Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is my first review although I love to read. I felt compelled to write a review in hope that the author would check her reviews, even the one stars. I am African American, born and raised in the north. A lot of my family migrated from Mississippi, but at least 100 are still in and around the Jackson area. I had many issues with this book. Yes, I agree with a lot of the reviews about the dialect. There was a lot of inconsistency in the maids' dialect. I found it hard to comprehend that a person speaking the way the maids spoke to use the word "aren't." In a particular paragraph, Minny called Hilly, "Miss Hilly" and then "Hilly" interchangeably. Also, the black people I know from Mississippi would never ever refer to someone's butt as a "rear" or "pooper." They also wouldn't refer to a woman's breast as "boobies." Even the profanity Minny used in one sentence didn't sound like the way a black person from Mississippi would curse. The word "damn" was used a lot by Minny and the white characters. When the different characters started to complain using the word damn, if often sounded like the same person voicing a complaint. Also, on page 311, Minny made a comment about most black men leaving their families like they're trash. The black men I knew that had left their families back in the 60's were in the minority. I thought it was unbelieveable that Aibilene didn't pray for her fellow maid and church friend when the woman's son was beaten and left blind by an angry white mob considering Aibileen was suppose to be such a praying woman. Aibileen mentioned that she saw lots of cars over at the maid's house after the son was beaten but seemed more concerned about telling her story to Skeeter instead of offering some comfort to Louvenia and her injured son, especially since Aibileen's only son had died tragically. Now the most ludicrous segment of this book in my opinion is for Skeeter to describe her old maid Constantine as "black" and "ebony colored" but supposedly had a white father. The author just couldn't stop there. She had to write Constantine's husband was just as black as the maid Aibileen who also was "very black", yet Constantine with her ebony skin and her very black husband had a baby, Lulabelle who could pass for white with light hair! I've never in my nearly 50 years ever met a couple as black as the ones she created to have a child that could pass for white. I have lived around all types of people and have never ever seen two ebony colored people create a "white" looking child. Also, Lulabelle coming down to Mississippi mouthing off to Mrs. Phelan? Every black person in Chicago, I know because that's where I'm from, knew about Emmett Till. Nobody who lived in Chicago during the civil rights era went to Mississippi and got smart with white people knowing what happened to Emmett Till in 1956. That was soooo unbelieveable. Also, what woman would shower someone else's child with love and affection and abandoned their own child after raising them four years? Also, in the black community, a faithful church member would never refer to her pastor's wife by her first name. Aibileen referred to "the reverend's wife" as Rachel twice. It was also mentioned that a black teacher made a slanderous comment about the governor. What kind of fool what make such a comment and still expect to live in Jackson during that time? I could hear readers saying, "he got what he deserve." The black people who were fighting for justice in the 60's didn't go about it like that. That part of the book was a slap in their faces to me. Ms. Stockett did her best to make these character sound illiterate. One of the maids asked Skeeter how tall she was. Skeeter replied, "5'11." The maid replied, "then I must be 5'13." Come on! Every child in the third grade knows 12 inches equal a foot. Did Stockett write that to be funny? Or did she actually want the readers to believe this character was that illiterate? If the latter, then she probably viewed black domestics as illiterate. She tried to throw in a few token comments about Minny being smart in math and a few doctors and lawyers went to Aibileen's church, but for the most part, I got the feeling that she really believe her white character's intelligence was far superior than her black characters. I think Ms. Stockett watched Gone With The Wind too many times or watched a lot of Shirley Temple movies. One of her character's even made a comment that the last time a lot of negroes and whites worked together was during Gone With The Wind. Maybe she need to view the movie again because there weren't very many blacks in Gone with the Wind that had speaking parts. The incident at "Miss Celia Foote's" house with the naked man was unnecessary. The naked white man repeatedly calling her a "fat n***** while he played with himself wasn't funny. I also found it hard to believe Minny would give Leroy, her husband "a knuckle sandwich for supper" if she was so afraid of him. The whole secret hiring of Minny for "Miss Celia" to get her husband to think she could cook didn't seem believeable either. The pie inicident with Hilly was not believeable. This book should've been cut 150 pages. A lot of the character's movement's could've been spared. I didn't need to know every time Aibileen ironed "a damn skirt with pleats" or every time Minny polished some silver. I especially didn't have to know the line about the how pages of the manuscript Skeeter was writing almost flew out the window and a moth landed on the top and left a smudge? Give me a break. Yes, The Help got a lot 4 & 5 star reviews, but the author could've done the black community a favor and checked more with our community about that period in history before making us look and sound like buffones and idiots. Yes, this is fiction, something the author created, and it was obvious many times, but even if you do fiction, try to make it real as possible and not absurd.