The Help

The Help

I must confess that I read this book the week before I saw the movie. The book had been recommended to me by a friend; she lent it to me, and there it sat on my shelf until another friend asked if I wanted to see the movie with her.

Thank goodness for my friends.

Reading this book was like listening to a talented storyteller weave a tale of her southern roots. The plot is woven together like a patchwork quilt, with the different sections masterfully kept in harmony with the other to make a stunning whole. I have read several books recently in which the sections, in an attempt to differentiate in time, character voice, or tone, are jumbled together like so many scraps in a ragbag. It is a storytelling style the reader usually endures rather than enjoys. Kathryn Stockett succeeds in this delicate art, turning the lives of so many different women into a story-telling quilt whose individually fascinating pieces make up a soul-stirring whole.

The characters are written with such unassuming clarity that the reader believes them, believes in them, and feels what they feel. One aspect about the book I found so refreshing and moving was that some of the more “climactic” events happened off the page, and were talked about in the aftermath by other characters. I feel that, too often, by the time the cringing reader gets to these “big scenes” that boisterously spout their overwhelming emotions, getting through the scenes is uncomfortable and breaks the mood of the book.

The movie truly honors the book. As is the case with most cinematic attempts based on literature, the book is better, and the movie does change a few things in the plot line. However, these changes are acceptable when the audience realizes how hard it is to build certain subplots into a 2-hour movie. Beyond these small discrepancies, however, the movie shows the audience what they read on the page; it brings to life the multi-colored toilets on the lawn, Mae Mobley’s chubby smile, and Celia’s quiet pain. One of my favorite aspects of the movie is that Minny’s husband is never given screen time (he appears off-camera) I love the symbolism that this dirty crumb of a character is simply brushed off to the side. I also love Celia’s roses.