<p>As for The Help–or really American Wife in light of The Help–I do think that the working relationship between Alice and Jessica is a natural progression of their personal one and I don’t think Curtis Sittenfeld was making any racial commentary. Still…I couldn’t help but muse on the fact that the next “Miss Ruby” generation was still providing service to the next Blackwell generation. Given Jessica’s gifts, I’d like to see her moving toward a position of authority. Of course, she’s still young when the novel ends. Maybe alh can write us a sequel where Jessica becomes Secretary of State and Priscilla has to host a banquet in her honor.</p>
<p>Just came from food shopping and caught the last 10 minutes of Diane Rehm doing a discussion of The Help from 11-12 eastern. Should be accessible from nrp site shortly.</p>
<p>I haven’t joined this discussion since I read it when it was mentioned months ago, so have lost the details. I remember liking it a lot; interesting that there were (a couple of) critical remarks on NPR that it was trite and offensive.</p>
<p>I read * The Help* quite a while ago as well- and when I first started I didn’t like it at all.
However, I thought there was wonderful character development, and that the writer had great respect and empathy for the situations of the women.</p>
<p>I have read * The Glass Castle* and liked that as well.</p>
<p>I only hope that when my children write about my parenting skills they are as sympathetic.</p>
<p>Sorry to be so late to the discussion. I loved “the Help” for many reasons that have already been mentioned, so I won’t repeat. I thought everything about it was wonderful- the characters and their development, the writing, the conflicts, the story. My RL book club will be reading it later this spring, it is one that I will reread!
We read “Shadows of the Wind” a couple months ago, I am sure everyone will really love it. It too has great character development and LOTS of twists and turns. We also read “Glass Castle” a few years ago and it is one that people aways put on their list of favorites.</p>
<p>Diane invites listeners to join a Readers’ Review discussion of a novel that has touched a nerve with many people. It’s topping best-seller lists across the country. “The Help” by Kathyrn Stockett centers on a young, white woman and two black maids in 1960s Mississippi.
Guests</p>
<p>Rev. Jane Dixon, The Right Reverend Jane Holmes Dixon, retired Episcopal Bishop of Washington, Pro-tempore.</p>
<p>E. Ethelbert Miller, poet; director of the African American Resource Center at Howard University, Board Chair of the Institute for Policy Study. And author of the forthcoming book "On Saturdays I Santana With You.</p>
<p>Natalie Hopkinson, media and culture critic for TheRoot.com, The Washington Post’s black interest Web magazine. She is coauthor of “Deconstructing Tyrone: A New Look at Black Masculinity in the Hip-Hop Generation” and the forthcoming book, “Go-Go Live.”</p>
<p>Mary (#159) when I wrote My “second” would really be a third. what I meant was that I was seconding (supporting) a previous poster’s suggestion, but someone had already done so, so I wasn’t really chiming in second, but third.</p>
<p>I was being a bit silly…wine may have been involved.</p>
<p>I heard a fragment of today’s NPR discussion. Diane Rehm had also invited Vernon Jordan to discuss this book, but he was unable to make the show, which was too bad because he would have contributed to the discussion as a pioneer of the civil rights movement. There was an interesting question posed by a caller about how this book would be different if told in the male Voice or from the male perspective.</p>
<p>I thought about this for a while before reaching the conclusion that it would be a completely different book if told from the male perspective. I think one of the underlying themes of this book is about women - both black and white - discovering their own voices.</p>
<p>mafool, ignatius clued me into your meaning (#160). I was a little dense that day. Wine might have helped. :)</p>
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<p>I agree: Women discovering their own voices…mothers and daughters…the bonds of “sisterhood”–not only as seen in the Junior League, but also in the no-nonsense mentoring relationship between Skeeter and her editor. I listened to the NPR program—the host commented that the book was not merely about race, but about how cruel and how kind women can be to each other.</p>
<p>I thought the NPR discussion was very even-handed—neither full of praise nor censure. The (black/southern) guests felt that Stockett’s “voice” was not quite right, not authentic, but that the accessibility of the novel and its ability to open people’s eyes outweighed the book’s flaws.</p>
<p>I follow Katie Couric on Twitter and yesterday she tweeted that she was getting ready to interview Kathryn Stockett and wanted to know what questions people had. I don’t watch CBS News though, so I’ll have to work to find this interview.</p>
<p>Tuesday night, my RL book group discussed the book. Most of the comments were similar to those here, but one that interested me came from a woman who was born in South Africa, grew up there but left for England in her 20s and has lived there until just recently (she’s 50-something). Her view was that the topic covered (race relations) wasn’t anything new or unique. Other authors had “been there/done that” and had done it much better. (She couldn’t think of any examples). She made the comment that the book could have been set in South America. Again–no examples. This got me thinking–are the relationships in this book between the black and white women unique? I also wondered if wasn’t class discrimination as much as race discrimination that was the underpinning for many of the relationships in the book.</p>
<p>I think class was definitely part of it, but even the “white trash” would not have been required to use that “special bathroom” in the garage. That was all race.</p>
<p>I don’t disagree, and yet Hilly et al left Celia standing on the porch, never inviting her inside when she dropped by Elizabeth’s house unexpectedly. I’m not sure Hilly would have let Celia use a bathroom at all - lol. Poor Celia. I have to admit I found alh’s sequel re Celia’s life comforting.</p>
<p>I enjoyed hearing Alh’s sequel re Celia also. What do you all think lay ahead for the others?
I liked Bromfield’s question about would we stand up for the right thing if we were the lone opposition to injustice. Are there any contempoary situations where it’s hard to make a stand? And what was it about Hilly that made all the other women afraid to stand up to her?</p>
<p>Sorry to digress from The Help but I’m just catching up on the discussion and next month’s book suggestions (posts 142-145). So many good books, so little time! I’m still confused about which book we are discussing for which month. But this morning my confusion can be attributed directly to a lack of coffee rather than a surfeit of wine.</p>
<p>March ? AprilShadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruis Zafon (read it several yrs ago, loved it - dark, gothic, many plot twists, great storyteller) May ?</p>
<p>And I LOVED alh’s sequel to Celia. I could definately see Celia on the Southern Living circuit! I’m stealing all your ideas and this discussion for my RL book club, which meets next weekend to discuss The Help and Lovely Bones. (Weird book combination but February’s meeting was postponed because everyone was snowed in, so we’re combining Feb/March. Wine will definately be involved!) While those books are wildly different, the one thing they both have in common is the Voice.</p>
<p>I’m on board with Elegance of the Hedgehog and Glass Castles, whenever they may be discussed. They are on my reading list. Sarah’s Key was both disturbing - in the injustices and atrocities perpetuated by French sympathizers on their own population - and interesting in that it brought to light the lesser-known chapter of the Velodrome, which historically has been eclipsed by the greater magnitude of the Nazis’ Holocaust.</p>
<p>I think there’s still a lot of homophobia out there. Sadly, even in this day and age, there are people who would be appalled if a gay couple moved into the house next door. And of course, heaven forbid if that couple wants to be married. It seems to me that not enough has been done to make a stand against that type of prejudice.</p>
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<p>Good question. If polled individually, very few of the characters in The Help would support Hilly’s actions or share her extreme beliefs. Yet she was never de-throned (pun intended, given her infatuation with toilets. :)) But haven’t we seen that throughout history? What is that quote by Edmund Burke? “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Whether it’s the shocking crimes perpetrated by a monstrous dictator or the wicked little maneuvers of someone like Hilly, it always seems like the suffering and injustice goes on far too long before people finally rise up and put a stop to it.</p>
<p>Last summer, we read a book every month, but during the school year we switched to every other month, to give people time to do things like read other books on their own, help kids with homework, prepare elaborate holiday meals, and shovel snow. We discussed American Wife in October, The Thirteenth Tale in December, and The Help in February. So according to that schedule, our next discussion is in April, and that book will be The Shadow of the Wind. After that, we will discuss a book in June (tentatively, The Elegance of the Hedgehog).</p>
<ol>
<li>Each woman was afraid to become the target of Hilly’s meanness. If one woman stood up to her, that woman would be isolated from the rest of the group and ostracized.</li>
<li>The women didn’t talk among themselves as to what a b*tch Hilly was, so they didn’t realize that they wouldn’t be isolated and ostracized, that in fact more people disliked Hilly and her methods than agreed with them. But they were the “silent majority.”</li>
</ol>
<p>OMG…I just finished this book tonight (which was great…as you can see, I stayed up to finish it). I scanned this thread but need to get to sleep so couldn’t read it all…but what is this about a sequel on Celia’s life?</p>
<p>Oh, and one comment. The one thing I would have liked to happen in the book was for Skeeter to visit Lulubelle to tell her what her mom meant to her. I really thought that was going to be at the end of the book, and was a bit letdown that it wasn’t even in her plans, even if we didn’t get to read about it.</p>
<p>“Long Live The Help CC book discussion Thread”
Mary, this thread may continue to be visited by those, like Ready to Roll, who finish reading The Help, and want/ need to talk about the book.</p>
<p>Ready to Roll, the discussion about a sequel about Celia’s life, took a life of it’s own by some CCers on this thread who wanted to fantasize about Celia’s life post 1960. Many of us were intrigued by her character and wish her well, in addition, to enjoying the dethroning of “Mean- Queen- Bee-Hilly”.</p>
<p>Here’s a shout out to those RL book clubbers to come back and share their RL book discussion experiences .</p>
<p>PA Theater Mom- “Are there any contempoary situations where it’s hard to make a stand?”
This is a great question, and I have been pondering it. What do you think ?</p>