tonight is our local book group and we'll be discussing "the help." I just read it this week because i like the books to be fresh in my brain, and because procrastination is not only a choice but a way of life. :)
i can relate to skeeter - feeling like i want or should do something to change what's wrong in the big picture, but not being totally able to relate to those who are directly affected by what's wrong.
i can relate to minny - not wanting to care about certain things, but not being able to help it - being in your face about certain things, but backing off of other things if they hit too close to home.
aibileen is all that is inspirational to me: faithful despite personal trauma, loving in the face of hate and prejudice, hopeful that the babies she raises with loving hands will remember that love and question the hate they're taught to carry, quietly and enduringly courageous.
like "the guernsey literary and potato peel pie society," i have no doubt that the experiences of these maids is taken from true acts from their employers - the good, the ignorantly bigoted, and the downright hateful. i have a hard time fully grasping the underlying problem in both books: a group of people so intent on keeping power over another that they reduce the oppressed group to animal status - less-than-human.
because i like my stories finished up with neat little happy endings, the ending of "the help" was a little lacking. yes, the main characters are given opportunities for new starts, but how do they do with those? are they able to build a life they can be satisfied with? i like my happy endings spelled out. :)
i feel like too much was made out the pie incident. it kind of detracted from the overall inspiring-ness of the book. i see why it was necessary for the story - but it was in there a little too much for me.
overall, i enjoyed the book, even though i cried. :) (i really don't like to cry.) i don't know that i'll read it again, but i'm glad to have read it.
i marked lots of passages in the book that deal with ignorance and definitions and separations that we impose on ourselves and others, but the part that sticks with me the most is when aibileen looks at mae mobley (her young charge) and thinks "what would happen if i told her she something good, ever day?" what would happen if i even just pause in my day-to-day to look my children in the eye and remind them how loved they are - how much we wanted them to be a part of our family - make it a moment. would they get sick of it? maybe. would it become part of them? hopefully. and that inspiration alone was worth reading "the help."
