I didn't read the book, but I saw the movie (didn't even know it was a book until then!) and just cried through most of it. Now I don't know if I want to read the book if some of the "sting" was taken out of events as portrayed in the movie. Eep! I would probably just open the book and start crying from beginning to end.whero wrote:I loved this book. It made me feel sick to the stomach at times, but of course I laughed out loud at the "terrible, awful". The scale and depth of racism in societies old and new always surprises me, I was sheltered through out my youth that these things just don't even enter my head. I thought the characters were very well fleshed out, such that I loved everybody that you're supposed to love and hated everybody that you're supposed to hate. I thought the movie was a very good adaptation, and I thought ALL the actresses did an incredible job with their characters but I did think they took a bit of the sting out of some of the events which was a little disappointing.
Discussion of "The Help"
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Re: Discussion of "The Help"
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-- 27 Oct 2014, 11:53 --
I wanted to add to my original comments that Abileen was one of my favorite fictional characters of all time. She had such a quiet dignity, in the face of dealing with daily humiliation by her employer and her employer's social circle. Abileen was still so kind and loving toward Mae Mobley, even though the little girl would probably grow up to be racist just like her parents.bookowlie wrote:I read the book last year and found it realistic, yet heartbreaking. I grew up in the Northeast in the 60's, so I never witnessed the horrible, racist atmosphere of the Deep South. I also watched the movie, and actually felt the movie was better than the book....more powerful. Although I really liked the book, I felt that, in the hands of a better writer, the book could have been a masterpiece.
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I do agree with much of the criticism of this being a “white savior” book and I found it problematic that the white author took the voice of African American women and appropriates “black” dialect. I was especially struck by one criticism that I read that states “the structure of narratives like The Help underscores the failure of pop culture to acknowledge a central truth: Within the civil rights movement, white people were the help.” Many white Americans were actively involved in the civil rights movement; many even lost their lives in the struggle. However, it remains true that the real movers and shakers were African Americans and that white Americans maintained supportive ally roles.
I think this book could be harmless and entertaining if America had since reached greater racial equality and if white Americans had a better and more truthful understanding of the past and present experiences of oppression that continues to plague the African American community. Unfortunately, because these things have yet to be realized, trivializing these experiences does not help progress. I sympathize with the author’s emotional experience of growing up in Mississippi and her desire to share it. However, I must question her choice in a white savior heroine.
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Lesson learned: Children believe everything you say, so compliment them often.
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I often compliment my son and you are right.Scott wrote:Surprising lesson from this book: I read The Help several years ago. In the story, Mabel constantly compliments the child she is babysitting. I quickly adopted this to my life and constantly complimented my son who was maybe 2 or 3 at the time. I do it ad nauseum. I still do it to this day. If you compliment an adult like that, they won't buy it. They would take it as cheesy or fake. But even now at 5-years-old when I just throw a stream of compliments at my son, I can see his eyes light up with that expression--"I am? I am super smart, strong, nice? I am a really good boy?" I just saw that face minutes ago, and I have this book to thank for it.
Lesson learned: Children believe everything you say, so compliment them often.
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Thank you, I've been trying to formulate a response while reading through 5 pages of reviews, and this really hits the nail on the head. I read The Help a couple years ago and I loved it. My line of thinking veered toward the saying "any publicity is good publicity" in that I figured if this book (or movie) could open up a dialogue about race relations that must be a pretty good thing, right? Certainly I like Kathryn Stockett's style of writing (I put this book on my 4 star shelf just today, in fact).Dando wrote:I read The Help right before the movie was released and I enjoyed it very much. I did recommend it to some of my family and friends before the movie was being released. Then I saw the movie, reread the book, and started thinking critically and it became problematic for me.
I do agree with much of the criticism of this being a “white savior” book and I found it problematic that the white author took the voice of African American women and appropriates “black” dialect. I was especially struck by one criticism that I read that states “the structure of narratives like The Help underscores the failure of pop culture to acknowledge a central truth: Within the civil rights movement, white people were the help.” Many white Americans were actively involved in the civil rights movement; many even lost their lives in the struggle. However, it remains true that the real movers and shakers were African Americans and that white Americans maintained supportive ally roles.
I think this book could be harmless and entertaining if America had since reached greater racial equality and if white Americans had a better and more truthful understanding of the past and present experiences of oppression that continues to plague the African American community. Unfortunately, because these things have yet to be realized, trivializing these experiences does not help progress. I sympathize with the author’s emotional experience of growing up in Mississippi and her desire to share it. However, I must question her choice in a white savior heroine.
It did not occur to me why this book might be offensive or harmful until now, these couple of years later. Sometimes it is difficult to put those thoughts into words. Thanks for your insightful comment.