The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Book Title: The Help
Author: Kathryn Stockett
Genre: Fiction
My Grade: A+
# of Pages: 451
Week Read: Week #27 (7/2 - 7/9/10)
Summary: Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step...
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home 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 insider 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.
My Thoughts: According to my mom I was told I need to put all other books on hold and read this one. Not just because it was so good, but because if I waited any longer she may not remember it amongst all the other books she's reading and then not be able to talk about it in nearly as much depth as she wants too. Thank you, Mom. Of all the wonderful books I've read this year, I have to say that this one has nestled into the top five.
I was a little edgy at first, as I'm sure most people were and are about reading this book, to know that two out of the three main characters are black and the author is a white woman. Were their voices going to come across as unrealistic, stereotypical, and affected? Within a page my doubts were gone. Every voice, black or white, that spoke in this novel was a real person. Stockett's author's note gives the impression that two characters were based on her own maid growing up and our third leading lady was a reflection of Kathryn herself. But despite the real inspirations, there was still a lot of Stockett's own skill as a writer coming through to make these characters their own; fully developed and multi-demensional. Even bit players that graced only a few pages were real to me.
Gripping is the best word to describe the novel. By the final chapters there was no way I could put it down. I needed to know what the final outcome for Minny, Aibileen and Skeeter was going to be. I don't think I've felt my heart pound and my stomach clench as much, even when reading an action book. The whole time I was placed right in the thick of things, and even though Stockett doesn't quite go into detail describing people and places most of the time, I could still see everything down to the last tea cozy in Miss Walter's house. She gives the reader freedom in seeing things the way they want.
It's an upsetting read too. It's outrageous to read what blacks in the south had to live with every day. The segregation, hatred, laws, etc. What's so upsetting is that Stockett didn't have to make it up. All those laws and attitudes actually existed, and unfortunately still exist today. There will always be Hilly Holbrooks to varying degress out there, that we will still have to fight against. Speaking of Hilly Holbrook- she will be a new character to add to your most vile characters in existence list. We all have that list in our heads. And as much as you will hate her, she's one of the main things that will keep you reading the story.
Actually, there are a lot of things that will keep you reading this book. From wonderful beginning, to exciting middle, to absolutely perfect end, this book takes you on a roller coaster ride of emotions. It's definitely a ride everyone needs to take.
Next Book: Blink by Malcolm Gladwell • review
Back to the Book List.
Author: Kathryn Stockett
Genre: Fiction
My Grade: A+
# of Pages: 451
Week Read: Week #27 (7/2 - 7/9/10)
Summary: Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step...
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home 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 insider 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.
My Thoughts: According to my mom I was told I need to put all other books on hold and read this one. Not just because it was so good, but because if I waited any longer she may not remember it amongst all the other books she's reading and then not be able to talk about it in nearly as much depth as she wants too. Thank you, Mom. Of all the wonderful books I've read this year, I have to say that this one has nestled into the top five.
I was a little edgy at first, as I'm sure most people were and are about reading this book, to know that two out of the three main characters are black and the author is a white woman. Were their voices going to come across as unrealistic, stereotypical, and affected? Within a page my doubts were gone. Every voice, black or white, that spoke in this novel was a real person. Stockett's author's note gives the impression that two characters were based on her own maid growing up and our third leading lady was a reflection of Kathryn herself. But despite the real inspirations, there was still a lot of Stockett's own skill as a writer coming through to make these characters their own; fully developed and multi-demensional. Even bit players that graced only a few pages were real to me.
Gripping is the best word to describe the novel. By the final chapters there was no way I could put it down. I needed to know what the final outcome for Minny, Aibileen and Skeeter was going to be. I don't think I've felt my heart pound and my stomach clench as much, even when reading an action book. The whole time I was placed right in the thick of things, and even though Stockett doesn't quite go into detail describing people and places most of the time, I could still see everything down to the last tea cozy in Miss Walter's house. She gives the reader freedom in seeing things the way they want.
It's an upsetting read too. It's outrageous to read what blacks in the south had to live with every day. The segregation, hatred, laws, etc. What's so upsetting is that Stockett didn't have to make it up. All those laws and attitudes actually existed, and unfortunately still exist today. There will always be Hilly Holbrooks to varying degress out there, that we will still have to fight against. Speaking of Hilly Holbrook- she will be a new character to add to your most vile characters in existence list. We all have that list in our heads. And as much as you will hate her, she's one of the main things that will keep you reading the story.
Actually, there are a lot of things that will keep you reading this book. From wonderful beginning, to exciting middle, to absolutely perfect end, this book takes you on a roller coaster ride of emotions. It's definitely a ride everyone needs to take.
Next Book: Blink by Malcolm Gladwell • review
Back to the Book List.