The Help by Katherine Stockett
Genre: Historical literary fiction
Short Summary: Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelam, the privileged white daughter of a cotton farmer, decides to write a book about the experiences of Black maids in the early 1960's.
My rating: 3 stars
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Racism, miscarriage, public nudity and masturbation, violence, shooting of a Black man, lynching references, possibly other things I can't remember.


Quick disclaimer: I'm aware that this book is considered controversial/problematic in its portrayal of racism and Black people, but as a white person, I'm not qualified to elaborate on this subject, so if you want to know more, here is an article: https://www.insider.com/the-help-is-a-terrible-movie-to-watch-about-racism-2020-6

Now, on to the book itself:

Plot

Honestly, I don't have a lot of opinion about the plot. Sometimes it's boring, sometimes it's quite good.

Characters

Skeeter is the protagonist, which is problematic in its own right (for more info, see the article linked above). But also, she's the literally the only character in the book with a character arc. All the Black characters are stagnant, while this white woman gets a character arc. Not to say that the Black characters are uninteresting; Minny and Aibleen are way more interesting than Skeeter is, and they're both good characters. Aibleen and her relationship with Mae Mobley is especially emotional and well-developed.

Writing
Like the plot, I don't have much opinion about the writing. It was pretty good, but not anything particularly memorable.

Other
This section will be about The Weird Bathroom Obsession, and I'll start this section with some quotes:

Sometimes changing a diaper is like opening a treasure

(to be fair, that quote was about a kid putting coins and stuff in his diaper, but it's still weird)

Our book is setting in five thousand houses on they bookshelves, next to they night tables, behind they toilets?

I didn't know that people commonly put books behind their toilets, but okay.

There's also multiple plot events that have to do with bathrooms and. . . things that are related to bathrooms, but I'm not going to go into detail because of spoilers and because some of it is pretty nasty.

Do I recommend it? Not really.

*Updated with trigger warnings added*

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson
Genre: Contemporary YA romance;f/f romance
My rating: 3/5
Short Summary: In order to get scholarship money for college, Elizabeth (Liz) Lighty, who seems to be bi with a preference for girls, decides to run for prom queen.
>> TRIGGER WARNINGS: Death of a parent, anxiety, panic attacks, racism, homophobia, use of the word 'queer' as a slur<<

My thoughts:
Plot: 3/5 stars
Pretty generic at times and melodramatic at other times, but overall the plot was all right. I don't know how realistic the whole competitive prom queen/king aspect is, since I'm homeschooled, but I have a feeling it's not very realistic.

Characters: 3/5 stars
I loved Liz and Jordan, but Gabi is one of the most insufferable characters I've ever had the misfortune of reading about. Also, I feel there were way too many characters for the kind of book it is; there are 15 characters who perform some kind of plot role. Is that really necessary in a YA book? I felt that that detracted from the main focus.

Writing: 3/5
The writing style is a bit dry and boring.

Setting: 3/5
Campbell is a boring and generic small town except for one thing: it's extreme prom obsession. I think the essence of an average, boring small town is captured well, but the prom obsession is over-the-top.

Do I recommend it? Not really. It's not bad, but overall it's really forgettable and average