Novels for Summer Reading

The Help

by Kathryn Stockett

I read The Help by Kathryn Stockett in the car while on a trip and time flew by. It’s as beautifully written as To Kill a Mocking Bird and is similar in its southern setting and racial and class separation and intolerance. The setting is Jackson, Mississippi in the sixties. It's about black maids in white homes - from their viewpoint. There are many plot twists and turns and it was a NY Times best seller. Excellent book!

Where’d You Go, Bernadette

By Maria Semple

This novel revolves around Bernadette, her husband Elgie, and her fifteen year old daughter Bee. At the beginning the book seemed silly to me and I almost quit reading. I’m glad I didn’t. The story has many unexpected plot twists and turns that surprised and delighted me. I couldn’t put it down. I had to find out what happened next….and at the end. This is a very creative story with no moral purpose – just fun reading.

Life of Pi

By Yann Martel

Life of Pi is a New York Times best seller and a major motion picture. This book differs from every novel I’ve ever read. I decided to read it when I discovered that the pastor at my son’s church planned to do a message on it. Also, early in the book the claim is made that this story will make you believe in God. The story centers on a boy by the name of Piscine Molitor Patel – Pi for short - and is told from his viewpoint. His father owns a zoo to the delight of Pi and his brother, Ravi. The information and insight into zoo animals is stunning.

Due to political changes in India, Pi’s father sells the zoo and the family embarks on a cargo ship to Canada and a new life. The ship sinks and the only survivors are Pi and a few of their animals - together in a life boat drifting on the Pacific Ocean for about 190 pages! The story is riveting, clever, humorous, detailed, and intense.

There are spiritual themes - it could be thought of as a parable of life. Pi explains convincingly that animals in the wild are not happy because they’re free. (Are we?) Life is an adventure and brings both crisis and delight in unexpected ways. We’re adrift and hoping to be rescued. Whether redemptive or not Life of Pi is a great story. I will not see the movie as it would get my adrenalin going way too much.

Blessings, Dottie