I read Mary Stockett's The Help while we were in Canada. Nate's family probably thought I was really rude for reading so much. I just couldn't put it down! It's honestly one of the best books I have ever read. Its relevance and importance cannot be refuted. I imagine this story has been itching to be told for years. And it's about time!
After I had closed the book at night, I would lay awake with my mind wide open. The stories and lives of the characters would play over and over in my mind. I was sad to end the book because I felt I knew the characters. I grew to love Aibileen, respect Minny and hate Hilly. The writing was at a level in which I felt like the characters and I were friends and they were giving me their secrets. At times I wanted to climb into the chapters to comfort or perhaps scold them.
Reading this brought on many questions. If I had lived in the 60s, how would I treat my maid? Would I give into Hilly's social pressure? Would I be brave enough to do something about the many injustices to black people?
The book and the thoughts it is meant to provoke are important and have come just in the nic of time. Everyone should read it. So once you have, go buy a copy for ya mama!
P.S. Don't read too fast that you miss out on all the uses of Crisco!
P.S.S Don't read The Notebook. It's just as inappropriate as the movie.
I couldn't put it down either!
ReplyDeleteI had the same thought process when I finished reading it about how it would have been to have lived during a time like that. I didn't think about how I would have treated my maid though; I would like to think that I wouldn't have had one. I was thinking more about how I would treat black people in general (keyword: PEOPLE). I hope that I would have had the courage to do what I knew what was right even when others didn't.
I'm excited for the movie but I'm already disappointed from the previews that Hilly isn't...plump and that her clothes aren't too tight. I can't wait to see what they did with the "Terrible Awful" either.
"..all the uses of Crisco." Hilarious!
I'm just now reading it and I can't put it down either. I'm really enjoying the characters:)
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