The Help by Kathryn Stockett

So it may appear that all I read are best sellers... don't be deceived! I just happen to have a few recent reads that are (or were) bestsellers. Stay tuned, though... there are lots of books out there!!

Anyway, The Help is another example of a book that my mom recommended. I really didn't know a thing about it before she mentioned it, except for the fact that people seemed to be checking it out a lot. I will admit that I was under the (totally incorrect) assumption that this was a non-fiction, self-help book. That'll teach me to judge a book by its cover, huh?

What this book is about is the black women who worked for white families in the deep South during the 1960's... the women who were "the help". This novel specifically takes place in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962. We see that in many families, the help are the main caregivers for the children, to the extent that the children form stronger bonds with the black women than with their mothers.

The story is told from three points of view: Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan is a white recent college graduate who stands out from her Junior League friends in that she isn't yet married and she questions some of the things that everyone else just seem to take as given. Aibileen is a middle aged black woman who works for one of Skeeter's friends. And Minnie is probably a 30-something black woman who once worked for the mother of another of Skeeter's friends and who did a "horrible something awful" when she was fired from that position.

Skeeter wants more than anything to be a writer and is challenged by a book editor in New York (via mail correspondence) to write about something that disturbs her about the world. She decides to write a social and anthropological type book telling the stories of these black women who work for white families. Obviously she faces an uphill battle, even in just getting women to tell their stories. Not only is it taboo for them to talk about their employers, it can be life-threatening. Aibileen and Minnie, each in their own way, become important to the project.

I liked this book quite a bit. Parts were hard to read, but I think that proves that the author was able to capture the conflict of the era quite well. Each of the three voices in this book have a distinct personality, which must be a hard task for an author. I truly felt that I came to know these three woman through their stories.

This isn't really a happy ending story, but it is one that makes you think. It feels like reality... and reality can be hard. But the growth of these characters is clearly understood and as the reader I, at least, felt that the ending was the way that it should be.

JHP NOTE: Sorry this one took so long to post. I started it the day after writing my Eat, Pray, Love review and then got wrapped up in the acquisition of a new puppy. Now that she is settling in, I plan to write reviews as often as I can!!