Brenda's Response to The Help

1.  Who was your favorite character and why?

I really thought it was a great cast of characters.  All of them, the black ones and the white, they all had really interesting personalities.  I guess my favorites were, Aibileen, Minny and Skeeter.  I liked Aibileen because of her down to earth matter of fact simple approach to life.   She always seemed to have an instinct for what was best for Mae Mobley and a common sense about life in general.  I liked Minny because she seems so tough on the outside yet I always got the feeling she was sensitive on the inside.  For example putting her pie story in the book to protect everyone.  And she always seemed to like things to be fair.   I really liked Skeeter a lot too.  She was very likable and I liked how she handled her life in general.  She was kind to her parents, and she had a sympathetic heart and a clear vision of how humans should treat each other.  I liked that she risked so much to get her book written, and I loved the friendships that were formed between her and so many black ladies as a result of the writing process of her book.  In the end I got a real feeling that all these women really cared about each other and that the color of their skin never mattered to them and that each one was intelligent and had a very interesting life. 

2.  Life has changed dramatically since the times in which this book is set. What part of 1960s life in Mississippi do you find most shocking?

As we grow up we learn in history class and read in books all the time about slavery and how afterwards in the 50’s and 60s and 70’s black people were treated badly but this book gave us a look into that history.  The thing I found most shocking was the realization that I was born in 1960…..That these things have happened in my life time.  That had I lived a little further south I could have easily been Mae Mobley and had a black housekeeper.   One thing that stood out and that I loved about this book was how the children that were in this story had no prejudice.  They loved their black maids more then their own mothers in most cases.  I found the amount love these black women gave to the white children they cared for to be very sweet.  This story took us to a place in our very own history, our own country, and gave us a glimpse into this Southern life in the 60’s and although some things like the segregation and the separate toilets and the fact that white folks found black folks to be dirty and diseased (which wasn’t true) and treated them below themselves, things like that were very shocking.  But I also felt that on some level it was presented in a way that made everyone black and/or white just seem very human, with a lot of the same human emotions and worries and needs. Ya the most shocking thing to me was the realization that these views and attitudes by whites towards blacks has happened in my life time and when I think Way Way Way back I can remember these attitudes and views of blacks being discusses in my own grandparents kitchen in St Louis Missouri.

3.  How much of a person’s character would you say is shaped by the times in which they live?

Gosh, I would say some of a person’s character is shaped by the times they live in but not all of it.  I think some is shaped by how you are raised and what your heritage is and whom you are surrounded by.    

4.  What did you think about Minny’s pie for Miss Hilly? Would you have gone as far as Minny did for revenge?

Ha ha ha ha ha…….I was so surprised when I read this part.  I found it so hilarious, but definitely in character for Minny.  That Minny she’s a feisty one.  It kind of felt good to see someone like Miss Hilly get what was coming to her.  Would I have done it…….I don’t know, I can’t picture doing it, but Miss Hilly certainly did deserve it. 

5.  How did you feel about the ending?

I felt like the ending was very abrupt.  I was reading along and it just ended, bam, it was done.  But upon reflection I came away from this book feeling good.  Like they were all going to be okay in their new lives.  I felt sad for Miss Leefolt I felt like she was the only character that didn’t find any kind of inner strength or growth to move forward in life in a positive way.  She seemed to be Miss Hilly’s puppet and allowed Miss Hilly to dictate to her everything she should do and feel.  She was a horrible mother and I came away from the book hoping that Mae Mobley and Li’l Man were going to be okay without Aibileen.   Some how I don’t think they will, they still needed Aibileen.   But hopefully she will hire another maid who will love those kids just as much as Aibileen did.   In the last scene when Aibileen got fired for no reason at all except the lie Miss Hilly was telling, I kind of got the impression that Miss Leefolt was sad to see Aibileen go and didn’t really want to fire her, but she was just to weak of a person a couldn’t stand up against Miss Hilly and allowed her to walk all over her.   I was glad that Minny finally broke away from her abusive husband too.  I had hope in the end that she was going to finally be okay too.  I just wish the author would have wrapped everything up a little better at the end I guess. 

6.  Would you recommend this novel to a friend?

Oh yes I definitely would in fact I have recommended it to a couple of people already.  This was a really Great book.  It captured my attention right away and by mid way through it I was having trouble putting it down.  There were 2 nights that I stayed up till 4 a.m. reading it. 

Thank You so much Rachel for selecting such a wonderful first read for us this New Year.  I thought this was a perfect book for our book club and it is going to be hard for us to match it with our selections. 

I have just a couple more comments that I didn’t include in my answers, First I am curious, How did this book make you all feel?  I just finished reading it today and for a few hours after I finished my brain was going a million miles and hour with lots of feelings both happy and sad.  This book felt really real, like we were spending a few years in these people’s lives.  And I kept putting myself in each of their shoes, how would I feel if I were Skeeter, or Aibileen, or Minny or Hilly, or Celia, or Elizabeth etc…..  I wonder what the movie is like.  How detailed will they get, will they show some of the more sad and upsetting things like when Celia miscarried her baby.   

Secondly, The way this writer wrote the black ladies as if they were speaking in their black lady way was BRILLIANT!!!!!!  It was like Aibileen was in my head when I was reading her sections.   The way the words were written in this book had a way of turning me into a southern black women of the 60’s as I read. What an interesting thing to do for a white author.  Brilliant!!!!!

Third, After all is said and done I really felt like this was a very inspirational book about perseverance and doing the right thing not the popular thing, or the thing that everybody else is doing (i.e. Skeeter, the way she went against her social group and lived the way she thought was right, telling the story she thought needed telling etc….I loved Skeeter) and about remaining true to who you are.  

Some books when you read them sort of change you a little bit.  They make you grow.  I’m still running this book in my head and probably will for a few more weeks, and maybe I will have further comments for our blog soon.   But for now I am glad to have read this one, It was inspirational to me, and I am looking forward to Saturday when Rachel and I will be watching the movie together.  It will be interesting to see these characters and this story come to life on the big screen. 

GREAT Read……Thanks again Rachel for such a wonderful selection!!!!!!!!