The Help

So I finally broke down and read The Help. Everyone was doing it. How could I not? I’ve always been desperate to fit in with everyone, so this just seemed inevitable. (My pathetic-ness is even worse when you find out that the only reason I read it was because I got wind of an upcoming chick-movie outing that I wanted to be a part of, so I had to hurry up and read it so the movie didn’t ruin the book for me.)

Anyway, so what did I think? Not bad. Pretty good. Actually, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I started reading with a purpose (get it done as quickly as possible so I can go see the movie) and ended with a much more enjoyable purpose (get to the end as quickly as possible because I want to know what happens, darn it!). I thought it was well thought-out and the voices of the three narrators were realistic and clear. It was especially impressive as a debut novel from an unknown author. I was impressed by the Stockett's creativity (although there are rumors that some of her episodes were “borrowed” from real-life incidents) and was impressed by her willingness to beat her characters up a little bit.

It gets tiresome to read the same story of the heroine over and over again- you know, the one who tries, tries, tries, only does the right thing, but the world just keeps screwing her over and just when she thinks she’s as far down as she can get the clouds open and boom! Happily ever after. This story isn’t like that. The characters are a part of the action rather than merely being affected by it. What I liked most about them is that even though they were likable and crusading to do a good thing, they were each nice and flawed. They did good things, they did bad things. They were strong, they buckled under pressure. They were brave, they were chicken. You get it. Really, it’s not hard to get.

And there’s the rub. Really, it’s not that hard to get. Because what we have here is a story- a very good one, don’t get me wrong- about racial relations in the 60s in the south. Stories of which, point of fact, we have many. So I’m going to just be a complete snob here and say that I honestly didn’t think it was that groundbreaking of a book. Sorry, reviewers and ladies and socialites and maids- but really, did we honestly learn anything that new here? I don’t think so. We learned that some rich white ladies in the 60s were small-minded, manipulative witches. Oh, wait, we knew that. Okay, so we learned that some rich white ladies in the 60s were actually human and treated everyone they met with a standard degree of respect. Oh, wait, we knew that too. Okay, so we learned that some black ladies that worked as maids got pushed around, some were treated like queens, some actually ruled the roost at the house they worked at, some did indeed rip off their rich white employers, and some were falsely accused of doing such a thing. Oh. Wait. We knew that. Bottom line is, we know that the south was racially charged back in the 60s. (Truthfully, it still is, but of course nothing like it was back around the beginning of the civil rights movement.) This book- let’s be honest here- didn’t really shed any new light on an admittedly ugly subject.

There’s been a lot of talk about this book: “It’ll change your life…”, “You’ll never see a housekeeper the same way again…”, “It’s just as controversial as To Kill a Mockingbird was…” Come on. None of that’s true. If it changes your life, you were living in a bubble. If you never look at a housekeeper the same way again, you were definitely looking at housekeepers in the wrong way to begin with. And comparing this book to To Kill a Mockingbird? Nonsense. Harper Lee probably wrote To Kill a Mockingbird just so that books like this would eventually be commonplace on our shelves. It was written back in 1960, when most people had never even heard of Martin Luther King, Jr. and black skin was considered diseased by the most enlightened of society. It was bold, daring, and made a huge impact on society and literature that we still compare other works to today. And then…The Help hit the shelves fifty years later. Wow, way to stir things up. Really. If we haven’t heard and learned from the tales of the civil rights movement by now, fifty years later, well, there’s just no hope for us. We didn’t need another story to teach us a valuable lesson. History should have already done that.

So, groundbreaking? Meh. “Most important piece of fiction since To Kill a Mockingbird?” Hay-all no. But a great book? Definitely! Really! It was a great book! I highly recommend it! Just… don’t go casting your votes for the Pulitzer just yet. I’m sure we’ve got another story about holocaust survivors on the way that should take that impact-on-society award hands down…