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The Help by Kathryn Stockett


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My post has been merged..I tried to search for the topic before posting but it didn't find anything! Thought it was strange that nobody had mentioned this book! :rolleyes:

 

It took me quite a while to find it, but I felt sure there was a thread on this book! :lol:

 

I haven't read it yet, but I will get around to reading it at some stage.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I just recently read The Help and absolutely loved it from the first page. Someone recommended it and then I saw it at a store, and decided to read the first page of the first chapter.. and when I didn't want to stop I decided I should probably buy it.. and I am so glad I did. I didn't think it was my cup of tea just from the description but once I started reading it I could not put it down.

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I wasn't very keen on reading this book as I usually I avoid the very popular ones. For some reason I picked it up and I couldn't put it down. It was a really good read, making you see things from different people's point of view and it is all very believable. I would definitely recommend it.

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I read The Help last week - had no idea that was what this topic was about, as I read the translation and the title in Norwegian is "The Nanny". Hah.

 

I really enjoyed it. I thought it was well written, but some of it made me stop and think the author was just pushing the white guilt buttons.

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I couldn't find a thread for it so I hope there isn't one. I read this books because it was on the top 100 paid books on Amazon. I was over half way through it when I realised there was a film about it. I really enjoyed this book. I really felt empathy for the characters in it. It really felt like this book was based on real life events because it could have happened in the 1960s. I am really looking forward to seeing the film and I give the book 5/5. What does everyone lose think of this book? :D

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I've wanted to read this for a while, before I even knew it was being turned into a movie. I must get it out of the library next as would love to read it.

I am interested in books about the civil rights movement etc, I have been wanting a book about Rosa Parks for a while too, I must get round to getting these.

Great little review there thanks, made me want to read the book right now :D

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Morning folks

I read The Help" a few months back .It was good ,but I can't say it's the best book I 've ever read about Civil Rights . There seemed to be something missing in the book for me that made me "connect" with any of the characters . A nicely done story,and great idea, telling it in the way it was and the time frame, as it would have taken place when I was growing up in the 60's .

I actually preferred 2 others that seemed to show more of a connection between how important the relationships can be between a white family and an African American ,who is in some way a big part of the family .

One was The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd . The other was Angel's Rest by Charles Davis . Both of those books seemed to show what a close connection and important part the"help" played in the family's life . Both top notch book, highly recommended !

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Nah no guilt buttons, she was right on point. The book is sadly accurate.

 

I didn't mean it isn't accurate - sorry, I didnt explain myself very clearly.

 

It just struck me as a recipe for selling big numbers; a book about a white girl helping out the poor black people in need. Nice to have something to identify with, isn't it? Sorry, that's cynical again. But it seemed calculated.

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Managed to finish the book today, so can happily go off to the cinema tonight now and watch the film :D Oh and I thoroughly enjoyed it by the way :giggle2:

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I loved the book! The thing that may be throwing some off is that the book is writing by a white writer. She did a marvelous job but there was that "something" missing that was simply from the fact that you truly cannot get that connection because its second hand knowledge. Not to say that this isn't possible but I think, had my mother in law wrote this store (from the maids perspective) it would have been more realistic. My mother in law worked as a domestic, in the south and dealt with a lot of these issues. Her language would have been more fluid and lyrical.

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Hi Katrina how are you healing up? What happened about your classes? That is interesting about your MIL. Did she have to contend with that separate toilet thing? That is so degrading.

Please tell me things have changed?

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Thanks for asking VF. School is going better than expected. I did an update in the January thread. My MIL really did have to put up with that kind of stuff and she had a doctor just like that doctor who visitede Cecelia's home when she miscarried. Her shoulders and hips are no good from years of ironing sheets, shirts, napkins and pleats. She had some really good women she enjoyed working for and she had some real pieces of work (to put it mildly) to contend with. Last year one of the families she worked for called her. The man (he once owned a local business) died. His wife was at a loss and their daughter was distraught. Mom was called and I took her there to visit. The daughter actually got up and laid her head on my mil's breast and told her that she missed being cuddled my my mil! My mother in law has such a way about her that you can't meet her without loving her and whites and blacks all want to be included in her family. Even so, she had to use separate facilities and back doors.

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Thanks for asking VF. School is going better than expected. I did an update in the January thread. My MIL really did have to put up with that kind of stuff and she had a doctor just like that doctor who visitede Cecelia's home when she miscarried. Her shoulders and hips are no good from years of ironing sheets, shirts, napkins and pleats. She had some really good women she enjoyed working for and she had some real pieces of work (to put it mildly) to contend with. Last year one of the families she worked for called her. The man (he once owned a local business) died. His wife was at a loss and their daughter was distraught. Mom was called and I took her there to visit. The daughter actually got up and laid her head on my mil's breast and told her that she missed being cuddled my my mil! My mother in law has such a way about her that you can't meet her without loving her and whites and blacks all want to be included in her family. Even so, she had to use separate facilities and back doors.

 

Hi Katrina, how are you? Sorry I haven't said hello for awhile hen :) Your MIL sounds so interesting. :) I'm remember thinking whilst reading 'The Help' that way the 'ladies of the house' treated Aibileen and Minny was horrible but at the time it was 'acceptable' and that made it even more horrible.

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