The Book is Always Better than the Movie: "The Help"

After some deliberation, I went to a matinee showing of the movie version of "The Help" on Labor Day with my wife and daughter. Having read Kathryn Stockett's book, I fully expected that the movie wouldn't be as involving or moving. However, it came pretty close.The casting was very good, perfect shooting locations, and the script was literate with some great dialogue and well done set pieces, some wonderful humor, and for the most part it stuck to the story and kept its heart intact.Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer were well cast as the two main black characters, Aibilene and Minny. Emma Stone was competent as the third lead, Skeeter; Bryce Dallas Howard was fine if a little over-the-top as Hilly. I enjoyed seeing other actors in minor roles: Brian Kerwin as Skeeter's father, Sissy Spacek as Miz Walters, Leslie Jordan as the newspaper's editor, Mary Steenburgen as Skeeter's New York book editor, etc. My quibbles with the film, as with any book made into film, always concern why certain changes were made, and that's just my nature. I felt the story had been softened somewhat, just didn't have as much of an edge to it as the book; the huge sense of fear these women had of being discovered was only hinted at; another concerned the character change in Skeeter's mother, and another was the way the relationship between Skeeter and Stuart was handled. However, I only question these because I only recently read the novel, those who have not read it or read it ages ago may not have problems with these things. I would still recommend the film as an interesting depiction of the South on the cusp of far-reaching changes, with characters either struggling to resist those changes or to embrace them and grow. Definitely I will remember the hilarious chocolate pie incident in both the book and movie!

Just finished this yesterday: SOUTH OF BROAD by Pat Conroy, 2009.

Conroy is not a writer whose books I necessarily seek out. In fact, the only book of his I had read before this one was Prince of Tides, and that was many years ago... I was drawn to this one mainly because it's set in Charleston, South Carolina, an historic city I've visited several times over the years and am very fond of.

Most of South of Broad's action takes place in Charleston, and Conroy does an excellent job in his descriptions of the city, his use of real place names, etc. I could feel myself walking down Meeting Street, stepping into St. Michael's Church, and strolling along the Battery. The story involves a group of teens who meet the summer before their senior year in 1969 and who become lifelong friends, and continues 20 years later, in 1989, when they are adults and following their various paths. The two time periods/stories move back and forth through the book. Leo King, isolated and lonely, struggling to heal himself, is the heart of this group, which includes the glamorous just-come-to-town Sheba Poe and her brother Trevor; the damaged orphans Niles and Starla Whitehead; Ike Jefferson, Leo's football training partner and son of the new black coach; Betty Roberts, a sassy black orphan; the old Charleston money kids Molly Huger and Chad Rutledge and his sister Fraser. These kids become a close-knit group, whose lives remain intertwined as their circle widens. They survive issues of integration, loyalty, love, parental authority, prejudice, depression, alcoholism, acceptance, and multiple tragedies, some becoming stronger and some ruining their lives. These kids are troubled as teens, and they become more messed up as adults. Conroy piles on plenty of old secrets and scandals, supplies chilling horror when the Poes' insane father shows up, and uses Hurricane Hugo to set some things right in their world. While at times Conroy's characters seem a little too old and wise (especially as teenagers), they are interesting and well defined, full of emotion and energy. His writing is just wonderful, with plenty of wit and humor, as well as solemness and elegance and grace. Full of enthusiasm, beauty, wildness, cruelty, social graces and customs, emotional turbulence and the power of love and redemption, this novel really is thought provoking and moving. It was a very worthwhile read for me.

THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett, 2009.

Even though snow is falling outside as I finish this, it was easy to feel the heat and humidity of a Mississippi summer while reading this book. Stockett's debut novel concerns three women (one white, two black) living in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1962. Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan is 22, an Ole Miss graduate, who is living back at home and who yearns for something meaningful in her life. She wishes her maid (caregiver) Constantine were around to give her support and comfort, but she has disappeared and no one will tell her what happened...Skeeter also realizes that life in the South between the races is not as it should be and wants to help somehow. Aibilene is a black maid, wise and dignified and kind, who has raised 16 white children as her own, and loves her current charge Mae Mobley enough to teach her a better way to live even though it could cost her everything and continues to mourn her only child--killed on his job while white coworkers looked on. Sassy and smart Minny is a great cook but doesn't know when to shut up and keeps losing jobs, but is loyal and true to her friends. These three determined females come together to work on a secret project that could start a movement and change everything in their town. In the process they learn much about each other and what it means to be black and white and female in the South, about barriers, about lines that can't be crossed and how to gain the courage to try. At times heartbreaking and sometimes funny, the author portrays life during that time and place honestly and painfully, with all the moonlight and magnolias and scars of slavery and racial prejudice and hatred on both sides.

Stockett knows how to write well, her language and dialogue are spot on, her descriptive passages are well done, and her characters seem real. She is able to portray both black and white characters equally well. She knows the South of the Sixties and what it was like growing up with a black servant. It all comes together as a very appealing and readable story and in the hands of a good screenwriter, it would make an excellent movie. As someone who grew up in the South during this period with a black caregiver, I found it really resonated with me in some small ways, and I think it will be one of those books that will continue to linger in my memory years from now.

My wife and I watched a little indie film last night called "Junebug". It was a quirky, odd, entirely character driven movie set in North Carolina. Amy Adams, Alessandro Nivola, and Celia Weston starred; Adams made this before she became famous ala Disney's hugely popular and successful "Enchanted". This movie involved the homecoming of a young married couple to NC from Chicago; the wife (Embeth Davidz) is chasing down a NC folk artist she wants to represent and is meeting her in-laws for the first time. Amy Adams, as the very pregnant, cute, and somewhat childish Ashley is the only family member to welcome her openly, and she nearly steals every scene she's in. There's lots of family issues like love, jealousy, anger, fear, loss, etc., and the idea of one son being the "golden boy"(Nivola, in this case). The new wife struggles to understand his family and their ways and tries to fit in, and all the while trying to sign the artist she's after; the husband seems to quickly revert to the old environment. There are no easy or pat answers to some of the issues and not everything gets resolved. It is well written and realistic, with interesting camera work, and very well cast. Shot in and around Winston-Salem, NC, which adds to the realistic feel. Worth a look and discussing afterward, as we did.