Oh look, a break from Harry Potter!
I saw The Help a long time ago in the bookstore and read the back and thought, hmmm, I might want to read that. But I was still on the book diet, so I put it down and figured that I'd ask for it for my birthday or borrow it from someone or visit the library. And because there are eighty million books out there to choose from, I promptly forgot about it (that's how excited I was to read it).
Then Alex and I went to a movie. In the movie theatre. And it had trailers. And because we went out like regular grownups, we watched the trailers. And one was for The Help. And I thought, hmmm, I might want to read that.
And then it was my birthday. And then it was summer. And then I was in the bookstore after going out for dinner with Alex the day after being sent home from the emergency room for the second time and we stopped at the bookstore on our way home, as we often do. Weird? Maybe. Maybe not.
And I saw The Help sitting there. And the book diet had been lifted. And I was feeling miserable and pathetic and sorry for myself, so I decided to engage in a little retail therapy. Okay, maybe a lot of retail therapy. And then I came home and a couple of days later all the internets could talk about was The Help (I think maybe because of the movie...but seriously, it felt like two out of every three blogs was talking about The Help)
I enjoyed it. I didn't really get the Gone With the Wind or To Kill A Mockingbird comparisons, but did enjoy the book. I felt like the relationship with Stuart was somewhat underdeveloped and I wanted more about it (not more relationship, just more about his previous relationship and his motivations...)
The end felt a little too contrived for me. It was as if she didn't want to go with a happily ever after ending, so she threw if off a bit, but it didn't feel right...anyone else feel that way?
I would recommend The Help for sure. I will be reading it again, when I get it back from my mom!
I totally agree! I wanted more from the characters and the end felt kind of fake.
ReplyDeleteI didn't understand why Yule May would steal from Hilly when she had worked so hard to save and had a (relatively) small amount of money left to raise. Especially because of the community they lived it - I'm sure she could have borrowed a few dollars form a number of people and made up the difference. And I think the others in the community would have been happy to help her - she seemed to be well-respected...I felt like the book ended that way because sending them off to college was way too much of a "happy ending."
ReplyDeleteAnd the whole thing with Stewart - when he went away and came back and didn't really explain much - it was a very superficial treatment of his previous relationship. And I felt like there had to be more to the split than just the cheating...because his emotions were so huge for the break up and almost non-existent when he went to California to see her...(does that make sense?) And I can't believe he kept Skeeter's secret. GAH.