the help ...

so. i finished reading 'the help' by kathryn stockett this week. and i have things i want to say about it. normally i like a book. or i don't like a book. or i feel 'meh' about a book. once i know which way i feel, i look for the foundation of the assessment ... dumb characters? brilliant plot? great escape? lame writing?

but 'the help' was different. i thoroughly enjoyed the reading of it. it zipped along and i laughed out loud, i cringed, i became melancholy over some characters' sorrows, and i was outraged at times.

but after i finished it, and reflected for just a short time, i became cranky. not about race issues and the appropriateness of the whole project - as one might justifiably guess about a novel written by a white woman in the voice of 2 black women. no, i was cranky with the two dimensional characters the writer created.

aibileen - pure of heart, intelligent, confident, well aware of the inherent wrongness of her subservient role, but pragmatic enough to perpetuate it without rocking the boat for DECADES; she suddenly reaches a breaking point and risks all - possibly even her life - because of one insult too many? not buying it.

minny - stereotypical, smart-mouthed black maid, whose confidence is on grand display everywhere ... except with her physically abusive husband? not buying it.

hilly - the devil incarnate. at one point aibileen says hilly is a good mother (because she is kind to and hugs her children). i call bs. good mothers do not teach their children to treat other human beings as property. they don't maliciously black-ball and punish others for holding different beliefs. they don't bully and ostracize others because they are different. good mothers come from good people. and as created in 'the help', hilly is NOT a good person.

skeeter - the character closest to being three dimensional, skeeter was the most honest of the characters (which in itself was annoying). she didn't start the project with the grand goal of eradicating racism, but as a way to get out of town. i can buy that. she was ignorant of her hypocrisy, and her sheltered upbringing combined with the two dimensional 'tiger mother' she had to contend with allows me to buy that part. but the whole courting sub-story??? AS IF! even a brain dead southern belle with warts all over her face would have dumped that drunk hunk.

and the men!? they were either abusive, cruel, absent, milquetoast, or non-entities filling in space.

grrr. great idea. weak characterizations.

having said that, i recommend reading it for one reason:

about halfway through, i realized that only 45 years from when the story was set (1963), the united states elected a black president. amazing. less than a lifetime passes and the whole world changed. conversely, a mere 45 years ago ignorant people still believed that black and white people have different germs - necessitating separate cutlery, dishes, and even - in what then becomes a wonderful payback moment from skeeter to hilly - toilets.

books like this are important - in as much as they illustrate how far we've come as a whole and also how short-sighted some people remain.