SBBC - The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help by Kathryn Stockett (ISBN 9780399155345)

Book Genre: Fiction

Summary: Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women-mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends-view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.

Swap details: I've set the sign-up date for about two weeks from now to give folks time to pick up a copy and read it a bit (if you wish) before you decide to join this swap, but you can start reading whenever you'd like. For this swap, you can either hand-write or type and send (via snail mail) the answers to your questions. Please use your best judgment. If it elicits a yes or no, please answer it with at least one complete sentence. I would say most questions should be answered with a minimum of a few sentences. The purpose is to create a dialog, a discussion about the book - with your assigned partner, perhaps you will be in touch via e-mail, or private message or through the forum as part of a larger group, or you just want to see what someone else thinks about what we've read. If you only answer yes or no, it doesn't really leave room much room for a discussion.

Category 1 (answer all 6 of these questions for your partner)

1. Have you ever read this book before? Did this book fall in the usual genre of books you read?

2. As an overall experience, how did you feel about this book? Did you enjoy it, hate it, did it make you irritated, angry, sad, did you find it easy to read or did it take you a while to get into, was it entertaining, annoying or something else entirely?

3. Did you have a favorite part of the book? Describe what it was. If you didn't like the book, please tell more about why.

4. Would you recommend this book to others?

5. On a scale of 1 to 10 (one being low and 10 being high), how would you rate this book?

6. Does this book remind you of others you have read? if so, recommend a book that has some likeness in your opinion (even if the likeness is not apparent). Please include the title, and author and a brief description about the book, or why it reminded you of this one.

Category 2 Please pick 5 of the following questions (below) to answer with the above questions. These questions are taken directly from the discussion guide on bookmovement.com. Please be honest in your answer and use constructive criticism. You can choose to answer more questions below, but you must choose a minimum of 5. If there is something not asked in the questions that you'd like to share, please feel free to discuss that too.

1. Who was your favorite character? Why?

2. What do you think motivated Hilly? On one hand she’s so unpleasant to Aibileen and her own help, as well as to Skeeter once she realizes she can’t control her. But she’s a wonderful mother. Do you think you can be a good mother but at the same time a deeply flawed person?

3. Like Hilly, Skeeter’s mother is a prime example of someone deeply flawed yet somewhat sympathetic. She seems to care for Skeeter – and she also seems to have very real feelings for Constantine. Yet the ultimatum she gives to Constantine is untenable. And most of her interaction with Skeeter is critical. Do you think Skeeter’s mother is a sympathetic or unsympathetic character? Why?

4. How much of a person’s character do you think is shaped by the times in which they live?

5. Did it bother you that Skeeter is willing to overlook so many of Stuart’s faults so that she can get married, and it’s not until he literally gets up and walks away that the engagement falls apart?

6. Do you think Minny was justified in her distrust of white people?

7. Do you think that had Aibileen stayed working for Miss Elizabeth, that Mae Mobley would have grown up to be racist like her mother? Do you think racism is inherent, or taught?

8. From the perspective of a 21st century reader, the hair shellac system that Skeeter undergoes seems ludicrous. Yet women still alter their looks in rather peculiar ways as the definition of “beauty” changes with the times. Looking back on your past, what’s the most ridiculous beauty regimen you ever underwent?

9. The author manages to paint Aibileen with a quiet grace and an aura of wisdom about her. How do you think she does this?

10. Do you think there are still vestiges of racism in relationships where people of color work for people who are white? Have you heard stories of someone who put away their valuable jewelry before their nanny comes – so they trust this person to look after their child, but not their diamond rings?

11. What did you think about Minny’s pie for Miss Hilly? Would you have gone as far as Minny did for revenge?