The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help- Kathyrn Stockett

From Goodreads-

Be prepared to meet three unforgettable women:

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women—mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends—view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t.

The Help is about a white women who views the mistreatment of the black help from the white upper class families around her in Mississippi, and is determined to make their stories known to the world. The story makes even more of impact with the timing, during the brink of the Civil Rights Movement.

What a impressive first novel for Kathryn Stockett. I loved this book! The Help paints a picture of what life was like during those times. I went through so many emotions while reading this one. I couldn't imagine feeling powerless, like these women felt. I cannot say enough how well written this book is. I felt I was in the kitchen with them, I could smell the southern food, and I could feel there dejection. I laughed while reading it, and I had to stop sometimes because I was so spitting mad, that's a testament to how great this book is.

The characters whether they were ones you liked or not were well written. I immediately felt drawn to Minny. I admired her spirit, and her cheered her rebellion. On the other hand, the white women who employed them reminded me of sheep, all following a way of life they were taught to believe, not thinking for themselves, and for that I pitied them. Not all of them were that way, which gave it a true, authentic feel to it, because though I'm sure many were, I know many were considered good, fair employers.

I cannot recommend The Help enough! If you haven't read it, you are missing out on a fantastic book, that is sure to be a classic.

Rating: 5/5

Hardcover: 464 pages
Publisher: Putnam Adult; 1 edition (February 10, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399155341