No Help Needed
I am reluctant to watch films
that derived from literature before I have read the books. Keeping up with
Hollywood is taking up a lot of my reading time at the moment. I am running
about nine months behind the movies when I start reading ‘The Help’ by Kathryn
Stockett.
It was a novel I was instantly
impressed by. By page ten I was in love with everything to do with it.
There are so many beautiful, colourful characters in this
book that it is difficult to decipher who is meant to be the main character. I
am going to go with Skeeter Phelan though – just because I think that if we had
met in real life we would have been friends. An awkward, wannabe writer
frustrated with the racism she sees around her in 1960’s America, Skeeter
decides that she will compile a book of stories directly from the mouths of the
maids who serve her friends. Of course it will all be done in secret. Bad
things happen to black people who disrespect white folk in these days.
Through construction of this book we meet the lovely Aibileen
Clark, a woman so devastated by the death of her son that it is all she can do
to love the daughter of her employer with every ounce of her heart. A pillar of
the black community, Aibileen shows us the vulnerable side of Minny Jackson, a
woman who once did an unthinkable thing with a chocolate pie. There are dozens
of other character injecting drama into this beautiful story, but these were
the main three for me. I cried and laughed at their exploits, pondered over
their stories and found myself wondering what ever happened to them all. I was
utterly obsessed over a group of fictional characters. Great job, Stockett.
The problems they encounter are predictable, but an
absolute pleasure to read. I fell in love with both the good guys and the
villains and hoped the whole way through that everyone would realise Skeeter
was right about everything. I was not completely satisfied with the ending. I
wanted another fifty or so pages of story, but this didn’t ruin the experience
for me. A highly recommended comfort read.
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