The Help Book Review

THIS BOOK.. <3

I really don't have enough words for this book, the way its written, the way you fall in love with the characters, (minus the stereotypes in some of the characters) the way you can picture the images of the settings and the way the characters look because of how Kathryn Stockett has described them so well. The story is set in the early 1960's Jackson Mississippi, and its about African American house maids that work for white families. One main character is a Miss Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan and she wants to be a writer and she gets an idea to write a book on what its like to be an African American maid in Jackson Mississippi working for a white family. She wants to hear the good things and the bad things about what its like, from what they get paid, to what its like looking after these little children that will one day grow up to be their boss. The story then follows the hard times and struggles that these maids are faced with in their everyday life as well as their job life. Of course there has to be a person we love to hate, and in this story it comes in the shape of a Miss Hilly Holbrook, i tell you, reading about her, i knew in the back of my head that in the 1960's in Mississippi there was tons of women just like her, but i couldn't help but think she deserved so much more then she actually got in the story.

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The good thing about this book, is the light hearted approach it takes to the issue.. it could have gotten more serious with the issue of the civil rights movement and racism in the 1960's especially in the south, and even though it touches on it, (i mean.. that's the majority of the plot), the story also brings lots of light hearted laughs, you can sometimes sense the jokes shared between certain characters and the memories that they have made together. It is a very serious issue (racism) and its great that Katheryn was really able to capture the seriousness of it while also showing us the friendships formed. There are characters to love and characters to hate, i for one LOVE LOVE Abileen, Minny and Miss Celia, of course i love Miss Skeeter too,but for me, Abileen brought the truth and Minny the humour and Miss Celia, well she was the women you were just waiting to screw up everything.

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The writer Katheryn Stockett goes on to write in the back of the book, how she was born in Mississippi, Jackson and how her family had a African American Maid, and how that maid looked after her as a small child, she says the book is fictional but she has been inspired by certain people she knew to write the book. I think the personal touch she does in the end pages for us to know a little about her life and how she was one of those babies that got looked after by a maid is sweet, and it makes us think that she kinda appreciates the maids maybe a little better then most people. She has stated she was worried about writing it, she didn't want to offend anyone and she was worried about how it was going to be seen as she was writing it in the voice of a black person. She was worried about what her family would think, but she says she wrote it for her maid that she loved dearly. Since its release..the book has gone on to be a best seller, topping the book charts and remaining there for many months, but its also seen some negative reviews, from people who say its an embarrassment to read, and others stating shes crossed a line by writing it thinking she knows how it felt and what it was like to be a maid in the 1960's in Mississippi.

Overall, i think the book was written beautifully and as i said she could have touched on the subject of racism a lot more then she did, she could have mentioned the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King more but i don't think that's what she intended the book to be about, i  think she wanted it to be based on that, but she wanted it to also be light heartedness and with a little humour, she chose to keep it simple, yet to the point, she did put in a few stereotypes which makes people cringe and i wasn't keen, not every African American is gonna like chicken, but what can i do.

I would recommend this book to everyone, learn a little, love a little and read a little, see what history was like. A Brilliant read, and a must have in a readers collection for sure.. but you be the judge!

Have you read The Help? What did you think of it?

Ana X