The Ladies' Book Club: July 2011

Book Read:

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Ladies in Attendance:

5 regular members

Treats shared:

Oreo pie (I know, right? YUM!), Fruit pizza (just as yummy!), the BOSS sandwich ( a massive pile of meats, cheeses and bread), stinky blue cheese and crackers, spicy jelly and cheese, sun dried tomatoes, red and white wine and Limeade!

To Read or Not to Read:

Everyone read it this time!!!!

My Reaction:

I LOVED it. LOVED LOVED LOVED it. In fact, I mourned it in the end. I had a hard time geting in to another book. This book was written in such a way that the story flowed effortlessly. I had no trouble at any point. It held my interest all the way. In fact, it was one of those books that I sought out every possible moment to read a few pages. THAT is something. I don't get a lot of time to read or have that much energy these days and it was really lovely to feel so strongly about "getting back" to a book.

For those of you who don't know the story, The Help is about the lives of several black maids and their white families in Jackson, Mississippi during the sixties. Each chapter is told from a different voice, Abilene, Minny and Skeeter. Abilene and Minny are two older black maids and Skeeter is a twenty-something white woman at a difficult place in her life. It's about the discrimination of the time, the power of prayer and hope, the importance of family and friends, and the overcoming obstacles and making change happen.

I am so excited to see the movie that comes out later this summer. We are planning on going as a group. I look forward to seeing if the casting matches my view of the characters and if the movie can convey the warmth and soul of the book.

Ladies' Reaction:

We all agreed that it was an amazing book. Two of the ladies had read it awhile ago and had a bit of trouble remembering some the details but definitely knew they enjoyed reading it. We all seemed to appreciate the author's warmth to her writing. She herself had grown up in the south and had a black maid that she was incredible fond of and loved. That respect really came through in her telling of this story, especially when she was in the voice of a older black woman. The author mentioned that she definitely took a risk writing as a black woman but I felt she did a good job, for what I know.

The book sparked some discussion of prejudice then and now. Were the racist white ladies indeed mean and full of hate or were they just raised in a world that didn't value black people as equals? We dissected Hilly's character a bit since she was, by far, the most hated character in the book, being the high and mighty white lady of her community and enforcing all the rules to keep black folks in their place. That is what she was raised in, she didn't feel there was any other way, yet her friend, Skeeter, also raised in the same environment, grew to be open and accepting of change.

We are excited for the movie and hopped online to check out the cast. Thought most were unfamiliar to us, once we saw the movie cover we thought the looks of some of the actresses really fit the characters in the book.

Good Book Club Pick?

Yes! Overall, we loved it! There were very few complaints on this one. We answered most of the questions in the reading group guide and everyone had a lot to say about it. I am so happy I finally got around to reading this bestseller!

Author Website:

Kathryn Stockett

Next Book Up:

The Bolero of Andi Rowe by Toni Plummer (this was written by a friend of one my the Ladies!)

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child