A must read: The Help.
The Help is a 2009 novel by Kathryn Stockett. It's set in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960's and its about African American maids working in white households.
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Break out the hankies.
The glossy Hollywood movie version of Kathryn Stockett's runaway best-seller "The Help" hits theaters Wednesday, and it's virtually guaranteed to be the chick flick of the summer, especially for the hard-core book-club set. Of course, men who aren't afraid to get a little misty at movies that don't involve sports, heavy artillery or Old Yeller should also check it out if they fancy a good cry.
Director-screenwriter Tate Taylor and Stockett are childhood pals who grew up in each other's pockets in Jackson, Miss., in the '70s, which means the film has one quality that the vast majority of movie adaptations of literature lack, a sense of authenticity. So often you get the distinct impression that the director never even bothered to read the book in question. Here you can see Taylor's love for the material, and his affinity for the rich and thorny heritage of the deep South, in every lovingly crafted frame. From the Southern drawl to the sticky-heat, the director took pains to get it just right.
The languid cadence of life in Mississippi pulses through Stephen Goldblatt's leisurely cinematography as Skeeter (it-girl Emma Stone) returns from Ole Miss eager to make her bones as a writer. As the plucky little gal settles back into life in her hometown, her best friend, Stepford-debutante Hilly Holbrook (Bryce Dallas Howard is so hard and cold in this role you get frostbite looking at her), tries to ban black maids from using
the bathrooms of the white folks they tend to. For the first time, Skeeter sees the racism corroding every aspect of a pampered lifestyle she always had taken for granted.....to read more http://www.mercurynews.com/karen-dsouza/ci_18646830
Reviews: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/books/19masl.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/05/the-help-kathryn-stockett_n_346016.html
Movie in theaters tomorrow- Augsut 10th,2011
Happy Reading Ya'll
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