The Help

I. Love. This. Book. When I initially read it I rated it 4 stars, but I am rounding up to 5 this time, because it's just that good. I think it is because I listened to it on audio, and it was excellent with multiple narrators. It brought the story to life in a different way, and I loved it.

Skeeter. Aibileen. Minny. Their world in the tumultuous South in the 1960s is about to be turned upside down. Skeeter is fresh out of college, full of ideas and itching to make her way into adulthood. Aibileen and Minny have been working for the white women of Jackson, Mississippi for their entire lives. As times are changing, so are a few attitudes, including Skeeter's. She's about to turn all of their lives upside down. She's an aspiring writer, you see, and she gets a wild idea to write about the lives of the black women who are "the help" in her town. Look out, Jackson. Skeeter's coming for you.

Filled with realities of a time I can't even wrap my brain around, the characters really come to life, the storyline is full of humor and drama (just like real life) and you will find yourself both glad you don't live in Jackson and wishing you could have been a part of this time of change. 4.5 stars that I'm rounding up to 5 because the audio is so amazing. Please read this book.

What ages would I recommend it too? – Eighteen and up.

Length? – At an hour a day, about two weeks.

Characters? – Memorable, several characters.

Setting? – Historical fiction.

Written approximately? – 2009.

Does the story leave questions in the readers mind? – Yes. This is a controversial story for many reasons. A few comments made int he book , about not wanting black people to be able to live, or shop in white neighborhoods made no sense. The characters spent most of their waking hours there, cooking, cleaning, and working in the stores. So, in reality, they lived there, and slept elsewhere. If people were so afraid of them, and their germs, why did they insist they cook, clean, and wipe their babies bottoms? The whole idea seems illogical. Fear would keep them from being there in the first place. There was also one comment about who the naked stalker was. It was not followed up on.

Any issues the author (or a more recent publisher) should cover? No.

Short storyline: The story begins with Aibileen, and continues through Minny, and Skeeter. They choose to write a book exposing some of the truths they see in the relationships between the black and white south. In many ways. In the process, they present some of the good examples, as well as many of the painful examples of what went on.

Notes for the reader:

This book was written in dialect. Mostly well done. However, it quadruples the amount of time it takes to read the book.

Please do not look to this book as an example of spelling or proper sentence construction.

If you want to use dialect in your writing, this writer does it well, just way too often.

Some of the sentences are so turned around, the reader isn't sure if the double negative is meant to be a negative statement, or a positive statement.

It is a good example though, of how complex, and interrelated, human relationships were at that time. How people could turn a blind eye to what was in front of them, and be so double sided, and not realize it.

I was kind of torn by this book. I had low expectations from the beginning -- I was discomfited by the dialect, my northern-identity politicking-liberal arts sensitivities were a little appalled at a white woman writing this book and Skeeter read like an obvious self-insertion character.

That being said, I warmed up quickly. Stockett has clearly done a lot of research, in addition to having grown up in Mississippi with a maid. She is honest, at time brutally so, without taking a clear side. She depicts white people who do terrible things while being well-meaning, white people who have a lot of ingrained racism and are striving to be better and those who aren't. She has white characters who have grown up in poorer circumstances and are trying to fit in. She has African-American characters who pander to their white employers and those who hold their ground and those who have their own ingrained notions. My only complaint from a character development stand point is the completely villainous portrayal of Hilly -- she's easy to hate in a novel that's supposed to be about realistic people in a toxic setting.