Finished reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett today, well, this morning around 1. I decided to do something a little different today and do a book review. This could potentially flop majorly but then just know that it won't ever happen again. Also, I'm technically bending the rules a little bit with the posted picture. I didn't take the one here but I did attempt to take a pic of the book cover and it just looked stupid so I decided to post this one instead.
Before reading this book I'd heard some rumors about it. Not many, just that it was the new "hip book" to read. I tend to be turned off to books when this happens. Some sort of goofy sense of independence I guess, wanting to be different than everyone else. The same thing happened with the Harry Potter books, Water for Elephants, and of course the Twilight series (those books are a discussion for another day, talk about a twisted and destructive relationship...). So, with my anti mainstream attitude I ended up randomly seeing the movie with Kels before she left because it was playing closest to the time that we were standing in the lobby. I left the theater moved, intrigued, and ready to read the book despite the fact I felt a little like a lemming. Lucky for me while I was house sitting I saw the book chilling on their shelf just calling me to open it.
I'm glad that I read this book and I would recommend it highly. I would also interesting recommend seeing the movie first. Usually I flat out agree that books are better and always will be better than their subsequent movies. In this case though both are superb. If you read the book first you run the risk of being disappointed in the movie because so much was cut out. But the movie surprisingly follows the plot closely. Stuff is cut out because it is a movie and therefore has a time limit. Reading the book second fills you in on the finer points of relational dynamics between the characters. You begin to understand why things happen they do and get a fuller picture of the story. The book also gives you a greater sense of the danger the characters face in the decisions they make.
The book itself is about the town of Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s. It focuses on the stories of three women, two black maids and a white woman who will never be the bell of the ball if you will. In reading it I had to keep reminding myself that the setting was in the 60's. I wonder if sometimes we become callous to stories of slavery because not only does it not feel relevant to today but we get tired of feeling shame about something that we personally did not do. Not saying this is right or wrong. So the book being set in the 60's was a bold move on the part of the author. It mentions Jim Crow laws, Martin Luther King Jr.'s march, and other Civil Rights events. It is a reminder that things were supposed to have changed and yet when the deep south is examined things were still terrible for black people and those who supported them (or were thought to). I can only imagine what it would be like to read this book as someone who lived during that time or lived in the South and had "help." I was not alive during this time so it may be easier for me to judge or jump to conclusions about how I would have been different and fought the culture. Who knows for sure though? I mean honestly, we all want to believe that we would not participate in the travesties we hear about in the history books but then again what will our grandchildren, great grandchildren etc. being saying about us? What are we oblivious to now? Anyway, I digress....
I recommend that you not only read this book but engage those around in conversation. Better yet, read it in a small group or book club and process through it together. I am sad that it took a white woman writing this book to be heard and to make such large ripples. I'm sure plenty of books like this have been written and over looked. Racism is not dead even if it does not look like the pages of this book. Think about it. Blessings of your Wednesday night!
