A different view of the novel The Help

I have to be honest...I have been putting off reading The Help.  I grew up very differently than the black characters of the book, as did my mom.  Not many black people I know speak in the dialect in which the characters of the book speak in.  I have friends of all colors of the rainbow and racism is not something that is thought about much.  I guess I went into this book with mucho hesitancy. However, I respect all people and I love stories!  I wanted to love it as my friends of other backgrounds had...but I was worried that the stereotypes would put me off.

Well after literally just finishing it... I have to say that I was intrigued by the characters.  I fell in love with Skeeter and Minnie's stories and Kathryn Stockett successfully produces multiple multidimensional characters that you find yourself getting attached to.  There were no real villains to me because I felt sorry for even Hilly.  I found myself fastidiously flipping the pages of my e-reader to find out what happened next. Abilene's storyline was so sad to me.

One thing I wondered about was the lack of positive black male characters in the book.  The nice black male characters were either killed off early or blinded while the other was a drunk who beat his wife.  All of the other white characters had husbands but the black one's did not.  This is not reflective of real life despite media stereotypes.  Black men are loving fathers and most of the black women I know old and young are married to black men who provide for their families and would not dream of leaving them. 

Overall, there was a sense of tragedy to the book which made it intriguing ....but sad ....with sporadic rays of sunshine through an overwhelmingly dark sky. I just feel sad at the way we human beings find excuses to treat others badly.  But... I feel proud to live in a country that had the courage to deal with these issues no matter how difficult they were.  I give it a A- with an insistence that you watch a Disney movie after it:)

P.S. Preferably Tangled which I love:)

P.S.S I can't even talk about Mae mobley..poor little thing:(