Today's post is going to be a book review on The Help. I try my hardest to be honest with the reviews that I do on any books and this post will be no different.
I have tried to read the book on three separate occasions. This time being the fourth. Each of the other times I have gotten to various points in the book. The furthest being the Benifit
This time I have gotten past the Benifit chapter and again I am having difficulty continueing on with the book. It's almost as if I'm reading a page at a time but getting no where. It's not as if the book is bad I like the book. It's not one of my favorites but I like it. I kept going and have found my pace reading it when I got to the point where Skeeter finds out about Constantine's daughter who she had put into an orphanage. After 19 days of reaing the book I finally finished it.
The main people - Aibleen, Minny and Skeeter - are really well written and are enjoyable to read about. Even the other people - Hilly, Elizabeth, Cecila - are great to read about. I must say though that I liked reading more about Cecila and Elizabeth more then Hilly. I also found that Skeeter was a bit bland in some of her chapters and in others I really felt for her.
Aiblieen and Minny are just perfect. I like how motherly they are to Mae Mobley (Aibleen) and Cecila (Minny) and the friendship between Aiblieen and Minny is brilliant. They balance each other out. I love The Terrible Aweful Thing that Minny did to Hilly.
One thing I will say is that the movie was done brilliantly but I wish they had kept the reason Constantine (Skeeter' childhood maid) actually left rather then change it. It was well done in the movie but I think the reason in the book was far better then in the movie. More effective of the racism that was in those days. And while both are very well written and acted I felt more sad for Constantine, Skeeter and her mother who obviously cared for Constantine as Skeeter did.
At the end of the book there is Discussion questions and I wanted to make some points on one of the questions. If Aibileen had stayed working with Elizabeth that Mae Mobley would have grown up racist like her mother? Do you think racism is inherent or taught?
Personally I think that racism is taught, especially in a book like this where you see first hand just how racist some people can be towards others. So I think that Mae Mobley would have been racist towards Aibileen because she is seeing her mother and Hilly be racist to Aibileen, Minny and Hilly's new help. If you see a parent do something you tend to follow and think it's right. Only Mae Mobley can decide if she wants to be racist or not wether Aiblieen had stayed or not. You see it with Skeeters mother. She wasn't nessaseraly racist towards Constantine or her daughter but when other people are around its a different story. You pick up on situations and what people are like that you eat lunch with and socialize with and your attitude towards them change.
Personally I think that racism is taught, especially in a book like this where you see first hand just how racist some people can be towards others. So I think that Mae Mobley would have been racist towards Aibileen because she is seeing her mother and Hilly be racist to Aibileen, Minny and Hilly's new help. If you see a parent do something you tend to follow and think it's right. Only Mae Mobley can decide if she wants to be racist or not wether Aiblieen had stayed or not. You see it with Skeeters mother. She wasn't nessaseraly racist towards Constantine or her daughter but when other people are around its a different story. You pick up on situations and what people are like that you eat lunch with and socialize with and your attitude towards them change.
I think Elizabeth is also a perfect example of this. She is racist you can't deny that. But if you took Hilly out of the situation I don't think Elizabeth would be as racist. Mae Mobly is learning off her surroundings.
I like how Celia the lady who Minny is a Maid for keeps trying and trying to become friends with Hilly and Elizabeth and the other ladies at the bridge club even though they don't like her, I would have liked to have seen Skeeter and Celia become friends after Skeeter and Hilly and Elizabeth are no longer friends
I also wanted to make a point about Hilly and Elizabeth's friendship. Elizabeth is really dependant on Hilly's friendship, She would treat Aibileen with some respect but would always take Hilly's advice on things such as the toilet for the Help outside, or making her believe that Aibileen stole things when in actual fact she hadn't. Just because things had happened with her maid it wouldn't have happened to anyone else or their maid.
After Skeeters book was released though I must say that Hilly was doing a lot of damage control. But I don't think that Hilly was as scared in her whole life as she was when the book was released, because she knew people would start to look at her differently and she has to always be in control of things.
I like how Celia the lady who Minny is a Maid for keeps trying and trying to become friends with Hilly and Elizabeth and the other ladies at the bridge club even though they don't like her, I would have liked to have seen Skeeter and Celia become friends after Skeeter and Hilly and Elizabeth are no longer friends
I also wanted to make a point about Hilly and Elizabeth's friendship. Elizabeth is really dependant on Hilly's friendship, She would treat Aibileen with some respect but would always take Hilly's advice on things such as the toilet for the Help outside, or making her believe that Aibileen stole things when in actual fact she hadn't. Just because things had happened with her maid it wouldn't have happened to anyone else or their maid.
After Skeeters book was released though I must say that Hilly was doing a lot of damage control. But I don't think that Hilly was as scared in her whole life as she was when the book was released, because she knew people would start to look at her differently and she has to always be in control of things.
Lauren
xoxo
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