The Seaside Library

Author: Harriet Beecher Stowe Acquired in: April 2019 "I feel now that the time is come when even a woman or a child who can speak a word for freedom and humanity is bound to speak... I hope every woman who can write will not be silent.", said Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of a book that outraged as well as reformed America. Pouring her experiences of witnessing slavery, racist riots and heckles by non-Abolitionists onto paper, she produced a book that broke sales records in the US and UK at the height of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.    It's a moving tale about a man being torn away from his family as if it was natural to do so, and other stories about how he brings about a sea change in whoever he meets along his journey. In the end, we may feel like we owe something to this meek but faithful man- a feeling of regret and shame. Tom is a faithful slave; his master trusts him, his fellow workers respect him, the master's little boy adores him. As always, what...

Author: Toni Morrison                             Acquired in: May 2020 What does comparison mean? Isn't it looking at people or things and finding out what is different? Often, we compare ourselves with people who have attained what we desire. But, there might be another kind which we don't often think about because comparing is so natural to us it's part of our subconscious. People look at those worse off than themselves, sighing with relief because they have more- more wealth, more comfort, more food, more beauty. Wait. What goes on in the 'worse-off' person's mind when they are being looked down upon so that others can feel better? It's not easy to say. You have to be them to know that.  The story which takes place in Ohio during the Great Depression is through the perspective of a  little black girl named Claudia MacTeer as well as of a third person. It details the social structure of those times, ...

Author: Kathryn Stockett Acquired in: 2018 As the first post for The Seaside Library, I wanted to write about this book, even though I’ve actually read it two years ago. That period of time is very important to me: it was my first experience of public exams during which the prevalent emotion can be related to getting stuck on a railway track and then hearing the train’s whistle. Whew. What got me through the inferno was chocolate and books, such as this one. The book had an aura of reassurance; even the title was appealing when I saw it in the store. The Help is a book I will read again and feel the same riot of emotions I felt on my first journey through the book.  Eugenia or ‘Skeeter’ Phelan (skeeter- slang for insect or mosquito; it is a reference to her leggy appearance), an odd-ball among the denizens of Jackson, Mississippi, has always found comfort in the arms of her old nurse Constantine. All of a sudden, the loving relationship they shared was shatter...