ON BOOKS ~ The Help...

MizB asks you to:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page.
• Share the title of the book the teaser comes from…that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

From pg. 29 of THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett (fiction) - "Aibileen":

"All I know is, I ain't saying it. And I know she ain't saying what she want a say either and it's a strange thing happening here cause nobody saying nothing and we still managing to have us a conversation."

From pg. 148 of THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett (fiction) - "Skeeter":

"I give in and light another cigarette even though last night the surgeon general came on the television set and shook his finger at everybody, trying to convince us that smoking will kill us. But Mother once told me tongue kissing would turn me blind and I'm starting to think it's all just a big plot between the surgeon general and Mother to make sure no one ever has any fun."

From pg. 317 of THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett (fiction) - "Minny":

"I might as well be Little Stevie Wonder I am so blinded by that dress. Hot pink and silver sequins glitter from her extra-large boobies all the way to her hot pink toes."

I first heard about this book on Alyce's wonderful blog, At Home With Books. It was probably even through Teaser Tuesdays. I added it to my To Read list on Goodreads and then for the next few months read nothing but glowing reviews everywhere I turned. Friends told me I just had to read it. So when an online bookgroup I belong to on Goodreads was looking for nominations for books taking place in the American Deep South, I couldn't resist. Needless to say, the book won the voting and here I was in line behind over 700 other people on the library waiting list needing to read this book in order to lead a discussion. Pure luck and good timing got a copy into my hands before this past holiday weekend and I was hoping I could get it finished in the 2 weeks needed before it was due back. I finished it in 2 days. I would have finished it in 1 if I had started reading sooner on the first day.

The Teasers above are taken from each of the three main characters in this debut novel. All three are women living in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962. Two are black maids. One is a white woman who was raised by a black maid. Their paths cross in everyday life, though their everyday lives are vastly different. But they come to realize there really isn't all that much separating them except the "rules" that some other people created in their minds. And they are forever connected by an idea to tell their stories to the masses, without anyone knowing who they are.

You need to read this book. It is such incredible story telling. From three different personalities. About the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. A part of history so near it still creates touchy reactions. And a way of thinking that some people still cling to. So it needs to be read. And the message of tolerance, equality, and doing what is right for yourself and to others as human beings, becomes the only way to live.