The Help: Week 6--Chapters 28-34

This week’s reading brings more truth to the light. Skeeter’s mom has been keeping something from her. Why do you think she didn’t want Skeeter to know she has cancer? Have you ever held back the truth in order to protect someone? Has someone protected you from truth? How do you process that?

Page 410 includes these words: “Did I hear right? I say with my eyes. Your heard right, Louvenia’s say back.” We communicate in so many ways. Across the room a shrug of a shoulder, a quiet smirk, a quick nod can say more than paragraphs of words can say. These chapters reveal secrets—send secrets scattering. The implications and consequences are real. Which ones surprise you, hurt you, challenge you?

I’m finding it hard to say good-bye to some of the women in these pages. Some of them, I admit, I’d rather never see again—but some of them I wish I could know. Who will you take with you from this book? What lessons did they teach you?

Thank you for reading with me. I’ve learned a lot from your comments and observations!

The Help: Week 5--Chapters 21-27

This is a book about stories—the impact telling the truth with our stories. Abilene tells mae Mobley “secret stories” even though she knows she “could get in a lot a trouble telling” them to her. Talking is getting people into a lot of trouble in these chapters—and keeping people from talking is becoming just as important as getting people to talk.

Have you ever shared something with someone you later wished you’d never said? What were the repercussions? Have you ever influenced someone not to say something? How did that work out?

Living authentic, transparent lives is something we are challenged to do—but it does come with consequences. How do you balance truth with safety, honesty with prudence?

The Help: Week 4--Chapters 16-20

I sometimes see red when I read these pages. I can’t believe the cruelty—it catches me by surprise. The ease in which it is practiced, accepted, expected is so wrong. The loneliness of those it impacts is very raw. For this week’s comments, I’d like to hear how this cruelty impacted and shaped the interactions of the women—whites to whites, whites to blacks, blacks to blacks. Do you see this type of cruelty in your world or have you experienced it? How does it impact the people you observe?

Miss Skeeter finds herself struggling with the impact of the cruelty in her world and her naïve assumption that her desire to have maids talk to her wouldn’t cause trouble. On page 239 she thinks, “They’d killed Carl Roberts for speaking out, for talking. I think about how easy I thought it would be, three months ago, to get a dozen maids to talk to me. Like they’d just been waiting, all this time, to spill their stories to a white woman. How stupid I’d been.” Then, the writing goes on, “When I can’t take the heat another second, I go sit in the only cool place on Longleaf.” She escapes as best she can.

Do you find yourself escaping the reality around you? Where do you go when you can’t take “the heat” anymore?

The Help: Week 3 - Chapters 11-15

This week, chapter 13 contains Minny’s summation of Skeeter’s writing project. “Half this stuff don’t have nothing to do with colored rights. Ain’t but day-to-day business…..Look to me like you just writing life.” As you read, notice “life.” The ordinary is woven into this extraordinary tale. Where do you see it? How does it balance the pain on these pages?

There are painful relationships throughout this book. So far, which ones are you relating to the most? Why? I know I want to feel hopeful about Stuart and Skeeter. She seems to need a soul-mate, someone who really understands her. Somehow, I’m not convinced he is going to turn out to be good for her—but I hope he is.

The Help: Week 2--Chapters 6-10

Page 129 may contain the key sentence for this book. It hits me hard when I read, “I’ve been trying to tell white women the truth about working for them since I was fourteen years old.” Truth for Miss Skeeter means one thing—a chance to develop a career, get published, more on. Truth for Aibileen and Minny is convoluted, valued and yet something to fear.

In response to this week’s reading, would you please reflect on the positive and negative impacts of truth in your life?

You will also notice in this week’s ready the many layers of prejudice. Please comment about the one that stands out to you? Do you find this prejudice in your setting? If you do, how do you deal with it?

The Help: Week 1-Chapters 1-5

This is a book that is hard for me to put down. I’ve just read it for the second time in less than a year and I hope you will enjoy it, too. This isn’t an easy read—our author isn’t writing about a pretty or easy subject. Sometimes I squirmed as I turned the pages and as I read, many emotions assaulted me—embarrassment, shame, disgust, anger, sadness, and sometimes joy.

It takes courage to represent black and white women from decades ago who lived in the US South where racism created strict roles between white wives and mothers and the women who carefully, fearfully served them. Kathryn Stockett meets the challenge with clarity and compassion, honesty and timely wit to tell the stories of a small community of women. The lines that divided them seem to be drawn by fear, tradition and prejudice, ignorance, cruelty. The tragic daily results of bigotry and snobbery crowd the pages already lined with women we come to care deeply about as we read. This book is about the past, but there are truths that are still present today.

I would like to ask that if you are reading this book with us that you please comment on each week’s blog post. Our online reading club is at its best when you comment, so please share your thoughts and responses with us. I’ll give the introduction to our reading each Monday. If you can comment on that post before the next post goes up the following Monday, that would be great.

This week, I’d like to ask that you write about the themes you see in our first 5 chapters. Which one stands out to you? Why? Do you see any themes that are still present today—where you live and serve? I’m really looking forward to reading this great book and your comments. I hope you’ll post!

Happy reading!

Linda