Aamas 2004 blog

I very much enjoyed reading this book but in the end I cannot give it a five-star review. In my opinion, Stockett did a marvelous job creating the main characters, who leap off the page and convey so much warmth and humanity. They are layered and interesting, and their relationships have the ring of truth. And though the author makes a few small historical errors, overall her portrayal of Mississippi in the early 1960s is very convincing, with its bizarre social rules and deep-seated hypocrisy. The book is a page-turner and, mostly, a delight.

But several aspects of the novel don’t work for me at all, and lessen the book’s impact quite a bit.

For one, I simply cannot buy that Minny, for ages, pretty much got away with the so-called Terrible Awful, which the despicable Hilly knew about from the get-go. That is wholly inconsistent with the world as it is depicted, in which whites cruelly punish blacks for small, even imagined slights. Yet we are to believe that powerful, vindictive, take-no-prisoners Hilly was satisfied merely to malign Minny’s reputation after such a mind-boggling insult? I don’t buy it. In fact, the entire pie storyline struck me as a contrivance so the book would include a shocking element to get readers buzzing.

I was also disappointed with the Stuart / Miss Skeeter love affair, such as it was. I kept being told how desirable Skeeter found Stuart, even after his appalling behavior the first time they meet, but why? He comes off as a privileged narcisstic boor who, by the way, drinks too much. Finally, Skeeter seems to recognize that he’s not worthy of her attention, and it’s a rewarding twist when we learn that Skeeter’s mother actually is not that keen on him, either. Great! So why, then, does Skeeter say yes to his eventual marriage proposal? And why does her mother regret that Stuart will not be her son-in-law? Why isn’t Skeeter, who we see has backbone, the one to walk away? That’s not the Skeeter we’ve gotten to know, and I
Thule New Locking Low

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