Saturday, August 6, 2011

the Help ~ Kathryn Stockett (Book Review)

Kathryn Stockett’s first novel which is now a major motion picture (I haven’t seen the movie yet)  A great book that I definitely recommend.  Those of you who were born in the 60’s or before will most certainly appreciate it and possibly relate.  Those born in the 70’s and beyond can learn a lot from this story.  Told in the first person by each of its characters … both sides … it takes you back to a time when there was a lot of misunderstanding …a lot of ignorance … but best of all …back to a time when things started changing … changing for the good …because of brave people who stood up for what was right.  Though it’s a totally fictional story its right on when it describes in detail the thoughts and feelings of a time gone by.  My only disappointment in this book …the dialect …most is correct at least in sentence structure …my issue? …the Southern characters pronounce their “ing” words with “ing” (i.e. swimming instead of swimin, cleaning instead of cleanin, cooking instead of cookin, you get the point) and pronouncing tomatoes … well … as “to-ma-toes” … mmmmm … I grew up in the South … we do not pronounce our ing’s on any “ing” words and we never say “to-ma-to” … it failed to spell out ‘our’ language phonetically as each character tells their respective stories…a pet peeve, I suppose.  Anyway … the Help is a powerful story, a great read and I loved it!  Can't wait to see the movie!!!

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