The Help

For my first book for the Southern Reading Challenge, I read The Help by Kathryn Stockett. (I should note that I actually started another book, the collected letters of Flannery O'Connor, but at nearly 600 pages it'll take me a while.)

I'll admit I had some doubts about this one. The plot summary sounded like so many other rather precious books that make my cynical self snort. But I kept hearing good things about it from people who don't always like "sweet" books either. To be safe, I requested it from the library.

Imagine my surprise when I tumbled headfirst into this book and could barely put it down.

The Help is the story of Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960's. It's told from three points of view: Aibileen, a black maid who has raised 17 white children; Minny, another black maid who's an excellent cook but can't keep her mouth shut at the right times, thus making it hard for her to keep a job; and Skeeter, a 20-something college graduate who desperately misses the maid who raised her (and who left town under mysterious circumstances while Skeeter was away at school) and needs to find something to do with her time.

How these three unlikely partners team up for a project that will change all of their lives, and the lives of many others in their community, is the story of The Help. To give specifics would be to give spoilers; let's just say that what they undertake is subverse, yet subtle, and dangerous to each of them in its own way.

One of Stockett's best gifts in this book is the clear delineation of character. Each point of view is crisply distinct, each of their characters fully drawn. None are perfect, and it's those imperfections that keep the book from sinking into caricature. Each of the lead characters has a great deal at stake with their project. At first it appears that what's at stake for Skeeter is much less dangerous than what Aibileen and Minny might face, but as the book continues, it becomes clear that Skeeter stands to lose a lot, too.

The ending felt a little "meh" to me--as if Stockett got tired and called it a day. But overall, I'd still give the book two thumbs up for its compulsive readability.

Comments

[yolanda]

I loved this one a lot.

[maggie]

Thanks for saying that about the ending! I saw it as Stockett's attempt at staging a sequel. She seemed to be building to a huge climax and then nothing. I still found the book overly enjoying and well worth my lost beauty sleep. :D