The Segregated South

I am listening to the audio CD of The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I grew up in the segrated south--I took the separate drinking fountains, separate bathrooms, and the separate schools just for granted, just normal, just the way things were. In my 12 years of public education, I never had a black classmate. This book is set in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962 and is the story of two groups of women--one the white, Junior League women and the other their maids. Kathryn Stockett has caught not only accuracy of physical detail (Final Net hairspray and radio music) but also the underlying fear on both sides, simmering resentment of the black maids, and total obliviousness of the white women. The readers voices are so perfect in their accent and tone that several times I caught my breath remembering just that tone, just that manner of speaking. This is one of those books that I listen to on my way home from work and find myself driving slower and slower so that I will have more time to listen.