I finished The Help a few weeks ago, but wanted to wait until after my book club met to discuss it before blogging. I liked it about 100 times better than Wench. Sadly, I was one of two people who had finished the book in the group, so the conversation was a bit stilted.
The Help was everything Wench was not. The story was told from multiple perspectives, I cared about the characters, and there was a solid historical perspective. As I used to teach, all truly good novels that will live on beyond their time include commentary on religion, politics, economics, and society. While the society of rich/middle class white ladies in Jackson, Mississippi is the focus,the assassination of Medgar Evers takes place in the scope of the novel. The politics of a few characters who are running for state and national office is also an undercurrent. Additionally the hypocrisy of self-proclaimed "Christians" who treat the help as if they are not people touches every part of the story.
There are parts of the novel that made me angry, as they were meant to. Other parts made me cry. Any book that can truly raise the emotions of the reader is a success. As the author grew up in the area where the story takes place, I can only hope she got the historical details correct as I have no basis to judge. A non-fiction account of the same time period with interviews of both employers and employees would be a wonderful supplement to The Help.
The Help is all over the place these days in part because the movie is coming out this summer. I am a little wary about seeing it because I rarely think the movie version lives up to the book. But I will probably see it anyway as I liked the book enough to want to see the characters come alive, especially Miss Celia and Minny who were my favorites.
