Title:
Author: Kathryn Stockett
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
ISBN: 0399155341
Pages: 451
Year: 2009
Publisher: Amy Einhorn Books (Putnam)
Source: Borrowed from a friend
Rating: 4/5
Let’s face it, I’m the last person on Earth to read The Help. My friend, Erin, brought over her copy in December and I had every intention of reading it then, but is somehow languished on the stairs (that’s where my library/borrowed books go) until April. But at least I finally got here (and can return the book to its rightful owner).
The Help is the story of a young white woman and two black maids in 1960s Mississippi. Skeeter, the young white woman is an aspiring writer. She chooses to document the lives of the black maids hired to clean the white houses and raise the white babies in Jackson. Through the voices of Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny, and against the backdrop of the accelerating civil rights movement, the story of these maids and their relationships with their employers is told.
The Help is one of those rare books that is both a bestseller and widely respected in literary circles. So I had incredible expectations going into this read. And it turned out to be a very good book, but perhaps my expectations prevented me from achieving the level of adoration as everyone else. Or perhaps it was because I read most of it while I was under the weather. Either way, I liked it, but maybe a little less than everyone else.
I enjoyed reading The Help. The writing is good and the story is interesting. Stockett does a wonderful job capturing the voice of each narrator – Skeeter’s restlessness, Aibileen’s sadness, Minny’s tenacity – and capturing what their lives are like.
I always think of this era as history because it occurred before I existed (and I must be the center of my universe), but it always amazes me that this is what life was Southern life was like in the 60s. I think growing up in the North allowed me to distance myself from it. Now that I live in Florida, I see remnants of that period, the most blatant of which was the balcony seating I stumbled upon at the old Sarasota courthouse (and I’ve heard our own courthouse only removed the second drinking fountain within the past 10 years). I think novels that illustrate this history for those of us who never experienced it are commendable and necessary.
If you are somehow even more behind the times than I am (no offense), you should read this book and see what everyone meant.
Buy It Now: Amazon
my books. my life. 
I’m glad you liked it. But being sick always affects how much I enjoy books too. It would have been a pretty good choice for reading when under the weather though. While I’ve never been to America, I’ve always felt I had a pretty good understanding of the south’s history of racism. But when I was reading this book I was surprised by some of what went on in the 60s in the south.
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Wow I never actually thought of Florida being like that! I guess so much of Orlando is newer and rebuilt. It is crazy to think about how the 60’s were really not that long ago and that’s how people were treated. 😦
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You’re not the last, because I haven’t read it yet and want to more and more with every review I read!
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Haha, actually I´m the last. It still sounds really interesting, which is why it´s always checked out of the library 😉
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Wonderful book! I just loved it. Glad you did too!
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I loved The Help. It still amazes me it was the author’s first book. Glad u liked it as well.
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Ha – nope, you’re not the last one to read it. I haven’t. I will read it eventually, but this is one of those that I’ll probably wait until sometime next year or the year after when it’s not the book everyone is talking about. I’ve seen almost nothing but positive reviews, but right now I’m kind of in my rebelling against the buzz mode.
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I agree with Suzi — I think it’s reached over-hyped for me. I’ll read it in a few years and everyone will say, “OH! The Help! I loved that book.” 🙂
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I AM even more behind than you are 😛 But I worry that I also have too high expectations at this point, so I’m going to wait a while.
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Nice review! Now I want to move ‘The Help’ to the top of my ‘TBR’ list 🙂 And by the way, I want to the join the queue and say that you are not the last on earth to read ‘The Help’, because I haven’t read it yet, and it has been languishing on my shelf for the past many months vying for my attention 🙂
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It took the Orange Prize long-listing to nudge this one onto my TBR list; I was a bit hesitant because, as others here have mentioned, too much hype can raise expectations, but I thought it was wholly enjoyable and am now sorry that I waited. I actually listened, rather than read though: the unabridged audiobook has been nominated for an Audie and it’s absolutely w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l-l-y done.
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