Book Club

July 6, 2010 - 7:04pm

Gloria Lustig

The Help was probably the best book I've read in a long time. It is a real page turner. I began reading it on a 6-hour plane trip and finished the entire book while I was in the air because I couldn't bear to put it down. Living in the northeast, I had never understood how people living in the south could be so prejudice. This book gave me a little insight into their thinking.

I was in college during the Freedom Marches. It was a very upsetting time in our history as a country. Thank God we are moving on. I don't know if we are completely there yet or not, but our country is moving in the right direction.

June 26, 2010 - 9:15am

Bea Davis

I'm glad to hear that so many of you enjoyed the book. Gigi, I agree that the characters in the book lived in their own special world, although not quite "cut off from humanity."
Rhona you were right on target when you say that these white ladies treated their maids as though they were children who never had thoughts or ideas of their own. Isn't it interesting that these same ladies thought it was perfectly alright to have these "children" raise their children.
Maxsa, while you remember the era well, the Andrew Goodman murder, marches in Selma and the like, I think what makes the story even more realistic is that these people probably didn't hear the news that we heard and if they did they were so busy defending their lifestyle that they were in total denial as to how wrong that lifestyle was.
I enjoyed reading all your comments and look forward to hearing more from all of you. I'll let you know about the next book in a couple od weeks.
Bea

June 23, 2010 - 7:10am

Gigi C

This was definitely one of the most interesting books I've read in a long time. I couldn't put it down. As far as what Maxsa said about the situation not ringing true, I don't agree with her. I think that these people really were living in their own world that was sort of closed off from the rest of humanity. They were living a superficial life of "Let's Pretend." It's kind of hard to figure out why generation after generation wouldn't have been more sympathetic to their maids. After all, these women raised them.

June 19, 2010 - 11:34am

Rhona S

I liked the book a lot. The friends, with the exception of Skeeter, are rather self-centered and the maids work too hard and appear to be under appreciated -- although they are treated more like children than adults, even though they're in charge of raising the white children. It's interesting that women of that generation thought that people they treated as ignorant children who couldn't even use their bathrooms were perfectly capable of caring for their children. I think probably a lot of is described is true and it's a sad commentary on our history, but evolution takes time, I suppose.

The hair "stuff" that Skeeter tries doesn't sound any more ridiculous than the current video on this site in the Beauty section where Kiki suggests we put yogurt in our hair. Yuchh! There's no end to what women will do to look "beautiful."

June 19, 2010 - 4:08am

Maxsa R

I enjoyed the book but found it a bit unrealistic. I remember the era well and given what happened in Mississippi during that time period (i.e., death of Andrew Goodman, etc.), it's really hard to believe that all of these women, the maids and their employers, were so out of touch with what was happening in the world.

However, I think she's a good writer. The book certainly was a page turner. The maids were very sympathetic. Racism is learned. No one is born knowing who to hate, they learn by observation.

Maxie

June 17, 2010 - 12:54am

Anne

I enjoyed this book enormously. I remember the Civil Rights marches that took place while I was in high school and I had a lot of sympathy for the people who were in that situation. I think I had more sympathy for Skeeter's mother today than I would have had at the time the events actually took place. Time has made me realize that we are all primarily a product of our own backgrounds. She was doing what she knew, and was incapable of seeing any other point of view. I am critical of what she and others did, but am a little more understanding about why they behaved the way they did.

Minny was certainly correct to distrust white people; she, like Skeeter's mother, was reacting to her own experiences.

As far as Hilly is concerned, many people have the ability to compartmentalize their behavior -- i.e., the man who cheats people in business but is very generous to his community; someone who has a bad temper and mistreats his wife and children, but is gentle and kind at work. HIlly just fits into that category of people.