Kathryn Stockett ('The Help') champions humor in a 'ridiculous' U.S.

Kathryn Stockett, the acclaimed American author behind the bestseller 'The Help,' champions humor as a vital tool for resistance in what she describes as a "ridiculous" United States. Stockett shared these views during her visit to Madrid for the city's Book Fair, where she also presented her second novel, 'The Club of the Indomables.'

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If you spend 17 years trying to write a book and you don't laugh, your life is passing you by.

Reflecting on the immense success of her 2009 debut, which sold 15 million copies worldwide and was adapted into an Oscar-winning film, Stockett admitted the experience was both "overwhelming" and "paralyzing." She confessed that writing her second book was a daunting task, as she felt the weight of expectation from her publisher, readers, and critics. "If you spend 17 years trying to write a book and you don't laugh, your life is passing you by," she added.

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I guess there are two types of people, those who in such a situation sink and those who first go crazy and then get stronger.

Stockett, born in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1969, initially wrote 'The Help' out of nostalgia for her hometown while living in New York. However, when starting her second novel, she felt immense pressure. Despite intending to write a short story, she found it lacked "soul," leading to a decade of unsatisfactory progress. Her publisher eventually terminated her contract. Stockett, however, identifies with those who "first go crazy and then get stronger" in such situations, a tenacity also evident in her literary characters.

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It was impossible to write about women in the state of Mississippi in 1933 without talking about discrimination, racism and hypocrisy.

Her debut novel, 'The Help,' faced rejection from 60 publishers before finding a home. Stockett keeps some of those rejection letters as a reminder of her perseverance. The breakthrough for 'The Club of the Indomables' came when she acknowledged the impossibility of writing about women in 1933 Mississippi without addressing discrimination, racism, and hypocrisy. She also discovered a 1927 law permitting the sterilization of individuals with mental illnesses, autism, or epilepsy, a fact that deeply shocked her. Further research revealed similar laws existed in almost every state, with California's eugenics association leader recruited by Hitler. Stockett noted that these laws disproportionately affected poor women and those with children outside of marriage, and in the South, they were extended to women deemed "promiscuous."

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It caused me enormous shock.