I was vaguely aware of The Help when it was first published a couple of years ago as it topped the Kindle Free List at Amazon. I scanned the description, but the story of Junior Leaguers and their hired help didn't hold much appeal.
Lately though, TV ads for the movie which stars Viola Davis, started appearing. I heard words like "controversial" being used in its description. One night I caught the end of a Melissa Harris-Perry interview on The Last Word. She didn't like the portrayal of domestic workers in the movie, claiming that it took us back to the days of "Mammy" from Gone With the Wind.
So, I had to read the book. Just to learn what all the chatter was about.
I found that it reads pretty much like one would expect a book written by a Junior Leaguer (or Junior Leaguer wannabe) to read. It does seem like the main character, as well as the author, wanted to publish a book and chose the most likely commercial topic she could find. It felt like eating a salad when what I really wanted was a steak.
So I started looking for other books that might portray African American women and their lives with some accuracy and depth. Here are the books I found that might be considered as antidotes to, or supplements of, The Help:
1. Jubilee by Margaret Walker. This was actually suggested as an alternative to GWTW back in May by cfk in a comments thread in Books So Bad They're Good: A Brawling, Sprawling Adventure for the Ages!, a diary by Ellid for Readers and Book Lovers. And indeed, it is the perfect antidote to Gone With the Wind.
Here is the description from Amazon:
Here is the classic--and true--story of Vyry, the child of a white plantation owner and his black mistress, a Southern Civil War heroine to rival Scarlett O'Hara. Vyry bears witness to the South's prewar opulence and its brutality, to its wartime ruin and the subsequent promise of Reconstruction. It is a story that Margaret Walker heard as a child from her grandmother, the real Vyry's daughter. The author spent thirty years researching the novel so that the world might know the intelligent, strong, and brave black woman called Vyry. The phenomenal acclaim this best-selling book has achieved from readers black and white, young and old, attests to her success.
2. Like One of the Family: Conversations from a Domestic's Life by Alice Childress. A link in Laura Clawson's front page post, Domestic workers' rights gain ground sent me to this statement from the Association of Black Women Historians which included some recommendations for further reading. Like One of the Family topped the list of fiction.
From the review on the Amazon website:
In a series of one-way conversations with her friend Marge, Mildred examines life from the perspective of an African-American - "negro" - domestic worker in New York City in the 1950s. These monologues were originally published as a weekly series called "Conversations from Life" in Paul Robeson's newspaper Freedom and continued as "Here's Mildred" in the Baltimore Afro-American. Mildred pulls no punches about the nonsense she sees on every level of life: When her employer tells her - with affectionate, if arrogantly ill-informed, intention - that she is "like one of their family," Mildred graphically points out the critical life differences that exist between a servant/employee and the boss. The confines of traditional literary boundaries don't always fit an oral tradition: in Mildred's after-work and week-end conversations with Marge - interrupted by kids and endless meal-related work - there is a profusion of immediate, repetitive detail: "Here Marge, want some coffee?" "Let's talk while I do up these dishes." "Let me get you some more coffee." But Mildred's social insight, wisdom, and powerful belief in people are inspiring and contagious and make this a compelling read. -- From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Jesse Larsen
I suggest that it be read a few chapters at a time since it was written as a weekly column. Of course, I read it all in two sittings because I found the main character to be tremendously engaging, and the wisdom so rich. According to Daughters Of Africa (see below), Childress has said, "My writing attempts to interpret the 'ordinary' because they are not ordinary. Each human is uniquely different. Like snowflakes, the human pattern is never cast twice. We are uncommonly and marvelously intricate in thought and action, our problems are most complex and, too often, silently borne."
(And don't skip the introduction by Trudier Harris.)
3. A Million Nightingales by Susan Straight. This book was also on the recommended list of the ABWH. I am only halfway through the second chapter but can already tell that this is a special story.
From Amazon:
From National Book Award finalist Susan Straight comes a haunting historical novel about a Louisiana slave girl's perilous journey to freedom.Daughter of an African mother and a white father she never knew, Moinette is a house maid on a plantation south of New Orleans. At fourteen she is sold, separated from her mother without a chance to say goodbye. Bright, imaginative and well aware of everything she risks, Moinette at once begins to prepare for an opportunity to escape. Inspired by a true story, A Million Nightingales portrays Moinette’s experience–and the treacherous world she must navigate–with uncommon richness, intricacy, and drama.
4. Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent From the Ancient Egyptian to the Present Edited and with an introduction by Margaret Busby
Barnes & Noble
"A magnificent starting place for any reader interested in becoming part of the collective enterprise of discovering and uncovering the silent, forgotten, and underrated voices of black women."
THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD
From all over the world and through the ages, here is a dazzling collection of two hundred women writers of African descent, showcased as never before, including:
Toni Cade Bambara, Gwendolyn Brooks, Alice Childress, Maryse Conde, Aldo do Espirito Santo, Marita Golden, Pilar Lopez Gonzales, June Jordan, Terry McMillan, Queen of Sheba, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Phillis Weatley, and many, many others."
Years ago, while wondering through a B&N store in Chicago, this anthology caught my eye from the bargain bin. Fortunately I had the good sense to pick it up and take it home with me where it has provided many evenings of pleasure and exploration.
Like many others, I read fiction in an attempt to experience the existence of other people, places and times. All of these stories provide insights that my own life experience never can.
It is a short list, I know. Any additions?