The Help
Author: Kathryn Stockett
Published: February 10th, 2009
Publisher: Putnam
Goodreads Summary: "Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.
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."
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."
Concept/Ideas: 4.5/5
Storyline/Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Writing Style: 4/5
A great read... So moving. If anyone out there has not read "The Help", I would definitely tell you to go read it now.
This book basically has the same age-old message, although it never tires. This book was written beautifully. I loved the concept of it as well. It made it stand out from other books about black rights in he 1960's, in the south.
The story alternates between three people, Skeeter, a white woman, and Minny and Aibileen, two black maids who work for white families. I loved that they were written, truly how they would have talked, and felt during this time period. At times though, I just wished that Minny and Aibileen would have stood up to people like Hilly. Although I know they "couldn't", it made me so angry how Hilly treated them. I would have popped that bitch in the face. Hilly was a sad, miserable, nasty woman who just lived to blame black people and make their lives living hells. It made me so mad whenever she did something, blamed someone, whatever it was. I remember when I was watching the movie, I felt the exact same way. I couldn't stand her character.
It was a long read, but well worth it for anyone considering the novel.
It was filled with heartbreak, realization, sadness, the horrific ways that black people of the 60s were treated, and more.
I really can't say much, without giving it away, but it was amazing and inspiring. It teaches that doing the right thing is always better than going along with what other people believe (especially when it's wrong), no matter what the cost.
Storyline/Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Writing Style: 4/5
A great read... So moving. If anyone out there has not read "The Help", I would definitely tell you to go read it now.
This book basically has the same age-old message, although it never tires. This book was written beautifully. I loved the concept of it as well. It made it stand out from other books about black rights in he 1960's, in the south.
The story alternates between three people, Skeeter, a white woman, and Minny and Aibileen, two black maids who work for white families. I loved that they were written, truly how they would have talked, and felt during this time period. At times though, I just wished that Minny and Aibileen would have stood up to people like Hilly. Although I know they "couldn't", it made me so angry how Hilly treated them. I would have popped that bitch in the face. Hilly was a sad, miserable, nasty woman who just lived to blame black people and make their lives living hells. It made me so mad whenever she did something, blamed someone, whatever it was. I remember when I was watching the movie, I felt the exact same way. I couldn't stand her character.
It was a long read, but well worth it for anyone considering the novel.
It was filled with heartbreak, realization, sadness, the horrific ways that black people of the 60s were treated, and more.
I really can't say much, without giving it away, but it was amazing and inspiring. It teaches that doing the right thing is always better than going along with what other people believe (especially when it's wrong), no matter what the cost.
For anyone interested in seeing the movie, here's the trailer (Youtube.com):
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