You know how some books you read you don't want to stop, don't want to even put it down to eat or start some laundry? I just finished one of those kinds of books. It seems like a popular-ish book (it's being made into a movie) and there was buzz about how good it was. It was about the South. I sort of had to read it. And so I ordered it. Months ago. It waited for me while I read a super long book that I already knew the ending to. (Because I had to know why Lorena and Pea Eye got married!) So... I had read some snippets of what other people of the Internet were saying about this popular book and I took a chance on it.
I bet you are just on the edge of your seat waiting for me to tell you the title. Well, wait no longer... The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. Oh my. I started it either Monday night or Tuesday and Wednesday around 5pm I was finished with it. When I noticed I didn't have much further to go in the book, as each page turned, I began to (so dramatic here) mourn coming to the end. I wanted this book to go on. I want to know what happens after it ends. It was so very good. I really hope the movie follows the book closely, even though I may never watch it. I find it incredibly disappointing when such a good book is a let down as a movie.
I only put it down long enough to tend to everyone and thing yesterday. I didn't really slack off, I just didn't do any more than I had to. I will try to tell you a little about it.
A young 23 year old (Skeeter) starts wondering what the Negro housekeepers think about their jobs, families they have worked for and how they feel about practically raising their children. It starts out when her friend Hilly starts a initiative to have all houses add a separate bathroom for the help (because they carry different diseases than the white people). Skeeter looks up to see the black housekeeper and wonders how she feels about this. This all leads to her secretly writing a book with 13 of the black maids telling their stories and risking their jobs and lives so that people will know what they go through and how it makes them feel. It's all about these invisible lines that we draw up and feel we can't cross. Back then it was the maids and their bosses. They couldn't tell them how they really felt because they were sure they'd be fired. The point of their book is "For women to realize, We are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I'd thought." It's just one woman helping another. It doesn't matter their color or race, religion or lack thereof, how much money they have or don't have. Just because they were hired help didn't make them less of a person.
If you're interested in the book you can read more about it here. I definitely recommend reading this book. Just make sure you have nothing of importance to do when you start reading it, cause you won't be able to put it down.
Mama
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