Sorry I couldn't make the meeting but wanted to offer some thoughts on the book, The Help. What I found most intriguing was the perspective. Knowing there were separate bathrooms was in the history books but the deep fear of disease whites could get because they lacked the pigmentation immunity that blacks had was just so irrational that I was astounded.
Another was the contradiction that blacks could raise the white children but could not eat at the same table was bizarre. The use of bathroom by a black contaminated it for white use. So many contrasts, Minnie and Celia confronted by a naked crazed sex pervert, yet it is Celia that beats him down. Power prayers of Aibileen have a direct line to God.
Things I found less than perfect were editing errors. Why do we learn Aibileen last name on page 97? There is a lack of cohesion in pulling things together and through the book. Or maybe, the editor cut out those connecting threads. Maybe, I missed some the clues uniting thoughts together.
It was an adventurous bold undertaking presenting a time of irrationality in a very different perspective. It is one of those books that gets passed from friend to friend. Not a book on a shelf.
If you want to hear Diane Rehm's discussion of it (2-25-10) go to http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-02-25/readers-review-help-kathryn-stockett
Jean (my blog w/my brother Ray will probably post my name as cRAYZys.
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