The Help

Back when I was watching TV I saw a guy named Myq Kaplan on last comic standing. I remember this hilarious joke he had about movies vs books. He says "Every book's made into a movie. You should go see the movie; you don't have to read a book. But book people are getting smart, they're called authors, they'll re-release the book when a movie comes out. Put a picture of the actor on the cover: trick people who like movies into buying the books. Like, 'Fight Club' is a movie made out of a book; they re-released it, people are like, 'Oh, Brad Pitt's in this book!" He actings like he thumbing through a book and says "Hmmm...So far just words."

J's sisters had all read The Help and one of them tossed me a copy and said here you will love it. I read the back, shrugged and said I will give it a try. She almost snatched the book out of my hands like I wasn't giving their beloved novel a fair chance. I assured her that I would read it and a week later I had the book back in her hands and gave her my review which was "YOU WERE RIGHT! I LOVED IT!"

The last couple days of reading I crammed in a few hundred pages because I knew my friend wanted to see the movie and I wasn't about to watch it without finishing the book. The movie was good, really, but the book was better. I don't know how many times I've head that line about various movies, but I think it's the first time I've ever uttered those words, except for maybe Marley in Me, which I didn't really read (I had the audio version). Now I understand why the book is always better. I spent over a dozen hours reading over descriptions of various scenes, the characters inner thoughts and emotions, and the background or history behind the storyline. The movie however is out of your imagination and into the hands of the directors, producers, and actors all trying to cram 500+ pages into a couple hours. "The Help" movie was 2 1/2 hours long and they still cut out a lot of stuff! They also changed some parts to be a little more of a heroic happy ending, but also more predictable if you ask me. I won't mention specifics to avoid spoiling the story.

My friend Amy and I have a habit of conversing through blog comments. So regarding your last comment Amy, I would go ahead and read the book even though you have seen the movie because it's worth it!