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rodmanstreet: bricksandmortarandchewinggum: haguenite: Why did I buy a thesis-related book yesterday when I could have bought this? I’ll save it for when I finish my rough draft. Just you watch me.  Is this about the time she was on a jury? NNNNOOOOOOOOOOO DON’T BUY THIS. IT WAS TERRIBLE. If you enjoy this series, do yourself a favor and stop reading now. Really? The last 2 were pretty bad, I was hoping this would be a return to form. I was quite looking forward to it.

rodmanstreet:

bricksandmortarandchewinggum:

haguenite:

Why did I buy a thesis-related book yesterday when I could have bought this?

I’ll save it for when I finish my rough draft. Just you watch me. 

Is this about the time she was on a jury?

NNNNOOOOOOOOOOO DON’T BUY THIS. IT WAS TERRIBLE.

If you enjoy this series, do yourself a favor and stop reading now.

Really? The last 2 were pretty bad, I was hoping this would be a return to form. I was quite looking forward to it.

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I have really, really enjoyed living in Bristol this last six months. I’m so sad to go! We’ve put in an application to be here again next winter, but for now it’s back off into the countryside.  As a souvenir, I treated myself to one of Karl Whiteley’s illustrations of Bristol.  It’s not the one shown here - I went for the one of balloons over Clifton Suspension Bridge. You can see all Karl’s work on his gallery at the link, and you can find him in the harbor side market every weekend.  

I have really, really enjoyed living in Bristol this last six months. I’m so sad to go! We’ve put in an application to be here again next winter, but for now it’s back off into the countryside. 

As a souvenir, I treated myself to one of Karl Whiteley’s illustrations of Bristol.  It’s not the one shown here - I went for the one of balloons over Clifton Suspension Bridge. You can see all Karl’s work on his gallery at the link, and you can find him in the harbor side market every weekend.  

Filed under karl whiteley bristol goodbye art clifton balloons illustration pen and ink

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The Help by Kathryn Stockett Obviously, this book has been out a while now. Long before I considered reading it I was aware of the praise heaped upon it and had read the critiques. And after reading about Ableen Cooper’s lawsuit against Stockett, I was pretty sure I knew all about this book. And then my Mother-in-Sin showed up with a copy to lend me, and I felt like to honestly criticise it, when she inevitably asked me what I thought of it, I should damn well read it.  I think everybody knows what the book is about by now, so I don’t think I’m going to spoil it for anyone by saying that it’s told from the perspectives of three women living in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s. Two of them, Aibileen and Minny are black, and have worked as maids since their teens. The third woman, Miss Skeeter, is a wealthy white girl, back from university and desperate to become a writer. She ends up writing the story she wants to call “Colored Domestics and the Southern Families for Which They Work.” All in all, it sounds like yet another story about a White women swooping in and rescuing them poor Black folks. Especially when you consider the circumstances of the author - Stockett herself was raised in Missisippi, by a Black maid. Parts of the story told in the book are therefore her own history, which she has every right to tell. The controversy comes from her choosing to embellish it with the voices of women who could (or were, depending on weather you believe Ableen Cooper’s claim) have been her staff.  I will say, about this issue, it was surprisingly self aware: “No, no. She nice. But she had the gall to ask if me and some a my maid friends might want to put down on paper what it’s like to tend for white people. Say she writing a book… I told her, let the regular old history books tell it. White people been representing colored opinions since the beginning a time.” - p128 “You want to stop coming/.” Aibileen asks. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to.” I don’t answer her… “I just… I want things to be better for the kids,” I say. “But it’s a sorry fact that it’s a white woman doing this.” - p217 Gretchen had leaned back in her chair. I thought she was thinking about a story to tell. But she said, “Look at you, another white lady trying to make a dollar off of colored people.” - p258 (And yes, wealthy, blonde Stockett did choose to write in a “poor, black” voice. I haven’t even begun to decide what I think of that.) Other problems include Skeeter failing to really confront her own racism; most notably, she is “disgusted” when she hears of inter-racial relationships, and does not question her automatic emotional response. I’m not sure whether this realism was a stroke of genius on Stockett’s part or if it just didn’t occur to her that Skeeter could use a little self examination. Also, this writing a book exposing the racism of the town is much harder on the white girl than on the maids - she loses her boyfriend and all her friends. One of the maids loses her job, but it’s ok, cuz Skeeter fixed up a newspaper gig for her #eyeroll But, in spite all this, I liked it. To say it is problematic is an understatement, but it is also a really well told story. Just like the Sunday Times promised on the cover; I couldn’t put it down. 

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Obviously, this book has been out a while now. Long before I considered reading it I was aware of the praise heaped upon it and had read the critiques. And after reading about Ableen Cooper’s lawsuit against Stockett, I was pretty sure I knew all about this book. And then my Mother-in-Sin showed up with a copy to lend me, and I felt like to honestly criticise it, when she inevitably asked me what I thought of it, I should damn well read it. 

I think everybody knows what the book is about by now, so I don’t think I’m going to spoil it for anyone by saying that it’s told from the perspectives of three women living in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s. Two of them, Aibileen and Minny are black, and have worked as maids since their teens. The third woman, Miss Skeeter, is a wealthy white girl, back from university and desperate to become a writer. She ends up writing the story she wants to call “Colored Domestics and the Southern Families for Which They Work.”

All in all, it sounds like yet another story about a White women swooping in and rescuing them poor Black folks. Especially when you consider the circumstances of the author - Stockett herself was raised in Missisippi, by a Black maid. Parts of the story told in the book are therefore her own history, which she has every right to tell. The controversy comes from her choosing to embellish it with the voices of women who could (or were, depending on weather you believe Ableen Cooper’s claim) have been her staff. 

I will say, about this issue, it was surprisingly self aware:

“No, no. She nice. But she had the gall to ask if me and some a my maid friends might want to put down on paper what it’s like to tend for white people. Say she writing a book… I told her, let the regular old history books tell it. White people been representing colored opinions since the beginning a time.” - p128

“You want to stop coming/.” Aibileen asks. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to.” I don’t answer her… “I just… I want things to be better for the kids,” I say. “But it’s a sorry fact that it’s a white woman doing this.” - p217

Gretchen had leaned back in her chair. I thought she was thinking about a story to tell. But she said, “Look at you, another white lady trying to make a dollar off of colored people.” - p258

(And yes, wealthy, blonde Stockett did choose to write in a “poor, black” voice. I haven’t even begun to decide what I think of that.)

Other problems include Skeeter failing to really confront her own racism; most notably, she is “disgusted” when she hears of inter-racial relationships, and does not question her automatic emotional response. I’m not sure whether this realism was a stroke of genius on Stockett’s part or if it just didn’t occur to her that Skeeter could use a little self examination. Also, this writing a book exposing the racism of the town is much harder on the white girl than on the maids - she loses her boyfriend and all her friends. One of the maids loses her job, but it’s ok, cuz Skeeter fixed up a newspaper gig for her #eyeroll

But, in spite all this, I liked it. To say it is problematic is an understatement, but it is also a really well told story. Just like the Sunday Times promised on the cover; I couldn’t put it down. 

Filed under books i've been reading... the help race race matters missisippi 1960s civil rights kathryn stockett