This book explores the relationship between African American maids and their white employers in the 1960s. Although this is not a topic that I would normally be drawn to, I had heard so many good things about the book that I simply had to check it out. Everyone I talked to said that the appeal of The Help was the voice that Stockett gave to each of her characters. They were completely right. Stockett masterfully uses language to paint a picture of each character in such a vivid way that it feels like they are telling you their story in person. She brings the flavor of the South through the language without making it difficult to read or understand, as sometimes happens when authors try to use a specific vernacular.
My colleague (and reading buddy), Cindy, summed it up when I told that I had finished the book. She said, "Don't you miss them?" The characters become your very real friends and the ending (though satisfying) leaves you yearning for more of Minnie, of Aibileen, and even of mean Miss Hilly.
Favorite Quotes:
- You is kind. You is smart. You is important.
- All I'm saying is, kindness don't have no boundaries.
- Ever morning, until you dead in the ground, you gone have to make this decision. You gone have to ask yourself, "Am I gone believe what them fools say about me today?
- I used to believe in em (lines). I don't anymore. They in our heads. Lines between black and white ain't there neither. Some folks just made those up, long time ago. And that go for the white trash and the so-ciety ladies too
- That's the way prayer do. It's like electricity, it keeps things going.
- Frying chicken always makes me feel a little better about life.
My colleague (and reading buddy), Cindy, summed it up when I told that I had finished the book. She said, "Don't you miss them?" The characters become your very real friends and the ending (though satisfying) leaves you yearning for more of Minnie, of Aibileen, and even of mean Miss Hilly.
Favorite Quotes:
- You is kind. You is smart. You is important.
- All I'm saying is, kindness don't have no boundaries.
- Ever morning, until you dead in the ground, you gone have to make this decision. You gone have to ask yourself, "Am I gone believe what them fools say about me today?
- I used to believe in em (lines). I don't anymore. They in our heads. Lines between black and white ain't there neither. Some folks just made those up, long time ago. And that go for the white trash and the so-ciety ladies too
- That's the way prayer do. It's like electricity, it keeps things going.
- Frying chicken always makes me feel a little better about life.
I read this a few months ago and loved it! What a great book.
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