Having only visited Jackson once (and that was in the 1990s), it was informative to read about segregation from the perspectives of both the white housewives and their black maids. Each chapter is told from the perspective of one of the main characters. I don't want to give anything away about the plot, but I do wonder how authentic the various voices are. Stockett has received some criticism as a white woman writing in the voices of black women--that even in a fiction book, she would not be able to capture the maids' experiences.
What do you think? Does one owns experience impact one's ability to tell the story of an other's experience?
2 comments:
This is already on my "to read" list! And they're making this into a movie too!
Sound like an interesting book. I don't think one's own experiences necessarily impacts whether you can write about another's experiences. I think a good writer, whether through research or imagination, can slip into the skin of other people and write about their lives.
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