The Help

On our last trip to Canada, Phil and I listened to The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  It was unabridged which meant it was 15 CDs with 18 hours of story.  The actresses who did the reading were phenomenal.  They gave such expression and emotion to the characters that they came alive.  They skillfully used their voices to make the listening a moving experience.  I know many of you may have watched the movie (I have bought it but not watched it yet), but I’ll wager that the book is much better than the movie.  Books usually are.

The book highlights the lives of black maids working for white ladies in Jackson, Mississippi in the 60’s and 70’s.  It shows the good and the bad of these relationships.  Most of all, it shows how the culture you are brought up in shapes your life and your thinking.  The characters in the story challenge others to look at the reality of what they are doing, and to realize how those outside their culture perceive them.

I always know a good book by the amount of thinking it causes me to do.  I know that it is a powerful story when I’m still thinking about it weeks after I have read it.  It gave Phil and me so many things to talk about on our trip, and we are still having conversations surrounding it as Will is now listening to this on his many trips over the mountain.

One of the most profound things it has led me to think about is the culture I was raised in.   Growing up in a Christian home and going to church all my life has shaped how I think.  Mostly it is for the good.  But I realize that there are things I do, ideas I hold, that when looked at outside my culture seem strange.  And it causes me to want to look harder at what I say and do, and to be more aware of how those things are perceived by others outside my culture.