Being from the South has its advantages…the food, the family, the weather, the culture. It also has its disadvantages…the amount of time it takes to catch up to the rest of the world. It was through this lens that I made the decision to read this book. I was worried that it would be just another race relations book. I decided early on what my thought were on race relations and I found there were few books that told stories in a way that spoke to my own beliefs on the issue. The first book was To Kill a Mockingbird. I remember reading that book as a young teen and being enthralled. Later on I read a James Patterson book called Alex Cross’s Trial and that book hit me in much the same way. When I first heard about The Help I wasn’t sure it would be a book I was interested in reading. Finally, a friend offered me her copy so I decided it was worth a look. I can honestly say that this was a page turner. I loved the interaction between the household help and the families. The dichotomy of the love and respect they felt for their help with the hate and disgust that they felt for the race that their help was is a phenomenon in human psyche. These people allowed the help to raise their children, clean their sheets, cook their meals and hear all of their family business. What they didn’t allow was for the help to use their inside bathrooms. It is hard for me to imagine a relationship such as this. I grew up in the early 70s and 80s. Life was very different for my generation. This book uses a novel approach to explain the race relations of the 50s and 60s. To me this book is more about love than it is hate. Sure there was hate but first there was love and respect. There are some really funny parts in this book that made me want to cheer for these strong, amazing, intelligent women who cleaned the homes, raised the children and cooked the meals of women who clearly didn’t deserve it.
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