Meeting Wrap-Up, September 11, 2010

On Saturday, September 11, 2010, the Readers Roundtable book group met downstairs at the Trustee's Room at the San Leandro Public Library to discuss The Help by Kathryn Stockett. There was a really good turnout, more than usual, due to the popularity of the book. Among the points of discussion, that I can recall were:

• Were the characters, both white and black, were believable, likeable, or dislikeable?
• Whether it was likely that middle-class white people living in the south at that period of time (the early 1960s) would have been as clueless and oblivious as the white characters in the book.
• The relationship between the black housekeepers and the white children they raised.
• Whether the "terrible thing" that Minnie did was believable.
• How much of the book was drawn from the author's own experience.

If you can think of other important discussion topics, please post in the comments.

The overwhelming majority present liked the book. A few were neutral about it.  Nobody disliked it.