Reading Response #3

Carly Anderson 2/4/10

The Help (1 1/2 Hours)

Katheryn Stockett 336-444

Total pages: 108

Do you think you would read another book by this author? Why or why not?

This is Katheryn Stockett's first novel but I do think there are going to be more. I love to read and I hated the ending because that meant that the book was done and there was no more to read about Minny, Skeeter, and Aibleen. I think the book could have gone on for a lot longer but the way she ended it worked and I think that it might have been too long if she had kept the story going. I love Kathryn Stockett because her style of writing makes you really care about the characters and either love or love hating them. You learn more about characters as the book goes on and one thing I especially like is when Skeeter mentions her maid Constantine who practically raised she gets mentioned through out the book and she isn't just one of those characters put in for a few pages then forgotten about. I think the story line is great and I would really enjoy another one of Katheryn Stockett's novels.

What does this book make you wonder about? Why?

It really makes me wonder if people were actually as racist back then as the book portrays. People were so racist and judgemental. Some white people thought that black people carried different diseases just because of the color of their skin. They had to have different bathrooms and seats and pools so they didn't spread diseases which they didn't actually have. They got whipped when white people would get a wag of a finger and a stern look. Everyone had such strong feelings for or against people that it became an endless circle of hate. No one could do anything without being judged and talked about. Sometimes maids had secrets about their employers that the husband or wife didn't know. They would learn the husband was having an affair but they couldn't say anything or they would be fired. The maids had such a hard life when it came to everything and they were so under appreciated. It is almost disgusting the way they were treated. I can't believe that people were actually treated like parasites.

Black people were hated sometimes but they couldn't do anything about it. They raised so many children that the actual mothers pretty much ignored and were almost disgusted by sometimes. The children loved the maids like the mother and some even thought the maids were their mothers.