I've just finished The Help and was pleasantly surprised. This was a selection of my book group and I probably wouldn't have searched it out on my own. It's a theme that has been dealt with so many times, black servants/white employers in the south, that I wondered what the author would add. But she has created some compelling characters and I found myself unable to put it down. The main white character, Skeeter, is a well-to-do, educated young woman in Jackson, MS, in the early 60’s. She is doesn't quite fit the southern belle pattern, not because she doesn't want to, but because she doesn't measure up, being socially awkward, very tall, and not especially pretty. She has graduated from college and struggles to reconcile what she has learned in college with what her mother and peers expect of her, mainly a good marriage. Her character is a foil to the other young white women, who range from those blindly following the community social leaders, to those leaders, acting from ignorance and hate. But Skeeter is amazingly naïve in her understanding of how the black maids she encounters regard their employers, even though she is interested in the maids as persons.
Aibileen is one of the black maids, an older woman who has lost her only son to white violence. Her best friend, Minny, is younger, and the mother of four children. Both work in white homes, as maid and nanny to the children. Stockett does a good job of describing the complex mix of love for the children and resentment of the mothers that these women experience. Like the other black women who work as maids, they are totally dependent on the good will of the employers for their livelihood. This tension drives the unfolding of the plot.
The characters and the stories seem very real. I recommend this as an entertaining and interesting story.
I recently read this book also, sort of in one big gulp. I liked it more than I expected to and just kept reading. An older woman in a book group I attended was wildly enthusiastic about it so I gave it a try. The writing was pretty amazing, and it is also surprising that this is the author's first book, a best seller (# 2 or 3 on amazon, it’s only been out a month!). I was turned off by the grossness in the basic ‘secret’ of the book (the pie), and might hesitate to recommend it. But the book as a whole was quite wonderful and I think I'm being too picky, especially compared to the greater terrible issues the book addresses.
ReplyDeleteI have noted some of the other book you have reviewed so I can look for them too, and I'll stop by again when I've read some :)
Thank you so much for stopping by. I know what you mean about being grossed out by the pie. I just drove that from my mind and forged ahead. I think you might like Wench. Even though this book is set before the Civil War and deals with slavery, there are some strong comparisons between the two.
ReplyDelete