ELR Book Nerd Club: The Help

Erica

P.S. – I think that the reference to real events that took place during the years of segregation really grounded the book and made the emotions of the characters so much more real; it confirmed for the reader that, although the book was fiction, there were so many people who actually lived through similar situations.

Jessica @ How Sweet It Is

I am on chapter 6! I am loving it so far, just wish I had more time to read it.

Ann @ Appalachian Appetites

I just started reading the book and can’t put it down! I love the character’s voices as well and I can already tell I am going to enjoy getting to know each of them better. Thanks for starting this post…And I look forward to reading everyone’s thoughts as I continue reading 🙂

Kelly

Someone recommended this book to me a few months ago and for some reason I couldn’t get into it. However I think it might have been the time or something because SO many people love this book I think I really have to give it another try!

Sarah

My favorite aspect of the book were the voices as well. Having lived in the south I could “hear” Abilene’s voice right away. She was my favorite character–steadfast, virtuous, strong, brave. I thought her motivation for writing the book seemed legitimate and “real” to me and it was neat to compare her to some of the real life heroes of the civil rights movement and to think that maybe their train of thought and decision to act was similarly inspired and considered. This was the best book I’ve read in a year, maybe 2. If I ever wrote a piece of fiction I hope it would be something this powerful and authentic to the human experience.

Kristin T

Aibileen was the character that really grabbed me (among many.. but I digress). The dynamics between that family (with Mae Mobley being dismissed by her mother, Aibileen raising her, the bathroom situation, etc) made for some good nail-biting, heartaching chapters. I thought her courage to be the first to risk everything and speak up to Skeeter was huge – I loved the leadership role she played in the book, both among her own community and in the family she worked for.
I agree, though, and also loved Skeeter. My mother actually grew up in the south having “help” (who she lovingly refers to as Mabel and still keeps in touch with today) – and while I wasn’t there to witness the dynamic between Mabel and her parents, I know my mom grew up with nothing but love in her heart for that woman. They still keep in touch and write letters. I recommended this book to my mom because I know she would connect with Skeeter as well!

katie didit

Someone already mentioned it, but I think the real historical events presented in the book are a great addition. ALthough it’s fiction, by incorporating events that happened during that time period made it seem so real. I also could not put the book down and read it in 3 days! I really enjoyed the way that it ended, but it definitely left me wanting “the help part 2,” haha…

Brie @ Brie Fit

I loved this book, but at the end I was a bit bothered because at the end, I felt like Skeeter hadn’t really changed much even after all she’d seen and done and written about. At the beginning of the book, she wants to work for a publisher…and at the end, she gets that. I didn’t really feel like her character had changed and that disappointed me–I guess I wanted her to become some kind of radical activist after all the injustices she’d seen, you know?

Jennie

I read this book in about a day, as I think I have OCD when it comes to reading. Literally nothing else gets done if I am absorbed in a book. I remember getting up at the end with a tight back from sitting for so long!
The book grabbed me immediately because I have always felt like a Skeeter. I moved to the South from California (opposite of you) and never understood some people’s penchant for the Confederate flag.
However, what I was amazed by at the end was how change occurs in society. It is not about the big speeches, assassinations of public figures, or televised events. It is about a black housekeeper teaching a white child how to love, that she is good, and that the color of our skin does not make us any different. It is about how a friendship between a white writer and a black housekeeper changed the way a group of women viewed each other. It is about how our choices shape the people around us and make a difference in society.

megan

I LOVED this book. Thank you so much for recommending it. You’re right, it was so real. The only thing I didn’t like was that I wanted the ending to go more in depth. I guess I wanted it to be less realistic and I wanted Mae Mobley to grow up and be a good person.

Do you think the chocolate pie part was realistic? I was questioning that for some reason

Morgan

I loved The Help! I love stories of Southern women, and I loved all of the relationships within the book. The relationships between the girls, with their husbands and children and with their help. I adored Skeeter, and I loved who she became and what she did. Stockett also made me really dislike Miss Hilly, which was of course the point!
The chocolate pie part has become a little joke between my mom and I. When my dad gets obnoxious (he is a 5 year old boy in the body of a 60 year old man) we joke that we’ll make him a chocolate pie to shut him up!

Sarah (Running to Slow Things Down)

Somehow I missed out on this book! But I’ll pick it up next week. Better late then never. 😉

(p.s. thanks for some great book recommendations! I’ve been reading nonstop off of your recommended reading list )

Alaina

I think the most heartbreaking part of the book for me were Aibilene’s (sp? Oh, well) musings about the kind of woman Mae Mobley would grow up to be. It was just terrible to think that the kind of ridiculous stereotypes and racism that went on in these women’s lives would be passed onto an innocent child who knew nothing except that Aibilene loved her, and that she loved Aibilene back. All of the parts with Mae Mobley’s mother and father and teacher punishing her for “mistakes” she made (coloring herself as a black child, etc.) were just…heart rending to me.

I loved Skeeter as well, but felt like the motivation for her to write the book was kind of false for some reason? I just kept wishing that she was more passionate about civil rights and that she wasn’t just writing this book because she needed something explosive and controversial to capture a publisher’s attention.

Anyway, loveddd this book, and I also read it in 48 hours, haha. Great choice, Jenna!

Nichole

I was literally handed this book over the weekend. I’m on it. I am late to the party but can’t wait to pick it up!

Heather @ Side of Sneakers

I LOVED this book- when I first started reading I wasn’t sure I was going to like it, but before I knew it I was totally sucked in and finished it in a day or so. I loved the “real” perspective the author gave- I also loved that it was loosely based on her experiences growing up with a maid- something that people rarely experience these days.

Amber from Girl with the Red Hair

Oh I LOVED this book! I read it in only a couple of days as well because it was soooo good!!

I found the ending kind of abrupt. I would have liked to know what happened with the characters after the book was published. Did their lives change?

Overall, one of the best books I’ve read in years!!

Maria

This book had me hooked from the first page too! I always read for 30 minutes in bed and each night while I was reading The Help, I would be so eager to hit the sack!

I loved Minny. Her stubbornness, wit, charm, and intellect and the fact that she was just hilarious to me. I could literally hear her or Aibileen saying “Oh Lar” and would laugh every single time. Miss Celia was another of my favorites as well..something just drew me into her character. I felt bad for her too and was really rooting for her.

Meredith (Pursuing Balance)

I’m going to have to get this one from my library!

Claire

I loved this book. It just drew me in. I think my favorite character was Aibileen. She was brave, kind, loving, and convicted. I, too, wish that there had been maybe a “follow-up” chapter…but maybe Stockett wanted us to make our own follow-up. I thought one of the neat things to see was how there were less people in the town who truly held on to Miss Hilly’s beliefs than she thought. I live in Jackson and kept finding myself driving to work wondering which house was Miss Hilly’s and thinking about Aibileen living just over the bridge I was looking at…very neat!

Krystle Walker

I personally loved the book. My husband and I are currently living in Jackson, MS so the book really explained a lot about this state. We are here because my husband is in seminary so we are surrounded by people that aren’t actually from this state, or even from the south. So, a group of us, made our own Help Tour. We visited all of the places mentioned in the book, took pictures and really enjoyed seeing all of it. This past Saturday, a group of us when to a casting call for the movie. We were all pretty excited when they wrote “banquet scene” on our applications and told us they are look for couples to be extras in the banquet scene.

Becca

My favorite book. I love the character development and “realness” of each character. I found myself identifying with all of them at one point or another. I know Stockett has faced some criticism on using her own voice in this book, but I think she does a great job. I gave this book to my mother in law (who was raised in Mississippi) to read and she said it was very accurate and it took her back to her childhood. Amazing!

Nancy in Naples

Loved this book . . .Aibilene and Minny were my favorites because though the risks were huge, they knew they had to get their stories out there. The love between Aiblilene and these babies she raised was so touching. One of the best I have read in a long time . . .

Kathryn

I loved, loved, loved this book. Like you and many others, Jenna, I read it in about 48 hours and did not want it to end. I really did identify with this story and the characters. Though “The Help” took place several decades before my time, I too grew up in the south with a black maid and caregiver – Ms. Cora – who loved me and my sister (especially my sister!) like we were her own children. I personally identified most with Skeeter, but also loved the characters of Abilene and Ms. Celia. Like reader Maria (#35) said, I was really rooting for her! The relationship between Abilene and Mae Mobley literally touched my heart and brought me to tears. I like to think that she grows up to be a strong, kind and confident woman.

Carole

I have to say that this book made me self reflect on my own prejudices. I think everyone has them–it may not be racial but could be economic or academic. My favorite character was Abilene–steady, loving and good. Her relationship with Mae Mobley melted my heart.

Kathleen

I can’t wait to read this book. I requested it ages ago at the public library, but there was a huge wait list. I went from #97 on the list to #13, so maybe by the end of the summer…

Julie B.

I loved this book and I grew up in Jackson, MS. My grandmother was born the same year as Abiliene and my mother was a maid until she became a nurse. I knew every street that they traveled down and have dined in the Robert E. Lee hotel and attended an awards banquet there as well. I love this story and I’m so glad that it is becoming a movie. They begin shooting in Greenwood, MS in July of this year. The actress that play Minny on the audiobook is also playing Minny in the movie and she gave that character such life. I loved how Mae Mobley was a little version of Skeeter and Abiliene was Mae Mobley’s Constintine.