Book #5: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I have finally read The Help and watched the movie (book first, though).

As for the book, when I first started reading it, the style of writing bothered me.  The entire chapter was written as if the character were speaking and used her dialect.  Now, I don't mind when authors use this tactic in writing dialogue.  That makes perfect sense to me, but for all writing, it was a bit much.  Then, the point of view switched to another character, and so did the writing.  Ah ha!  Now it was clear and I was no longer annoyed with the style.  It actually helped in differentiating between the three characters from whose point of view the story was being told.  As soon as I got past that initial issue, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  Even though it is a fictional story, there is a ring of truth in it, probably due to the fact that the author grew up in the deep south and was brought up by a maid (which surprised me given that she appears to be around the same age as I am and I didn't know anyone with a maid growing up).

My favorite characters were Aibileen for her deep love and concern for Mae Mobley; Miss Skeeter for not following the conventions of the particular time and place where she lived, but trying to do what is right; Celia Foote for seeing Minny more as an equal even though she was her maid.  Oh, yes, I almost forgot, Hilly's mother simply because she found "the terrible awful" to be so hysterical.  Speaking of "the terrible awful", (which I will not put in a spoiler here) I thought it was well thought out to leave that as a surprise until near the end of the book.  No one had spoiled it for me, so I had become very curious about that by the time it was finally revealed.

I watched the movie last night.  It always interests me to see how close a movie is to its book.  I was pleased to see that it remained true to the novel but I did notice some differences and an omission that needed some explaining to a friend who hadn't read the book.  The reason for the $200 check that Hilly receives at the end of the movie is not given so it only makes sense to the people who have read the book.  The scene with Constantine and her daughter was changed, I assume to either save time in all the background explanations that it would require, or to avoid the additional topic of multiracial individuals.  The movie also makes it look as if Skeeter didn't spend much time working on the book.  She was interviewing all the maids all together.  Meanwhile, in the book, it's a very painstaking procedure and she spent many nights at Aibileen's house interviewing individuals.

All that being said, I enjoyed both the movie and the book.  They are both worth the time (but read the book first, of course).

The Help

The Help Trailer