Because Southern California has been so hot and also because of sheer boredom, I've been going to the movies quite a bit this summer. I have already seen: Bridesmaids, The Hangover part II, Horrible Bosses, and Friends With Benefits. (This is a lot for me, usually I only see a movie about every six months.) One movie that I keep seeing previews for and really want to see is 'The Help.' I'm a sucker for any kind of period piece, and this movie doesn't look like anything that's been done before. Plus I like Emma Stone.
I met up with some girlfriends for dinner the other day and on the way home I stopped by Borders Books for their big closing sale (so sad) to get some reading material for the flight to Seattle. While I was there I came across two books that are now movies I've been wanting to see, The Help and Water for Elephants. Both were 10% off so I happily grabbed them and started the first chapter of The Help the second I got to the airport. That was yesterday early afternoon and I only have a few chapters left!
The novel is told from the point of view of three narrators: Aibileen Clark, a middle-aged African-American maid who has spent her life raising white children, and who has recently lost her only son; Minny Jackson, an African-American maid whose back-talk towards her employers results in her having to frequently change jobs, exacerbating her desperate need for work as well as her family's struggle with money; and Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, a young white woman and recent college graduate who, after moving back home, discovers that a maid that helped raise her since childhood has abruptly disappeared and her attempts to find her have come to nought. The stories of the three women intertwine to explain how life in Jackson, Mississippi revolves around "the help", with complex relations of power, money, emotion, and intimacy tying together the white and black families of Jackson.
I read somewhere that this was Kathryn Stockett's first novel and it was rejected by 35 publishers before it was finally printed, and then made it to the New York and Los Angeles Best Time Seller List and stayed there for over a year. Now it's a major motion picture starring Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard and Octavia Spencer. If reading is your thing, I highly suggest going to Borders and getting yourself a discount version before the movie comes out in a few weeks. you won't be sorry!
I met up with some girlfriends for dinner the other day and on the way home I stopped by Borders Books for their big closing sale (so sad) to get some reading material for the flight to Seattle. While I was there I came across two books that are now movies I've been wanting to see, The Help and Water for Elephants. Both were 10% off so I happily grabbed them and started the first chapter of The Help the second I got to the airport. That was yesterday early afternoon and I only have a few chapters left!
The novel is told from the point of view of three narrators: Aibileen Clark, a middle-aged African-American maid who has spent her life raising white children, and who has recently lost her only son; Minny Jackson, an African-American maid whose back-talk towards her employers results in her having to frequently change jobs, exacerbating her desperate need for work as well as her family's struggle with money; and Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, a young white woman and recent college graduate who, after moving back home, discovers that a maid that helped raise her since childhood has abruptly disappeared and her attempts to find her have come to nought. The stories of the three women intertwine to explain how life in Jackson, Mississippi revolves around "the help", with complex relations of power, money, emotion, and intimacy tying together the white and black families of Jackson.
I read somewhere that this was Kathryn Stockett's first novel and it was rejected by 35 publishers before it was finally printed, and then made it to the New York and Los Angeles Best Time Seller List and stayed there for over a year. Now it's a major motion picture starring Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard and Octavia Spencer. If reading is your thing, I highly suggest going to Borders and getting yourself a discount version before the movie comes out in a few weeks. you won't be sorry!
Here is the official movie trailer
When I finish 'The Help' I'll be starting 'Water for Elephants' for those of you who haven't read it or seen it, I'll let you know what I think of that one too!
I am reading this right now and can't put it down- it's one of the best books I've read in a long time! Can't wait to see the movie.
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