Our members were young women at the time "The Help" takes place but no one was aware of the degree of discrimination and bigotry that existed within private southern households where African-Americans were employed. The belief that someone entrusted to clean your home, cook your food and raise your children should not be using the same bathroom as your family and guests is so contrary to commonsense. We all agreed that this novel was a real eye-opener and hard to put down.

Snow Flower caught my attention at the very beginning and never lost it. The lifelong relationship between the two main characters, Snow Flower and Lily has many unexpected twists and setting it in 19th century China with foot binding, arranged marriages and the cloistered existence of women was eye opening and poignant. How fortunate we are to live in modern day America.

The author intersperses the science of cells and advancements in medicine with her growing perception of the Lacks' children and grandchildren in an engrossing and straightforward manner. This book lends itself to discussion on scientific, moral, ethical, spiritual, legal, emotional and racial levels.

Our group was split about 50/50 on this book. Those who liked it felt it was an easy read but they knew something bad would happen. The others found the style uninteresting and the plot too predictable.