Question 3

This question is from the author's website.

Did it bother you that Skeeter is willing to overlook so many of Stuart's faults so that she can get married, and that it's not until he literally gets up and walks away that the engagement falls apart?

Hello, readers! We will post two questions a day for the next three days on Kathryn Stockett's The Help.

The questions today have been provided by Kelly (despite the "posted by" with my name on it at the end of the posts). So, thanks, Kelly!

Be sure to check back tomorrow for more questions...

Question 2

Even though Minny is stubborn and brusque and I really wished she would be nicer to Celia, I was surprised when I realized I was anxious to see her name at the top of the next chapter. Her home life is horrific but I think her story has hope. And I'm just waiting for the next opportunity to drop one of her choice phrases into my lexicon. Maybe "she call the roll [at] the crazy lady club" (13) or her sweater's "so tight it'd make a hooker look holy" (223). We'll see.

From whose perspective did you most enjoy reading?

-Kelly

Question 1

Both Hilly and Skeeter's mother are deeply flawed characters but they aren't irredeemable. Hilly is a doting mother and Charlotte obviously loves her family and even genuinely cares for Constantine. Are these women simply products of their time and culture? How much of a person is by nurture and how much is by nature? Did this book make you think about who you are as a result of where and who you came from?

-Kelly

One of the things we worried about with The Tender Bar, neither of us having read it before, was content.

In fact, content is something we worry about on some level with most books we present to you on Bookish Girl. Every reader is different... Some more sensitive than others, and I mean this in the most positive way. Sometimes I worry that I'm not sensitive enough to content and that I tolerate too much in the name of art and in seeking empathy for human experience outside of my own through books.

Kelly and I both started The Tender Bar and we both feel it warrants a "reader beware", which likely isn't a huge surprise to you given the book's setting. Nevertheless, we make it official. Reader beware.

Happy reading and we hope to see you back here again soon...