I finished The Help Christmas morning. I had made very good progress on the evening of the 24th but wanted to finish the book "fresh" rather than with a tired mind. The book was powerful. Once upon a time I dated someone whose father grew up under the care of a maid/nanny, and I wish now that I would have asked more questions about how this felt. I do know that he loved her. My other recurring thought as I read this book is that we (international collective we) had sent a man into space in 1961, but we had not yet reached a point where we treated everyone the same, but I suppose this holds true in some nations even now. Oh, and the Terrible Awful Thing, it was pretty bad. My sister and I spent time Thursday going through the characters (most liked, least liked) and our favorite moments in the book (some funny, some sad).
In the end, I liked the book because it spoke to me. It reminded me that I had felt compelled to read Alex Haley's Roots in the eighth grade and that I always felt that I would move from the small town in which I was raised. It brought back people I have known and conversations that I have had. It left me thinking, and I think that is what a good book should do.
You may have heard the author's interview on NPR last week, but just in case you didn't....
ReplyDeleteok, go to the NPR site and search, because for some reason my computer will not let me copy and paste the link here. Oh well.... I put this book on hold at the library a while back and am still awaiting my turn. You've made me just want to go ahead and buy it :o)
I did not hear the interview but checked out the transcript based on your note. You can find a link here: http://bit.ly/7y96Ba
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