The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud is about 3 friends who are approaching their 30's living in New York City before 9/11. In my non-expert opinion, the book trails the lives of these 3 individuals in a soap opera sort of way. The author uses big words, and wordy sentences to entice the reader, but it only frustrated me. The author builds up the book so much that I got 200 pages in before I felt like she was actually getting to the point. Once I got about half way through, I started to enjoy it, but the ending just dropped off, and I was left saying "what was the point".
I gave it a 3/5 - kind of a big fat let down. I read really good reviews, so maybe it was just me.
The Help by Kathryn Stockett is set during the civil rights movement and is about a young white socialite that just returns from college with high hopes of becoming a writer. She is told to write about something that disturbs her by an editor in New York. After finally deciding what she, Eugenia, wants to write about, she enlists in the help of Aibileen, a black maid. With the help of Aibileen, Eugenia begins writing about what it is like to work for a white family as a black women.
This book was amazing. I couldn't stop myself from reading at every chance that I had. The stories that were told were so heartfelt and real. I cried, laughed, and felt so much while reading this book. Must read if you are able to pick it up.
I rated this book 5/5. I may have even told Tricia that I liked it more than Extremely Loud & Incredible Close. It is a toss up because these books aren't related in anyway, so it is kind of hard to compare the two. Read it!
5 comments:
I've been hearing great things about The Help for over a year now. I need to finish EL&IC and then read this. See what a terrible reader I am? I was loving that book but just stopped reading. No reason. Just stopped. I guess part of it is I hardly ride the subway anymore, which is my usual reading time. I need to be more disciplined.
Both of these have been on my list. I have only heard good things about the Emperor's Children, too, so I am glad to hear another take, so maybe my expectations won't be so high. And it's long, right?
And totally random to leave on this post, but I don't have your email, so... my friend's sister is organizing an online quilting bee. Basically, each participant is assigned a month. On your month, you send out your choice of fabric to everyone involved, they make one square with it and send it back to you. And every other month, you are responsible for making one square for someone else's quilt. Anyway, I don't know if you are interested, but if you are, they need a couple more people (2-3), & I thought of you because I know you like to quilt. If you want more info, let me know (elise (dot) hope (at) gmail (dot) com) and I can send you the link.
I agree that it's hard to compare The Help and EL&IC. I loved them both but for very different reasons. I'm so glad you loved it, though!! I laughed and cried as well and was so sad when the book ended.
You have me tempted to just ditch my copy of The Emperor's Children even though I'll only get 5 cents for it at HPB which totally makes me mad.
hey, i'm the one doing the quilting bee. (and i also love to read -- the help was SO good!) if you could email me your mailing address, full name, and the best email address to reach you at, that would be great. you can email me at jlady247 {at} yahoo {dot} com.
i found your sister's blog on the side and her email address, so i will just email her directly! i'm so glad you guys want to be a part of the bee. :)
I agree. I love The Help, more than EL&IC. They are different, but I hugged The Help when I was done. That is a sign it is one of my favorite all time reads. So good! I can't wait for the movie to come out now.
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