I have a confession: I’m afraid of The Help.
I bought a copy months ago (joining 10 million other people in this purchasing choice). It perches expectantly on my bookshelf, with its bright cover and fetching little birds that seem to watch me as I move across the room. I even cracked the cover once and read the first line. Then I put it back down.
So many people I respect adore The Help. Many have told me they cried while reading it. I know I’ll love it too; it’s exactly my kind of book. So why am I putting off reading it?
Part of it, I think, is that I’ll only be able to read it for the first time once. There’s so much hype surrounding this novel (which, by the way, was turned down by dozens of literary agents) that I suspect I like the anticipation of knowing I can read it any time I want as much as I’ll actually enjoy reading it.
But I’m also a little scared. I think I’ve built it up a bit too much in my mind. What if it disappoints me? What if I’m the only person on the planet who doesn’t get The Help? (I haven't seen the movie either, by the way).
But here are some fantastic books I’ve devoured lately, when I haven’t been reading The Help:
The Drop by Michael Connelly. If you haven’t read Connelly yet, you’re in for a treat. He’s a master at underwriting, building tension and creating memorable characters. And he’s one of those authors who just gets better and better with time.
The Violets of March by Sarah Jio. I’ve never met Sarah, but we connected on another group author’s blog a while back, and immediately discovered we’re living similar lives: We both have three boys and both write for magazines. When she asked me to read her debut manuscript a few months before publication. I loved it so much, I offered up a blurb, calling it a “gem of a novel, perfect for reading at the beach or under a cozy quilt.”
The Silver Linings Playbook/A Pinch of Love. I paired these books because they were written by my favorite husband/wife writing duo. Matthew Quick authored The Silver Linings Playbook, and Alicia Bessette wrote A Pinch of Love. Both novels are quirky, passionate, and compulsively readable. Bonus: Look for The Silver Linings Playbook to hit movie theaters within the next year!
Sarah Pekkanen is the internationally-bestselling author of Skipping A Beat, The Opposite of Me, and the upcoming These Girls. Visit her website at www.sarahpekkanen.com
Sarah, I love this post...LOL. Ok, I read The Help, before the hype, so no pressure. I feel the same way about a lot of other books. I have read both The Violets of March and The Bungalow by Sarah Jio, both beautiful!
ReplyDeleteMy advice, read the book, it's worth the wait. XO
I swear I will... someday!
DeleteLOL, Sarah. I resisted it at first, too. It had been getting a lot of buzz, but it was still early days when I bought my copy -- just a month after its release -- and even then there were about a thousand Amazon reviews for it! I wasn't sure I'd like it, but a friend's book club chose it for their next meeting and I'd been invited, so I figured I had to read at least some of it... I couldn't put it down. ;).
ReplyDeleteI think it'll be the same way for me when I read it, Marilyn. A lot of friends with similar reading tastes adored it.
DeleteHad to buy "The Help" to see what all the fuss was about, but have to say I wasn't very enamored with it, but more power to the author for having such a big success!
ReplyDeleteYou're not alone, Sarah. I haven't read The Help either (or seen the movie). Not sure why--probably because I have a huge TBR stack waiting for me. :)
ReplyDeleteI do understand....so difficult reading a book that has been hyped and then worrying that we may expect too much from it.
ReplyDeleteI read it when it first came to the UK before it got too popular.
carol
Oh, I'm so glad I'm not alone! And very interested to see that there are different opinions on it here!
ReplyDeleteHey Sarah--It took me awhile to read it . . . and I didn't love it--One of the "central" points/surprises I just didn't believe. I haven't seen the movie and probably won't. BUt, I too love that the author didn't give up in the face of rejection.
ReplyDeleteBy the by, I couldn't stand "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" either . . . and I've never read any of the Harry Potter books. Or Twilight. Or . . .
Sarah, ha! I've totally done that before. I actually read The Help and almost put it down because I couldn't decide if the dialect was racist or not. BUT I will say that I thought the second half of the book was better than the first (sorry, Judy! We must discuss this....), and I'm really happy I read it.
ReplyDeleteCheck it out-- it's always a good exercise to read the runaway hits and try to figure out why they took off they way they did.
I read "The Help" before it went viral and I enjoyed it, but there have been a lot of other popular books (like Eat, Pray, Love) that I couldn't even finish because I disliked them so much. I guess I'm thankful that not everyone likes the same thing because then we have such a wonderful selection of different authors and books to choose from. I love picking up a book from an author that I've never heard of and completely falling in love with it to the point where I have to hunt down all of the author's previous books.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post ... I've read the book and seen the movie. Both were very entertaining. Being a Southern author, I've had as many rejections and admired Stockett's tenacity. I've had many discussions with African-American friends about the issues surrounding this novel, and these group discussions are always fun, enlightening and sometimes tense. But I was most interested in Alice Walker's (she's from Jackson Mississippi, where the book takes place and so am I) blog post thanks to friend Susan Cushman: http://alicewalkersgarden.com/2011/09/the-help/
ReplyDeleteLoved The Help. In fact, I was an early reader. The book had just come out and made 22 on the NY Times List. I saw the author at a book festival and had her sign my book (a first edition). I was so wowed by the book I said to her, "I predict this book will climb to the top of the list and stay there for many weeks." I'd never been more certain about a book in my life.
ReplyDeleteThe movie, btw, made me cry and that's rare for me.
Sarah, you crack me up! But I know what you mean about hype and build up. Lucky for me, like Karin, I read The Help when it first came out. I had no idea it would be a best seller. The title stopped me cold in the bookstore and I had to see what the book was about so I bought it on a fluke. I loved every word of it. I hope you do too! The Violets of March is on my TBR pile (or rather my Kindle!) and I can't wait to get to it :)
ReplyDeleteSarah, great post. I must confess to being taken in (completely) by The Help. I remember being a girl in Athens, Georgia and my brother almost got beat up for driving our maid home in the front seat of the car. Many of our friends had uniformed maids washing lettuce in their sinks, and I lived on Tara Way, next to Sen. Talmadge's exact replica of Gone With the Wind's Tara. My parents were active in the civil rights movement, and I lived in fear of being "found out," not just as a lib*&%l but also as a Catholic, which were number two on the KKK's list. When I despair now that we've not made progress, I think about that time and ask myself again. Maybe just a little, but slow and steady might just win the race.
ReplyDeletei wanted to read "the help," but then i decided to just see the movie, which i haven't done either. i am so behind on a lot of books from the past couple of years, including two by jodi picoult.
ReplyDeletei agree about "the violets of march." my book club is going to discuss it next month!
i read "a pinch of love" when it was called "simply from scratch." it was a sweet story.
I've got a TBR stack like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and I haven't read The Help either -- or many of the hyped books I've got in my collection. But then I've also got a large bar of extra dark Belgian chocolate with nuts, totally untouched, and an unopened pack of French roast coffee. I'm honing my willpower.
ReplyDeleteWHAT?? Unopened chocolate? Can you please provide driving directions to your house asap. I'm just, um, curous.
DeleteI'm among those who haven't, and won't, read The Help--or see the movie. My reasons are strictly political, but I admire Stockett's connections and tenacity.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read it and I'm shying away from doing so. I saw the movie. I suspect it will be like Eat, Pray, Love was for me: a dud. Didn't like that book at all, but found the movie to be reasonably interesting (at least the last two thirds of it).
ReplyDeleteWith all the comments I've seen about the writing style and use of dialect in the book, I'm afraid I won't like it at all, and that just might ruin my feelings about the movie which I loved.
It's so fascinating to read the different reactions to this book - and to learn I'm not alone in putting off reading it! Thanks, everyone!
ReplyDeleteI read it, wasn't expecting much, and wound up *really* enjoying it!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the shout out, Sarah. You're the best! Q (aka Matthew Quick) PS - I have not read THE HELP either.
ReplyDeleteEveryone I know loved it. I tried to read it. I DNF'd it.
ReplyDelete