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. - Goodreads.com
Title: The Help
Author: Kathryn Stockett
Publisher: Putnam
Release Date: February 10, 2009
Format: Paperback
Pages: 451
Genre: Fiction
Rating ❤❤❤❤❤
The story is about three women: Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny. Each told their side of the story and life they lived from 1962 all the way to sometimes in late 1964. It was set in a small town of Mississipi, located near Jackson. It was a repressive time and it showed in the book.
One of the things that I was hung up on the first few pages was the way some of the writing was written. It was written in a deep southern tone and some words were not even proper english. So at one point I even had to say some out loud. But it was worth it because it kept the nature of the book true in tone.
My favorite part is when everything pulls together for the three main characters. As it happens things get set in motion and unraveling, for the good and bad of their town. But without the book, nothing would have changed and that I liked. It pushed boundaries that needed to be shoved and looked at closer. Something that was true in that time period in the south with freedom marches, Martin Luther King Jr., and the culture that faced all people of that minority.
There are some people who would disagree, saying that the book isn't representing things in true form. But I feel the opposite. I connected to it in such a huge way. My grandmother had a maid, who was black for over 30 years. She may have lived in New Jersey, but the point is my mother grew up having a black maid around the house. I've even met the women when my grandmother had passed away. My grandmother loved her and grounds keeper (also of the same minority). They both got compensated in her will. I think that since it was in the north, it wasn't as bad. But it's still an example of how I believe this book stayed on course and kept true in nature to the situations back then.
I feel this book is great for anyone who grew up in that time and actually lived knowing of having help in the house that wasn't white. It'll ring very true to home. I also feel this book is a great way for the younger generation to maybe understand a little deeper at what our country went through during those times.
Overall, I loved this book to no end. It's officially one of my top 10 favorites and will always have a special place in my heart.
Everyone should read this book at least once.
