Books: The Help
February 10, 2010 | Books
I just finished reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Books don’t usually make me cry. I can count on one hand the books that did make me cry: Middlesex, The Kite Runner, Final Salute. This one made me cry more than once. OK. I’ve been in a weepy place lately, but still. It moved me.
I was skeptical when I first started reading. A white woman telling black women’s stories, speaking in “less educated” voices. The white women’s voices didn’t have one stray “ain’t.” Really? Hmm.
But I got sucked right in. I identified with one character more than others, and I’m guessing that means I identify with the author “by and large.” (She said the story was fictional, by and large.)
Oh, it was delicious to have someone to keep secrets with. If I’d had a sister or a brother closer in age, I guessed that’s what it would be like. But it wasn’t just smoking or skirting around Mother. It was having someone look at you after your mother has nearly fretted herself to death because you are freakishly tall and frizzy and odd. Someone whose eyes simply said, without words, You are fine with me.
A few things I could see coming a mile away, although I don’t think this story necessarily needs to “surprise” me. Even though I tend to believe the best in people, I know about the worst. So I can usually sense when something bad is coming. (Oh, if only that were always true in my real life. *sigh*)
Everyone who told me this was a great book, though, was right. It’s a compelling read.
February 10th, 2010 at 8:14 am
I just finished it too. I loved it.
Usually mainstream fiction just ends up pissing me off but this story was engaging.
The only loose end was Elizabeth and Mae Mobley. I was expecting something worse to happen there.