The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Title: The Help
Author: Kathryn Stockett
Reviewer: Stephanie
Genre: Historical Ficiton
Rating: Love
Alerts/Warnings: There is some cursing and issues of racism. Also there is one chapter dealing with a nude man that has some mildly crass language.
Premise: 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)

Opinions: I feel like there is a good probablity that most of you will have read this book already. But I very much enjoyed it. So for the couple(?) of you that haven't read this book. I'm here to tell you what all the hulabaloo is about. (I know you are so excited, aren't you?)

The Help follows 3 women, 1 Caucasian and 2 African American, in the South in 1962. None of them are happy with how they are treated. They all want to rise above what everyone wants of them and to be treated with respect.

So they write a book. A book telling the truth about how African American women are treated in the South. Especially in the homes that they work.

This is a powerful look at racism and love and true acceptance. I love the range of characters and the way the story shows you several walks of life and how people choose to handle the problems that come their way. It is moving and beautifully written. This is definately NOT a book for young adults. But it is well worth the read.