"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett

451 pages

I initially didn't have a lot of interest in "The Help" because it seemed too touchy-feely for me, but I'd heard tons of good things about it. Plus, I felt like I had to be a "good librarian" and read it since there's been so much buzz about it. As I read the first few chapters, it bothered me that the white author was writing a book from a black woman's perspective and making her sound like Mammy from "Gone with the Wind." But the story captured my interest and I soldiered on, and as I read more I found that she uses a lot of different voices for the different characters--including the black characters--which eased my mind a bit. Now I'm so glad that I finished the book! I grew to love the characters; the story kept me guessing; and there were moments of humor as well. Best of all, it really made me think. It's hard to believe that such horrendous prejudice existed such a short time ago, but it's good to remember that so we keep moving forward to a more enlightened way of thinking about race and social class (and gender, for that matter, though that's only very briefly mentioned in the book). A great book to discuss!