Tell The Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

Tell the Wolves I’m Home looks at how fourteen year old June copes with the death of her uncle Finn, her mother’s brother. Finn was an artist and painted June and her older sister Greta before he died. June was very close to her uncle, she feels like she is in love with him. After he dies from AIDS, she discovers there was a lot that she didn’t know about him, that her mother kept from her. The biggest shock is that he had a partner, Toby who he has been with for nine years. At first June doesn’t want to know him as she doesn’t want to share her uncle or think about the fact that he loved someone more or just as much as her. She agrees to meet him and he turns out to be a way to keep her uncle alive.

The book is set in the 1980s, which was a time when AIDS was a death sentence; there were no drugs to help you cope. Anyone who had AIDS was treated like a leper as people didn’t know how you contracted AIDS so were overly cautious and wouldn’t go near anyone who was known to have it. Although, it wasn’t that long ago, there is a significant lack of technology. There was no internet, so not every household had a computer and there were no mobile phones. Some of the things that happen in the book wouldn’t have worked as well had that technology been available. It couldn’t have been set today as AIDS is no longer a death sentence. It is set recently enough that the world is recognisable and relatable.

The relationships between the characters are what really make this book what it is. The relationship between June and Toby is touching as they are trying to keep the memory of Finn alive and trying to cope with his death at the same time. June is reluctant to let Toby in to begin with but comes to rely on his friendship. She needs him as her relationship with her sister Greta is spiralling out of control. Greta seems to enjoy hurting June and getting into her personal belongings. They used to be very close but have drifted apart and June doesn’t know if they can fix it. Greta is the star of the school play and feels pressure from their parents to do well. She starts drinking and June worries that she’ll go too far. It takes Greta being brought home by the police for them to start repairing their relationship and talking to each other again.

The title doesn’t seem to have a lot to do with the book, but the June realises towards the end that the wolves are the shameful and embarrassing feelings that we have and we need to not run away from them. June has a lot to deal with throughout the book and at times she’s not sure that she’ll make it through. It’s the love that she feels for others and that others feel for her that help her. She tries to keep all elements of her life separate and you just can’t live like that; it’s too many things to juggle at once. She’s much happier at the end of the book than at the start.

I was a bit unsure of June for much of the book; I wasn’t sure I liked being in her head. However, as events started to come to a head it was fun to see how she coped with that. I did feel a connection to June and understood her motivations. Her parents don’t have the easiest jobs and the girls are often left to fend for themselves. This means June is more mature than the average fourteen year old but not as mature as she thinks she is. I picked the book because of the title and am glad I did. There aren’t any wolves in the book but there are plenty of demons that need exorcising. The family are stuck in a rut and need the events that unfold to bring them back together. I enjoyed the book and feel I understand people a bit better.

Overall rating 4 out of 5.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help tells the story of a group of black maids and the white women they work for in a small town in Mississippi. Aibileen works with a family with a young child. She’s very good with children and always tries to emphasize to the children that skin colour is not important. Her own son has died recently and she’s found herself in a rut. Minny has trouble keeping a job as she keeps talking back to her employers. She also did something awful to the daughter of her last employer that got her fired and saw she wouldn’t get a job in the town. Luckily, there is a lady who has recently moved to the town and Minny manages to convince her to employ her. Eugenia ‘Skeeter’ Phelan has returned home after graduating from college to find her old maid gone. She wants to know why. She gets to thinking about the differences between the black and white people in her town. When she discovers Aibileen’s son was going to write about this topic before he died, she decides to take up his project. Being white, Skeeter must convince the maids to help her. At first, only Aibileen agrees.

Aibileen is definitely my favourite character; she is an amazing person and a pillar of her community. She is always eager to help others and never puts herself first. She enjoys looking after the children that she does, but not so much their parents. Minny relies on Aibileen a lot. Minny’s husband beats her regularly and she has five children to look after. I admire the character of Minny because she won’t take any nonsense and says exactly what she thinks; there’s no half measures. Skeeter dreams of being a journalist but that isn’t likely to happen while she’s still in Mississippi. She feels she can’t move as her mother has cancer and is very ill. The idea for the book comes along at just the right time for her. Hilly is the leader of the young women of the town. They all follow her example and do as she says. And Hilly hates coloured people.

It’s difficult to fathom the extent to which segregation changed the way people went about their business and what they did. Having more than one toilet because if the maid uses the toilet it is ‘dirty’ and the white family can’t use it. It’s really quite arbitrary what is and isn’t acceptable. The white people have no qualms about the black maids washing their clothes or cooking their food, yet won’t eat in the same room or shop in the same grocery stores. It’s a ridiculous concept and makes no sense. Yet the black people had no power to speak up against it.

The book is told from the point of view of Aibileen, Minny and Skeeter. Each character has a separate personality and each is engaging to listen to. The way the two maids are written is the way they would speak and that adds to the feel of the book. I found myself really connecting to all of the narrators and wanting everything to work out for them and for them to be happy. While reading it I was so drawn in to the story that I didn’t mind, but now I think it would have been interesting to have a couple of chapters inside Hilly’s head. To see if there is a reason she is the way that she is and has the views that she does.

This book was amazing and fascinating. The fifties seems to be a new area of interest for me. I also like books where you learn things without realising. This is one of those books; it tells you so much about the history of Southern America. It felt very real, which it obviously was but it’s almost like reading a biography rather than fiction. I would recommend this book to everyone. It’s written in a way that is easy to read and makes you think. I had seen the film a long time before I read the book, but from what I remember the film was a reasonable adaptation. A must read book.

Overall rating 5 out of 5.

The Thirty Nine Steps by John Buchan

The Thirty-nine Steps tells the story of spies in the run up to the fist World War. Richard Hannay has moved to Britain from South Africa and, having been there a couple of months is very bored. Luckily, the man in the flat above him has secret information about European politics and is being chased by some German and British spies. His neighbour tells Hannay what he knows and says he must reveal what he knows at the correct time. The neighbour gets killed and Hannay must go on the run. He goes to Scotland where he is helped by locals to avoid his pursuers. He survives by sheer luck and travels to London to deliver his information. Together they set up an operation to catch the spies before they can escape.

Richard Hannay is a fun character to spend time with. He’s pretty savvy and uses disguises and the help of others to avoid those who are after him. He’s a bit reminiscent of James Bond but has to rely on instinct rather than being told what to do. All the characters he meets along the way are nearly all nice and willing to help. They, like Hannay, are happy for a bit of excitement in their lives and will probably dine out on the story for a while after. The baddies are masters of disguise and incredibly clever. As much as Hannay does to try and confuse him, they manage to figure out where he is and come straight after him. The only thing I had a problem with was that there were no female characters. There doesn’t seem to be a particular reason for this; perhaps it was the time it was written or it may be that Buchan was only writing for a male audience.

The book is very short, only 112 pages, but there is a lot crammed in to that space. Each chapter is its own little story; he meets someone new in each one who either helps or hinders him. The exceptions are the last couple of chapters when Hannay is back in London, which builds up to the finale. I could vividly picture the Scottish countryside that is the setting for most of the book. It’s a dramatic landscape to go with the drama unfolding which is a nice connection. There was plenty of description in Scotland but not so much in London so that was more difficult to picture. I think this was partly because Buchan spent more time in Scotland than England. To a certain extent, the main character takes some autobiographical points from Buchan himself.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this book but I really did. The fast pace of the book made you want to keep reading. A problem I did have with the plot a bit is that I didn’t really understand what significance the secrets had and who exactly was after Hannay and why. But I don’t think that mattered too much as the important thing was that he was on the run alone and several people were chasing him so the odds weren’t in his favour. Despite being written one hundred years ago, the language is quite modern and easy to understand; so this would be a good classic to start with. The ending is unresolved so you the reader has to decide what happened and how it affected the grand scheme of things when World War One occurred anyway. This is a quick, fun read and I’d be curious to read some of the others in the series to see what topics he covers.

Overall rating 3 out of 5.

Small Island by Andrea Levy

Small Island follows the lives of four people before, during and after the second world war. Gilbert was born in Jamaica, the eldest of eight children. He is well educated and would like to become a lawyer. This changes when he volunteers for the RAF and goes to England to fight. After the war he has to return to Jamaica but quickly moves back to England and gets a job with Royal Mail. Queenie is born in England to a butcher father and mother. She gets taken to London by her aunt so Queenie can help in her shop. Her aunt dies and Queenie marries Bernard to have stability in her life. She is alone during the war and looks after Bernard’s father. She rents rooms out to soldiers. One of them is a Jamaican that she takes a liking to. After the war she continues to rent out rooms including one to Gilbert. Hortense was born in Jamaica where she trains to be a teacher. She marries Gilbert after knowing him for a few weeks because she wants to move to England. She follows him to England once he has moved in to Queenie’s house. Bernard was born in England and goes to fight the war in India.

The book switches from 1948 to before 1948. As each character gets introduced, at an appropriate point, you learn about their past. For some characters that takes more than one flashback. Having the immediate contrast between the two time periods helps show the impact of war and how long it takes for things to get back to some kind of normal. The time changes are carefully chosen and come along to answer your questions just when you need them. The two locations are vivid too and you can picture exactly what’s going on. Not being familiar with what villages and towns are like in Jamaica, that was more difficult to picture. But even if you can’t see it, you definitely feel the difference between Jamaica and England.

All four of the main characters were really well written and I felt I understood them. Gilbert and Queenie seemed more savvy whereas Hortense and Bernard seemed a bit more naive. It is a very big culture shock for Hortense as the British people she knew in Jamaica were more upper class and I think Hortense was sort of expecting everyone to be like that. She is determined not to let people visibly get to her despite the way she and other black people are treated. India is a culture shock for Bernard and he really doesn’t like it. It’s very much an us and them vibe with the British soldiers and the Indian natives. All of these interactions between cultures is interesting.

I was a bit worried to begin with as this is an award-winning book and that can mean they are difficult to read and a bit pretentious. This book was none of those things. The writing style was easy to fall in to and I just wanted to keep reading to find out what was going to happen. When the point of view changed it tells you at the start of the chapter but they are all so distinct that you knew who’s head you were in immediately. Not being a particularly plot-driven novel, there was just the right amount of description to character interaction.

I really enjoyed this book which surprised me a little bit. I enjoy novels set around the war that focus on what it was like for those left at home. This delivered in that but also introduced me to the topic of what it was like for immigrants coming over at that time. Everyone would have been suspicious of new people because that had been their mind set for years. Despite not having segregation we sort of did unofficially as far as a lot of people were concerned. Racism is a fascinating topic because for some it is just ignorance and an unwillingness to learn about other people rather than any actual hatred towards those of a different race. I’d certainly like to read more of Andrea Levy’s books and would recommend Small Island to everyone.

Overall rating 5 out of 5.

Reading Wrap Up June 2013

These are the books that I read in June

Small Island by Andrea Levy  --  5 / 5

The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan  --  3 / 5

The Help by Kathryn Stockett  --  5 / 5

The Dalek Project (Dr Who) by Justin Richards & Mike Collins  --  3 / 5

Tell The Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt  --  4 / 5

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick  --  5 / 5

The Skin Map by Stephen R Lawhead  --  3 / 5

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt  --  3 / 5