The Help

by Kathryn Stockett

Trade Paperback

English language

Published April 13, 2011 by Berkley Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-425-23220-0

Aibileen is a black maid in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, raising her seventeenth white child. She's always taken orders quietly, but lately it leaves her with a bitterness she can no longer bite back. Her friend Minny has certainly never held her tongue, or held on to a job for very long, but now she's working for a newcomer with secrets that leaver her speechless. And white socialite Skeeter has just returned from college with ambition and a degree but, to her mother's lament, no husband. Normally Skeeter would find solace in Constantine, the beloved maid who raised her, but Constantine has inexplicably disappeared.

Together, these seemingly different women join to work on a project that could forever alter their destinies and the life of a small town--to write, in secret, a tell-all book about what it's really like to work as a black maid in the white homes of the South. Despite the terrible risks they will have to take, and the sometimes humorous boundaries they will have to cross, these three women unite with one intention: hope for a better day.

(back cover)

24 editions

Kadomi reviewed The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Review of 'The Help' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Loved it. A very emotional story set in Jackson, Mississipi in the early 60s. We get three different PoVs: Aibileen and Minny, two black maids, and Skeeter, a white young woman who starts a project of interviewing maids about their work to make it as a big time author.

The only thing I found a bit grating at times was the dialect all the black characters used, whereas all white women spoke flawlessly. A bit too much. Other than that, it was a lovely read.

Rob Warner reviewed The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Review of 'The Help' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I found myself hoping that the people in the book were paper-thin caricatures of the Old South, but news reports from that time period indicate that Stockett is likely true to period sentiments. I also found myself projecting the tale to a much earlier time than the 1960s, that surely by the 1960s people weren't so base, but again history trips me up. I found this depressing, as well as an indication that we're not so very different from current-day terrorists that we despise and fear. Man's capacity for evil to man is staggering.

That said, however, this book celebrates bravery and standing for something and accepting the consequences. It moves well, reads well, and makes you want to be both braver and better.