No Help in My House, That's For Sure

Sometimes I avoid books that everyone else seems to be reading.  All the hoopla makes me get sick of them in advance or something.  (See The Remains of the Day, in a previous post.)  Anyway, along with everyone else in the universe, I just finished reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  I started it one night (after getting irritated with Accidents Waiting to Happen) and then stayed up too late reading it.  It was far better than I expected it to be (even though a lot of people have been recommending it).  I guess I thought it would be really corny or something.  It’s about the lives of black female domestic workers in Mississippi during the civil rights era.  The book has provoked  some controversy. e.g., see here: http://www.theroot.com/views/help-see-it-you-judge?page=0,1
The author has gotten slammed for the style in which she wrote the dialogue of the black domestic workers.  I think some of the criticism is misplaced, but I’d rather not wade into that minefield.  In any case, I found the book very moving.  It gave you a good sense of what day-to-day life in the Jim Crow south must've been like, in a way that most history books can't.  I'm glad I read it and am looking forward to the movie.