Books I Enjoy - Day 1

The first book I want to talk about is The Help. I first learned about this book when watching a movie. The previews included the trailer to the movie based on this book. My ears perked up when the announcer said that the movie was based on a book. I came directly home and reserved the audio book at my local library.

You have to know that a book is good when you are inventing housework to do at midnight just so you have an excuse to keep listening. That is exactly what I did.

The whole slavery issue has always hit a sour cord with me. Not that it doesn't with most people, but I am just in such awe (in a bad way) that people actually thought it was o.k. to "own" people. The setting for this book happens many, many years after slavery was abolished, but the attitudes people had towards African Americans is just unbelievable.

The characters in this book who portrayed maids had such wonderful, sweet, strong spirits. They accepted their "station" in life, but had to do so against such strong feelings of wrongdoing. And they were totally justified in feeling that way. These ladies loved and cared for the families they worked for, then they went home and loved and cared for their own families. All they while, they lived in a community where the majority felt they were little more than lower than dirt.

The white character who wrote their story was so brave in that she wasn't afraid to voice the words that many were feeling but dared not speak aloud. She wasn't the one suffering and I don't consider her to be the heroine of the book, but she was the gateway for those women who suffered so much.

This book is guaranteed to make you laugh. It is highly capable of bringing you to tears. And definitely will make you look at the world through different eyes.

Be kind -
Consider your fellow man.

Be smart -
Stand up for what you believe in.

Be important -
God made you that way--you are the only you there is. He does have a purpose for you.