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Rachel King (13 KP) rated The Help in Books
Feb 11, 2019
Despite the length of this book, I raced through it with ease. I watched the movie before I read the book, and in this case, it made the book much more enjoyable, as I had a few ideas of what to expect. As for book versus movie, I think both are worth the effort, and the movie does a decent job of keeping to the book's overall plot.
The book is told in three voices: Miss Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny. All three are very unique and specific to each personality, and all come through as strong and confident voices. Truly, I cannot say which voice is the strongest, as they all are essential to the narration of the book, nor can I really pick a favorite.
I grew up in Louisiana, and I can remember some of the stories my dad told me of my grandma's having "help" part-time. This book "struck home" for me because I can remember very clearly my grandma's racism, and how even my own dad still harbored some of that racism. The book does a very thorough job of illustrating how racism can infiltrate every mode of thought and speech, from hygiene and bodily functions, to dress and etiquette. Miss Hilly is the epitome of this racism, wearing her ignorance like a badge of honor, but there are varying degrees in many of the other characters. It is easy to see that in many of these situations, the people involved are simply victims of the times and can hardly be blamed for their perspective, as they were never taught to think differently. For that reason alone, I wish that this book had been based on a true story, for the good such a plot could have done in real life.
Miss Skeeter gives the unique perspective of the white women and how they come to fit this mold of hiring and lording over the help, even as she reevaluates her own issues of racism. With her, the reader is able to see into the minds of other prominent women in the story, such as Miss Hilly and Miss Leefolt, and how they reason and justify their treatment of the colored people they hire. Miss Hilly has the unique role of pursuing a greater separation between the two groups, whereas the other white women just go along with whatever they are told. While Hilly does pay the consequences for her behavior, it is unlikely her type ever really learns from their mistakes.
Aibileen seems to represent the voices of the older generation of colored help, mourning her losses of the past while attempting to adjust to the volatile climate of the present war on segregation. She plays the voice of reason for the other two women more often than not, always knowing how they should proceed with their secret project. Her personal focus seems to always be on the children, the ones she has raised that belonged to white women, as well as the loss of her own son. I particularly loved the effort she went through to teach Mae Mobley both self-confidence and an appreciation for humanity that ignores skin color, so much so that I use some of her same tactics with my own daughters.
Minny represents the voice of the younger, more emotional generation of colored help, with her snarky speech and blunt honesty. She kept me laughing from cover to cover, and it's her cooking I would love to try, even despite the pie trick. Her character also brings to light the poverty and abuse that many suffered through as a result of segregation laws. What I found ironic is that both her and Aibileen, in their struggles to survive, showed a strength and maturity that seems to only arise under extreme circumstances of hardship.
While those segregation laws have been abolished, I know that many of those same mental biases still exist - and not just in the southern U.S. This wonderful book is only a small part of the education required to erase the ignorance from the hearts and minds of all people. If there is one book you read this year, The Help needs to be it.
The book is told in three voices: Miss Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny. All three are very unique and specific to each personality, and all come through as strong and confident voices. Truly, I cannot say which voice is the strongest, as they all are essential to the narration of the book, nor can I really pick a favorite.
I grew up in Louisiana, and I can remember some of the stories my dad told me of my grandma's having "help" part-time. This book "struck home" for me because I can remember very clearly my grandma's racism, and how even my own dad still harbored some of that racism. The book does a very thorough job of illustrating how racism can infiltrate every mode of thought and speech, from hygiene and bodily functions, to dress and etiquette. Miss Hilly is the epitome of this racism, wearing her ignorance like a badge of honor, but there are varying degrees in many of the other characters. It is easy to see that in many of these situations, the people involved are simply victims of the times and can hardly be blamed for their perspective, as they were never taught to think differently. For that reason alone, I wish that this book had been based on a true story, for the good such a plot could have done in real life.
Miss Skeeter gives the unique perspective of the white women and how they come to fit this mold of hiring and lording over the help, even as she reevaluates her own issues of racism. With her, the reader is able to see into the minds of other prominent women in the story, such as Miss Hilly and Miss Leefolt, and how they reason and justify their treatment of the colored people they hire. Miss Hilly has the unique role of pursuing a greater separation between the two groups, whereas the other white women just go along with whatever they are told. While Hilly does pay the consequences for her behavior, it is unlikely her type ever really learns from their mistakes.
Aibileen seems to represent the voices of the older generation of colored help, mourning her losses of the past while attempting to adjust to the volatile climate of the present war on segregation. She plays the voice of reason for the other two women more often than not, always knowing how they should proceed with their secret project. Her personal focus seems to always be on the children, the ones she has raised that belonged to white women, as well as the loss of her own son. I particularly loved the effort she went through to teach Mae Mobley both self-confidence and an appreciation for humanity that ignores skin color, so much so that I use some of her same tactics with my own daughters.
Minny represents the voice of the younger, more emotional generation of colored help, with her snarky speech and blunt honesty. She kept me laughing from cover to cover, and it's her cooking I would love to try, even despite the pie trick. Her character also brings to light the poverty and abuse that many suffered through as a result of segregation laws. What I found ironic is that both her and Aibileen, in their struggles to survive, showed a strength and maturity that seems to only arise under extreme circumstances of hardship.
While those segregation laws have been abolished, I know that many of those same mental biases still exist - and not just in the southern U.S. This wonderful book is only a small part of the education required to erase the ignorance from the hearts and minds of all people. If there is one book you read this year, The Help needs to be it.
Lee (2222 KP) rated Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) in Movies
Aug 21, 2019
Obviously I'm not familiar with the Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark books that this movie is based on - a series of three books containing short horror stories for children and drawing heavily on urban legend and folklore for it's subject matter, first published in 1981. Apparently, the series is listed by the American Library Association as being the most challenged series of books from the 1990s, with complaints relating to the violence and disturbing subject matter portrayed within them not being suitable for the children it was aimed at. The illustrations within the book also drew criticism, vividly portraying the nightmare creatures and scenes contained within the stories. Perfect material for a movie version!
That movie version comes from Troll Hunter director André Øvredal and producer/co-writer Guillermo del Toro and attempts a Goosebumps style movie, taking some of the better known stories from the 80+ contained within the books and weaving them into a larger narrative, set in Mill Valley Pennsylvania during the fall of 1968.
It's Halloween and a group of teens are preparing to go out for an evening of trick or treating - applying makeup, getting into their costumes, fishing in the toilet for turds in preparation for a Halloween trick. They head out on their bikes but it's not long before they run into some idiot jocks from their local school, and that turd trick suddenly comes in handy! We've already been introduced to the jocks earlier in the movie, out in a cornfield where they were hitting a creepy looking scarecrow about the head with a baseball bat. Yep, they're certainly going to regret that a little bit later on!
The teens manage to escape the jocks, working their way into a drive through movie that's showing "Night of the Living Dead" and into the car of another teen called Ramón. The group strike up a bond with Ramón after he helps them out and they all decide to go and break into an abandoned local house which is reportedly haunted. They find their way into the basement where legend has it that Sarah Bellows, the daughter of a prominent local family, was locked away in the late 1800s. Horror nerd Stella comes across a book containing short scary stories that were written in blood by Sarah, and she decides to take it with them. As Stella opens the book’s pages, she sees that Sarah’s stories are literally beginning to write themselves - stories that put her friends in some pretty unpleasant situations, stories which immediately become reality the moment they're written. As Stella later puts it, "You don't read the book, the book reads you".
The setup and the scenarios within each story are enjoyable enough and are certainly creepy, however the execution doesn't always work so well and the payoffs aren't quite as scary as I would have liked. The movie also suffers from some slightly dodgy CGI at times too, which doesn't help. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the final story, and the return to the house in order to try and stop Sarah Bellows worked really well for me. It all ends with a definite opportunity for a sequel and with plenty more scary stories to choose from within the source material, I'm sure we'll be seeing another one soon. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark taps nicely into the "It" and "Stranger Thing" vibe, with it's group of teens rising up together against evil, and despite it's faults I did have a lot of fun with it. I'm definitely interested in seeing more.
That movie version comes from Troll Hunter director André Øvredal and producer/co-writer Guillermo del Toro and attempts a Goosebumps style movie, taking some of the better known stories from the 80+ contained within the books and weaving them into a larger narrative, set in Mill Valley Pennsylvania during the fall of 1968.
It's Halloween and a group of teens are preparing to go out for an evening of trick or treating - applying makeup, getting into their costumes, fishing in the toilet for turds in preparation for a Halloween trick. They head out on their bikes but it's not long before they run into some idiot jocks from their local school, and that turd trick suddenly comes in handy! We've already been introduced to the jocks earlier in the movie, out in a cornfield where they were hitting a creepy looking scarecrow about the head with a baseball bat. Yep, they're certainly going to regret that a little bit later on!
The teens manage to escape the jocks, working their way into a drive through movie that's showing "Night of the Living Dead" and into the car of another teen called Ramón. The group strike up a bond with Ramón after he helps them out and they all decide to go and break into an abandoned local house which is reportedly haunted. They find their way into the basement where legend has it that Sarah Bellows, the daughter of a prominent local family, was locked away in the late 1800s. Horror nerd Stella comes across a book containing short scary stories that were written in blood by Sarah, and she decides to take it with them. As Stella opens the book’s pages, she sees that Sarah’s stories are literally beginning to write themselves - stories that put her friends in some pretty unpleasant situations, stories which immediately become reality the moment they're written. As Stella later puts it, "You don't read the book, the book reads you".
The setup and the scenarios within each story are enjoyable enough and are certainly creepy, however the execution doesn't always work so well and the payoffs aren't quite as scary as I would have liked. The movie also suffers from some slightly dodgy CGI at times too, which doesn't help. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the final story, and the return to the house in order to try and stop Sarah Bellows worked really well for me. It all ends with a definite opportunity for a sequel and with plenty more scary stories to choose from within the source material, I'm sure we'll be seeing another one soon. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark taps nicely into the "It" and "Stranger Thing" vibe, with it's group of teens rising up together against evil, and despite it's faults I did have a lot of fun with it. I'm definitely interested in seeing more.
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Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (2018) in Movies
Jul 2, 2019
When best friends Sonny (Jeremy Ray Taylor) and Sam (Caleel Harris) find a hidden room, in a spooky old house, they think they have just stumbled upon a treasure. This is exactly they were hoping for when they started a junk removal business. But those hopes are quickly dashed as they discover what they really have found is an unreleased and unfinished R.L. Stine novel. The book is locked so they unlock it hoping to find a treasure map or some money but alas it is just a book by an author they have never heard of. Disappointed they return to the rest of the items they found and is surprised to see a ventriloquist dummy sitting next to the book. In the pocket of the dummy is a card that says its name is Slappy (voiced by Jack Black). Unknowingly these two friends have now unleashed a malicious that is about to unleash a bevy of monsters on their home town. Now they, with the help of Sonny’s older sister Sarah (Madison Iseman), have to try to stop Slappy from destroying their town and maybe even the world, especially before Sonny and Sarah’s mom (Wendy McLendon-Covey) finds out.
This film is a follow up to the 2015 Goosebumps, all based on the popular children’s horror fiction novels of the same name by author R.L. Stine. The book series, over 60 novels, and the films are all geared to bring horror to a younger audience.
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween is a lighthearted horror film. This will probably do well with a young audience but doesn’t really go beyond that. I thought for the genre the cast did okay. Ken Jeong as the wacky neighbor was very over the top but in a fun way. Even though Jack Black is the voice of Slappy his R.L. Stine character was mostly missing from the film. The story is predictable. The film is full of cheesy one liners, some good, some bad and some so bad they might be good. Also if you are looking for a well put together plot with streamlined scenes this is not the film. At one point the three teens are being helped by Jeong’s character but the scene cuts and the kids are alone with no mention of their neighbor. I thought that the Slappy character was definitely creepy at times and could be nightmare inducing but the rest of the monsters were more cartoon like that really scary.
Of films made for young audiences this I have seen recently this is not one of the better films. I would say that it had a few moments but really lacked a clear message and cohesive story. I think it would be something young audience would enjoy but not go back to as often as other films that have come out recently. Renting or streaming would be the way to go for this film not worth the ticket price for the theaters for me.
This film is a follow up to the 2015 Goosebumps, all based on the popular children’s horror fiction novels of the same name by author R.L. Stine. The book series, over 60 novels, and the films are all geared to bring horror to a younger audience.
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween is a lighthearted horror film. This will probably do well with a young audience but doesn’t really go beyond that. I thought for the genre the cast did okay. Ken Jeong as the wacky neighbor was very over the top but in a fun way. Even though Jack Black is the voice of Slappy his R.L. Stine character was mostly missing from the film. The story is predictable. The film is full of cheesy one liners, some good, some bad and some so bad they might be good. Also if you are looking for a well put together plot with streamlined scenes this is not the film. At one point the three teens are being helped by Jeong’s character but the scene cuts and the kids are alone with no mention of their neighbor. I thought that the Slappy character was definitely creepy at times and could be nightmare inducing but the rest of the monsters were more cartoon like that really scary.
Of films made for young audiences this I have seen recently this is not one of the better films. I would say that it had a few moments but really lacked a clear message and cohesive story. I think it would be something young audience would enjoy but not go back to as often as other films that have come out recently. Renting or streaming would be the way to go for this film not worth the ticket price for the theaters for me.
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