I don't read a lot of fiction, and I'm a slow reader, so it was nice to read something that pulled me in. It helped that I started reading it on vacation; I literally couldn't put it down. I wanted to read it before the film came out so the movie would't spoil the book for me. I'm glad I did. I've now read the book and I've seen the movie. While the film was excellent on it's own, great acting by all of the leads, it didn't have the intensity and raw fear expressed in the book. All of that was glossed over for the Hollywood version, but that's exactly what I expected. Reading this book took me away, put me in the shoes of "the help" and got me thinking about class structure in a more conscious way. Along the way I realized that there's really nothing like a good novel. The experience inspired me to begin reading fiction again. I've passed the book on to my neighbor who would also like to start reading more. I'm impressed that a paperback summer read could have such an impact.