walk with Christ. 

Christy, the main character, is a normal average young woman who makes a quick choice to teach in the Smoky mountains after hearing a heartfelt speech from a missionary who founded this organizatin. She goes to escape her boring life and be out on her own as an adult, but was spiritually weak and immature. I loved her character throughout the book, she was a tough lady who is so inspirational to other girls and who wanted to do what was best for everyone. She was open-minded and appreciated her leaders. She seemed to jump off of the page and come alive, she was just so easy to relate to. The book also consists of a love story, two men who help Christy along as the new schoolteacher. I remembered from the movie David Grantland who is the minister of the town church, young and caring. But as I discovered who David was like in the book, my thoughts changed. He was too arrogant and self-centered, almost becoming the antagonist at times. His faith was crumbling beneath his feet and sought out Christy to answer his big questions. He seemed to have been lead in the wrong direction, a path that he took probably because he had to. He came off too negative in the end for me to like him. Instead I was basically forced to look to the other man who loved Christy, Neill McNeill. He is the town's physician, and has a dark, hidden past. He's older and not as good looking as David but like Christy, you start to like him a little and respect his ways of thinking. He is probably the wisest leader who is patient and also extremely stubborn at times. These main characters just grow on you, their depth is amazing and they are not the kind of shallow heroines in todays teen reads. 

The folks in the Smoky mountains that Christy becomes friends with have a stubborn way of thinking like their ancestors. Fights happen and the peope at first seem like monsters. But inside they have deep emotions and actually care, even though they don't like change. I loved the part when Christy becomes friends with one of the young ladies and discovers their meaning of beauty. They are content with what they have and seem to see things like nature different every day, as if they have just seen it for the first time. Their friendship is true and you can't help but cry about how they love everything that has been freely given to them.

I loved the spiritual aspect of the book, others commented that Catherine Marshall was at times, too preachy, but Christians love reading about big questions that the characters have and find answers to. Some of the questions are very alike to questions teens ask today, most about asking God why they are placed in difficult and crazy situations. This read has fresh insight too and you understand and appreciate what the characters go through in the text. They all have numerous flaws, but you admire them because they push through and try to choose the right way, something that we all want to do. I absolutely adored this read, there is also a copy in the school's library if you'd like to read this fantastic book and perhaps see the movie after! 

-ShewolfLia17

The Help Journal 2 by Kathryn Stockett

Here is journal two of the Help. Feel free to comment below your thoughts and enjoy!

The Help Journal 2

Overview (chapters 11-24)

-Skeeter interviews Aibileen for the book for the first time. It doesn't work out well

-Aibileen writes out her story and gives it to Skeeter

-Skeeter mails Aibileen's interview to Miss Stein

-Miss Stein gives Skeeter the thumbs up to write her book

-Minny agrees to have Skeeter interview her

-Minny get's interviewed

-Stuart comes to apologize to Skeeter, and after blowing him off, she reconsiders and they go on a successful date

-Skeeter finds a book about the law separating blacks and whites

-Hilly finds Skeeter's book of laws

-Medgar Evers, a well-known black man, is shot by the KKK in Minny and Aibileen's neighborhood

-Minny finds Miss Celia drinking what she thinks is alcohol in the "creepy bedrooms"

-Miss Celia has a miscarriage for the fourth time

-Yule May goes to jail for stealing Miss Hilly's silver to get her boys to college

-11 maids agree to be interviewed by Skeeter. This was Minny's doings

-Skeeter visits Stuart's parents house with her family in tow

-Skeeter and Stuart get into a fight and decide to take a break

-Skeeter makes sure Miss Hilly gets around 30 old toilets dumped in her yard by messing up a word when she prints the Home Help Sanitation Initiative in the League paper

-Miss Celia buys tickets for the Banquet 

-Miss Celia beats up a naked white man to save Minny outside her 
house

-Miss Celia gets ready for the Banquet, but she will get made fun of

Reading Response

I am pleased by how Skeeter's character has developed in the middle of the book. It seems that risk brings out the depth to Miss Skeeter personality. I like how now she sees what the maids see. She notices little things Miss Hilly and Miss Leffolt do with the maids that she did not before. She notices how Hilly raises her voice 3 octaves higher when she talks to the help. Skeeter is suspicious of anything they do now that she knows how they treat their help. I am now sure that Skeeter and Stuart are not meant to be together. I felt bad for Stuart when he came back to apologize to Skeeter, but when i learned about Patricia I knew that he was not ready to date Skeeter. I also did not like the aura surrounding his family when Skeeter visited. They seemed very uncomfortable. A part that disturbed me was Miss Celia's miscarriage. It was very graphic, a little too much. I would have gotten the point without all the detail. I was also disappointed that  that was the big mystery surrounding Miss Celia. However, I definitely was not expecting her to be able to beat up the naked man outside her house! That was the biggest surprise in the middle of the book! I am so pleased for Skeeter that she finally has enough maids to finish her book, and I'm excited and nervous to see how that plays out. It's obvious how much Skeeter is learning in this process, as well as how much the maids really do like pouring out their stories. I am glad Hilly only saw the law book in Skeeter's satchel when she left it at the bridge game. However, I have a bad feeling about what Miss Hilly now thinks of Skeeter. I hope she doesn't blow the whole thing up!

Discussion Generator

1. Why do you think Aibileen feels more comfortable writing her life story for Skeeter rather than telling her?

2. Do you think Skeeter and Stuart are meant for each other? 

3. What are the reasons for Miss Hilly's anger towards Miss Celia?

Aibileen shares with Miss Skeeter that she writes down her prayers to God. Sometimes she writes for one or two hours each day. Apparently, Aibileen's prayers are special. Whoever she prays for gets healed, helped, or saved. I think for this reason she is more comfortable writing down her life story for Skeeter. Even though Skeeter is upset that it is Aibileen who is doing most of the writing and she is only editing, I believe that is it helping Aibileen. It must be therapeutic to write out your life story. At first, Miss Skeeter tried to talk Aibileen out of writing out her stories. "Writings not that easy. And you wouldn't have time for this anyways, Aibileen, not with a full time job." But Aibileen was persisntent. Miss Stein in New York says she likes the writing of Sarah Ross, the name Aibileen chose for herself in her story. She must be a fantastic writer!

Significant Passages

"These is white rules. I don't know which ones you following and which ones you ain't."

page 180 paragraph 3

Miss Skeeter has been interviewing Aibileen for her book. Aibileen has decided to write down and read it to Skeeter, she feels it's easier for her that way. When Skeeter and Aibileen come to agreement on this, everything is sailing fairly smoothly. At one of their sessions, Aibileen tells Skeeter, "I's thinking I ought to do some reading. Might help me with my own writing." Skeeter tells her to go down to the State Library, but Aibileen explains how colored folks are not aloud in there. Skeeter says, "I'll be glad to pick the books up for you." Aibileen gets her a list, including To Kill A Mockingbird, The Souls of Black Folk, Poems by Emily Dickinson, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Skeeter gets the nerve to ask, "Aibileen how long have you been wanting to ask me this? If I'd check these books out for you?". Aibileen replies, "A while. Guess I's was afraid to mention it. "Did you think I'd day no?" "These is white rules. I don't know which ones you following and which ones you ain't. 

This passage is important because it shows that Aibileen is relaxing around Miss Skeeter, and finally realizing she is different from the other white ladies. Aibileen feels comfortable enough if she asks Skeeter for this favor. A friendship is on the horizon. 

2. "Fact, a white lady might do worse."

page 301 paragraph 4

Skeeter has finally gotten enough ladies to interview to finish the book. It took Yule May's being in jail and a little prodding from Minny to get them volunteering. On this night, Skeeter is interviewing a shy lady named Winnie in Aibileen's home. Winnie asks Aibileen what would happen if people find out about them. She goes on to tell a story of her husband's cousin who got her tongue taken out for talking about the Klan. She worries that that might happen to her if she gets found out. Skeeter tries to reassure her that they are being extremeley careful, but it comes out thin and un-convincing. Aibileen says, "We won't know till the time comes, Winnie. Won't be like you see on the news though. A white lady do things different than a white man." Winnie replies, "Naw I reckon not. Fact, a white lady might do worse."

This passage is important because it really shows how dangerous 
the interviews are. If they get caught, they will be reported. A white lady would press charges. She would make sure anywhere you went you were haunted by a bad reputation. She would get the food taken off your table, and your kids out of the school system. She would cause accidents and horrors. A white man might take a gun and shoot you, but a white lady would do the same, without any blood shed. They like to keep their hands clean.                                                                  

3. "You one of em to. All the babies I tend to, I count as my own."

page 335 paragraph 3

Mae Mobley is finally three years old. It's her birthday, and even though her momma does not care enough to be around on the first birthday she'll remember, Aibileen is there from the second she wakes up. Aibileen has made her her favorite cake, straweberry. She's gotten a big doll, the one she wanted. While she's eating her cake she asks Aibileen, "Do you have some babies?" Aibileen laughs, "I got seventeen of em." Mae Mobley does not know how to count that high yet, but she knows this is a big number. "Where are the babies?" "All over town. All the babies I done looked after." Mae Mobley is trying hard to figure out how this could be possible. Finally Aibileen give her a little explanation, "You one of em to. All the babies I tend to, I count as my own."

This passage may not be the most important in the storyline of the book, but I think it tells so much about Aibileen. Aibileen is portrayed as a wise, older, mother type character. Her love for her deceased child, Treelore, is mentioned many times in the book. 
What strikes me as so loving is that she calls each child she has looked after her own. Even when they're older now, no longer blind to colors, she still calls them one of her own children. I think this shows just how big a heart she has and how much love and wisdom she has to go around. 

Real World Application 

In this section of the story, Minny gets beaten up by her husband, Leroy. She has big cuts and bruises. When she goes into work, she tries to tell Miss Celia it's from slipping in the bath rub, but Miss Celia knows its something else. Minny is used to being beaten by Leroy, but she knows it's because he's usually drunk. This time, he was drop dead sober. In reality people in this day and age still get beaten. It's a sad tragedy that even in this day and age we still do not treat the people we love with respect. 

-ShewolfLia17

Book Journal: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Over the next two weeks, we will be posting a series of journals on the Help by Kathryn Stockett. These journals will include an overview, a reading response, a discussion generator, significant passages, and a real world application. These have been written by a close friend of mine, I thank her for her permission to put this on the site. Enjoy these wonderful insights and a mixed variety other than book reviews!

The Help, Journal 1
Overview (chapters 1-10)

-Aibileen introduces Mae Mobley
-Ladies at Bridge Club are introduced
-Miss Hilly talks about Home Help Sanitation Initiative
-Miss Skeeter asks Aibileen if she wishs, "...you could ever change things?"
-Aibileen warns Minny that Miss Hilly is out to get her
-Miss Walter gets sent to the nursing home, Minny needs another job
-Miss Hilly tells the town Minny stole a candelabra from Miss Walters
-Miss Leefolt builds Aibileen her own colored bathroom
-Minny gets a job working for Miss Celia
-Miss Skeeter starts talking from her point of view and is described in detail
-Miss Skeeter wants to be a writer
-Skeeter tells the story of Constantine, her old maid
-Elaine Stein, an editor in New York, writes Skeeter back about writing and offers to read some of her work
-Skeeter gets a job at Jackson Journal 
-Skeeter starts asking Aibileen Miss Myrna cleaning questions
-Aibileen potty trains Mae Mobley 
-Miss Skeeter wants to interview Aibileen on her life as a maid
-Skeeter goes on a blind date with Stuart Whitworth, which ends up being a disaster
-Aibileen talks to Minny about Skeeters interview question and asks if she thinks its a good idea, Minny does not think it is a good idea
-Minny meets Mister Johnny, Miss Celia's husband

Reading Response
So far in the story, I think Kathryn Stockett has done a fine job describing Aibileen and Minny, two black maids. However, the character Miss Skeeter I find is lacking a distinctive personality. I find that the depth of her character gets lost in her rambling, un-needed dialogue. I find Miss Hilly's perspective interesting. She is not a very nice lady, but it gives you a glimpse into what the ultimate white lady looked like in the 1960's. I am a bit unsure of what "The League" is, I do not think Kathryn Stockett gives a good description of what Miss Hilly is president of. I would have liked to hear exactly how much power Miss Hilly wields being the president of such a club.   

Continuing on in the story, another character I like is Miss Celia. Her relationship with Minny is so different from what you've heard up until then, that it is immensely interesting. I also enjoy the aura of mystery that surrounds Miss Celia and her doings. If I were Minny, I would have had the courage to go check in the scary up stairs bedrooms, to see what Miss Celia is up to! Something I do admire about Miss Skeeter is her courage to be-friend Aibileen and ask her about her idea for a book. I applaud Skeeter for her marvelous idea, but I do agree with Aibileen that it would be very dangerous. A last scene I would like to touch on is Miss Skeeter's blind date with Stuart Whitworth. I found this part of the book hilarious. It was quite obvious that neither Skeeter nor Stuart were ready for the date, but I liked this part because it brings out some more in Skeeter's character. Although she's embarrassed, the embarrassment turns into strength. Strength to not put up with Stuart when he gets a little too rude and drunk. A good character always stands up for themselves, and doesn't let others boss them around. When Skeeter finally refuses to drive a drunk Stuart home, it shows an edge we didn't see in her before this part in the story. I do feel bad for Skeeter, but some things just were not meant to work out! 

Discussion Generator
Is Miss Hilly's Home Help Sanitation Initiative racist, or is it kind to let the help have their own bathroom?
Do you think Stuart and Skeeter would have had a good date if Stuart wasn't drunk?
Why is Miss Celia so friendly to Minny when other white ladies are not? 


Discussion Answer: I think Miss Hilly's Home Help Sanitation Initiative is racist. Miss Hilly does not have the maid's best interests in mind. She wants to further the separation of the races because she truly believes white is the dominant race. Also, Miss Hilly's husband is running for office. They believe that if they pass this Home Help Sanitation Initiative, people will look highly upon her husband, Will. The hired help do not view this act as a favor. These bathrooms are usually built outside, and are made very primitively. Aibileen describes it as, "...a little swampy. Even with the light on its dark, and they ain't no fancy wallpaper like inside a house. Fact, they ain't no proper walls at all, just plyboard hammered together." The point is to not honor the maid by building her her own facilities, but to make sure that the white guests and home owners do not have to share with the black help. Miss Hilly also describes the Initiative as a "disease preventative measure", implying she thinks the black help carry diseases that white people are not immune to. In conclusion, I do believe the Home Help Sanitation Initiative is racist.       

Significant Passages
"Do you ever wish you could...change things?"

page 12 paragraph 1

Miss Skeeter is talking Aibileen after playing bridge with her best friends Miss Hilly and Miss Leefolt. Miss Hilly introduced her Home Help Sanitation Initiative. Miss Skeeter knew Aibileen could hear, but Miss Skeeter was upset about the idea for more reasons than that. She disagrees, believing that it's not morally right that the help be separated so far as to have to use the bathroom outside, let alone the guest bathroom. She comes into the kitchen, upset and asks Aibileen, "Do you ever wish you could...change things?" Aibileen thinks this is a stupid question. She turns from Miss Skeeter so she don't see her rolling her eyes. Her response is, "Oh no, ma'am, everything's fine." But Skeeter knows she heard the bathroom talk. Before she could converse more about it, Miss Leefolt comes marching in, and Skeeter has to leave.


This passage is important because it really reflects what Miss Skeeter is all about. She is about changing things. She wants to be a journalists. She isn't married yet. She doesn't care to the extreme about her looks, she is friendly with the maids. She has an outrageously dangerous idea and she has Aibileen about convinced to join her in her feat. This quote is also important because it shows a hint of the friendship that is blossoming between Skeeter and Aibileen. The fact that Skeeter has the guts to ask Aibileen such a question in Elizabeth Leefolt's home shows she stands for change, and wants Aibileen to feel relaxed around her.


2. "...I find myself reaching for that dirty glass a hundred times to wash it. I like things clean, put away."
page 58 paragraph 3

Minny has gotten a job for Miss Celia Foote, a young lady who happens to look like Marilyn Monroe. Miss Celia doesn't know anything about cooking, cleaning, or how other ladies treat their help (she treats Minny like a best-friend). Miss Celia is also mysterious. She lays down all day and sometimes sneaks upstairs to what Minny calls the, "creepy bedrooms". Miss Celia also doesn't want to tell her husband, Mister Johnny, that she has hired help. She has her reasons, but she just won't tell Minny why she's afraid to tell Mr.Johnny. Minny makes her agree to tell him on Christmas Eve, much to Miss Celia's reluctance. Because Mr. Johnny doesn't know about Minny, they need to make the house look believable. Miss Celia is always telling Minny to leave something a little dirty, burn the food a little, or don't take out the trash. Minny's about had it. One day, Miss Celia tells Minny to leave the glass on a mirror dirty. Minny tells readers, "It's always something, mirrors, floors, a dirty glass in the sink, or the trash can full. ...I find myself reaching for that dirty glass a hundred times to wash it. I like things clean, put away."

This passage is important because it shows so much about Minny's personality. She likes things dealt with, done, and to the point. She likes clean cut, simple, and honest. Minny doesn't like this game Miss Celia is playing, not telling her husband about her. It's scary, thinking he might be home too soon and ready to shoot her. Minny finds it difficult to deal with Miss Celia's ways. She treats her kindly, not like the other help. She is always smiling at her, and talking to her like a friend. This isn't clean cut. Miss Celia is bending Minny's perspective on white people, without even knowing shes doing it. 


3. "Be nice to the little colored girls when you're down there."
page 72 paragraph 4

When Skeeter was little, her house employed a maid named Constantine. She was very close to Constantine, and if she practiced her catechism, her mother would let her go home with Constantine on Friday afternoons. She explains how there was two girls there named Mary Nell and Mary Roan, who lived beside Constantine and would come to play with her. They were so black she couldn't tell them apart, so she called them both Mary. Her mother would tell her, "Be nice to the little colored girls when you're down there." And Skeeter always replied, "Why wouldn't I?". Her mother never explained. 

This passage is important for two reasons. One, because Skeeter's mother Miss Phelan always assumed Skeeter would treat the colored people like she did (which wasn't true), and two, it shows the personality of Miss Phelan. Miss Phelan would tell Skeeter to treat the two Mary's nicely because, if she followed how she was raised, she would have treated them as a lesser. Now, Miss Phelan could have cared about the two girls, but judging by how she treated Constantine, I'm thinking she was just making sure her daughter didn't look like a mean fool. This shows that Miss Phelan is deeply flawed but somewhat sympathetic. 


Real World Application
In the first third of the book, you are introduced to life in 1962. Blacks and whites are separated. White's think they are the dominant race. You are introduced to Aibileen and Minny, two characters who are very real. Millions of people in 1962 were just like them. You are introduced to Miss Skeeter, Miss Hilly, and Miss Leefolt, also characters based on something very real. It is sad to realize that people back then were doing things such as Miss Hilly's Home Help Sanitation Initiative. Even today, I wonder if there are people we discriminate. Do the rich discriminate the poor? The educated discriminate the un-educated? We need to evaluate how we view people who aren't the same as us. Our society views the different people, the people who don't look like barbies or have piles of money, society treats them differently. The girl who is overweight gets left out at school. The girl who can't afford new shoes gets made fun of. We look back on history and scold that generation. But are we doing the same in different context? Are we so blinded by media that we cannot see our own mistakes? Food for the thought.   

-ShewolfLia17