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The Help by Kathryn Stockett

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I wish I'd read the book before I saw the movie because it kind of ruined the book for me. However I still enjoyed the book and there were a few parts in the book that were different from the movie. The parts that weren't in the movie were very good. As in the movie my favorite characters were Minnie and Celia. I thought the book did a better job explaining the relationship between southern children and the black nannies who raised them. It reminded me of the relationships I've heard about between English women and their nannies who raise their children and have nothing to do with their own children.

One of my favorite relationships was the one between Aibileen and Baby girl (Elizabeth's daughter). Especially as Baby Girl got older and went to school where she ran into a teacher who was prejudiced and portrayed black people in a negative way. Which the child recognized as negative and she herself identified more with her black nanny than her mom. It was also interesting that Aibileen tried to teach the white children that black people were not inferior. And most of the white children accepted that black people were not inferior until they got old enough to identify with their white culture and their parents' racism, which she said happened at about the age of 8.



Another thing that I found interesting was the book took place around the time I was growing up. It's hard for me to imagine that sort of thing happening when I was growing up but it did--historically it was over the same timeframe. I was pretty unconscious as a child about what was going on with the black community. I do remember that there were a few black people who worked for a farm close to where I lived and I'd see the black workers walking to work in the morning. Sometimes my father made racist remarks about them and my mother would always say, "don't say those kinds of things in front of the children." I remember as a child accepting my mother's point of view that black people were equal to white people and feeling embarrassed by my father's racism.



Overall the book was funny and poignant and I wished the book said more about Celia and developed her character more. I wanted to know more about her background growing up since she was considered poor white trash maybe even on the level with the blacks. It was interesting to me that she was no particularly prejudiced against black people because traditionally I've always heard that lower class whites were more prejudiced than upper class ones.



Thumbs up for this book. I enjoyed it thoroughly.



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The Help by Kathryn Stockett

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


3.5 stars



I read the first half of this book and listened to the second half on audio. I liked the parts I read much better. At first, it was a little hard to get into since it's written in dialect. But once I got into it, I really enjoyed reading it. When I listened to it, I just wanted to get it over with, so I'm not sure if I didn't like the reader of if the book just lost my interest.

I thought it was a good exploration of the relationships between women, both the supportive side and the cattiness. I've heard that a lot of people are angry about a white author trying to capture the voice of black women, or they say the book is stereotyped, or that it glosses over a horrible situation. I didn't really feel that way at all. I think it portrays black people in a very positive light, but I never had a maid or knew anyone who did, black or white, so I can't really say if the book is accurate or not. And it certainly does not gloss over racism and give us a happy Mammie figure. I liked all the characters in the book, although Skeeter's parts were somewhat dull compared to the others.

I also didn't know much about the maid culture of Southern families before civil rights, so that was interesting. I'd heard of rich white families having black wet nurses during slavery, but I didn't know so many maids raised white children even in the 1950's and 60's. So the historical aspect of the book
I liked that this book, unlike so many in women's literature, did not focus on romance. I'd recommend to anyone sick of reading romance novels disguised as something else, and for pretty much all women in general. A good modern historical fiction book.


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HAHA!!! My review is shorter than Liz's!

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


If i could give 1/2 stars, it would be 4.5/5 stars...which surprised me! I had to read this for the book club, and thought that I wouldn't like it. I thought it was a girly book, and that's all i really thought it was. Boy was i wrong!



I thought the character development in this book was outstanding! I really like books where i can get to know the charachters, and this one really did that. Even the characters that were only mentioned once or twice, you really felt like you understood them. Or at least had a deeper understanding of their character, even if you didn't understand where they were coming from via their actions.



I think this book was much more than the interaction of blacks and whites in the 50's and 60's. It was a reflection of all people, then and now. With how we view ourselves, and how we view others. What types of things we put "value" on, which generally are material things. I think its meant to remind us that often what we take for granted in others is what really matters the most about them. That was evident in every relationship that was explored in this book, both from the white to black prospective, white to black, black to black, and white to white.



anyway, i listend to this on audio book, and really liked the different people who read it (there were separate readers for minni, abaline, and skeeter). I even want to see the movie now! crazy huh? good choice whoever picked it. I reccommend it to anyone.



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So i was thinking about my review a bit more last night. i wanted to add about the relationships that were explored in this book. The book also delved into the relationships between women and other women, rich/wealthy vs poor, mother and daughter, and between women and men. Not so much on the men and men relationship, but thats ok. It still really makes you think about yourself, and how you treat everyone you interact with. As it was written "by" different characters, you really got to see a few perspectives of many different people...i.e. how abaline viewed skeeter, how mini viewed skeeter, and how skeeter viewed herself, etc.... perty neato

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Yay!! This is one of the best books I've read, maybe ever, and is going into my top 10 of all time!

I expected it to be good, as I had seen the movie already, and a friend told me the movie was downright disappointing compared to the book. I loved the movie, so I thought she was exaggerating, but I'm really glad I saw the movie first, so I could enjoy them both! Early on in the book, I thought, well, it seems pretty close to the movie, but not much different.

But as the book went on, there were more and more details that either weren't in the movie, or you just couldn't really capture in a movie at all - some really beautiful descriptions, and just lovely writing of a very moving, layered, and complex story. As I read, I felt like I was getting to know each of the characters intimately, and I enjoyed the different voices very much - from Skeeter's white guilt and good heart, to Minny's hilarious outbursts and prickly character. And of course, Celia Foote - my absolute favorite in the movie, and great in the book as well.

Having seen the movie, it was hard not to compare, and although this is not really relevant to the book, I felt they did an EXCELLENT job of casting the movie - most of the characters were just what I would have pictured from the book.

I deem a book as good if it moves me - to laugh, to cry, to be scared, etc. This book did all of those things. The laughing especially, but there were definitely some tears too, and a couple of scary/suspenseful moments as well.

I really could go on and on, but I'll just let my review stand for itself - I gave it 5 stars, and I never give anything 5 stars! :-)


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Brad wrote: "The Help by Kathryn Stockett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
If i could give 1/2 stars, it would be 4.5/5 stars...which surprised me! I had to read this for the book club, and thought that I wouldn't like..."

Brad I just wanted to say your review is excellent - in fact, you went a little into what the author said she wanted to be the main point of the book - what Skeeter realized when the one lady (Lou Anne??) talked to her in the store - that "there's really not that much difference between us". Your review actually made me think about aspects of the book I hadn't thought of in that much detail. Thanks!

Oh yeah, and this would be my pick. :-)