The Help

The book I read was The Help by Kathryn Stockett. This novel is Stockett's first book. It took her 5 years to finish. The book was rejected by 60 literary agents before it was published. She previously worked for Writers Digest Magazine in New York City. The Help is the only book she has written. It is about racism in the 1960's in the South when African-Americans predominantly worked as maids. The novel connects to Stockett's life because she was very close to an African-American worker in her house when growing up in Jackson, Mississippi. It's a story about friendship and justice. 

   

The main character, Skeeter, is a southern society girl who comes home from college with the dream of becoming a big-time writer. Her busy-body mom, Charlotte, won't get off her back about how she wants grandchildren and how Skeeter needs to find a man. Skeeter just ignores her mother and focuses on work. She chooses to interview the black women in her community who spend their days taking care of white families which creates quite the controversy in her small town. Aibileen, Skeeter's best friend's housekeeper, is the first to talk to Skeeter. As Skeeter continues to interview her more women decide to come forward & speak their minds. One of her favorite maids to interview was Minny Jackson, a sassy maid who doesn't know how to keep her mouth shut. Skeeter's eyes are opened when she hears what these ladies have to say about their lives working for white families in Jackson, Mississippi. As Skeeter befriends these women she feels an obligation to help them and do what is right. Does she speak up or keep quiet? What does the rest of the community have to say about Skeeter's actions? Will her interviews of these ladies ever be published?

   

I would definitely recommend this book to any reader. Personally, I don't enjoy reading very much but I never got bored reading The Help. I enjoyed the way Kathryn wrote to make the characters sound southern and I loved reading all the individual stories the maids told Skeeter during interviews. One of my favorite stories was told by Minny, she talks about a time she got revenge on her employer of many years who treated her horribly. She brought her a pie & the employer thought it was a amazing. She asked what was in the pie and Minny replied, "That good vanilla from Mexico..." and told her the "special ingredient" she used. I can't say what it is because that'd be a spoiler! You'll have to read it yourself. I think anyone would enjoy this book, but especially people who are interested in racial rights or the history of African-Americans in the United states. Its a hilarious, heart-warming novel that will have you hanging off of every word and flipping pages faster than you could ever imagine. You will never want to put the book down!

Book Review by Samira S.

The Help

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help is a book set in the midst of the civil rights movement. It has three different views, two African American maids and a white, young writer. They team together to write a book about their lives and raise awareness for equal rights and to end segregation. They get other maids to share their stories of working as Help, and it soon becomes a huge deal to maids in Jackson, Mississippi.

Important characters include Minny, who’s a black maid and she’s very strong-willed and speaks her mind always. She’s resistant to write the book, but decides that she will do it. Abileen is a kind maid, and has worked in the maid business all her life. She’s the first maid to share her story and is eager to get it all out. Skeeter is a white, rich woman right out of college who wants to be a journalist. She comes up with the idea of the story, and is very excited about it.

This book is definitely recommended for others. It gives you a completely different view of the civil rights movement. The book is very well-written and you soon feel connected to every character. At the end of the book, you feel just as sad as Abileen when she has to leave. You feel that you can’t book the book down, and when you do, you just want to read more to figure out what is going to happen next. It’s a must-read and you will walk away feeling completely different about the way people are treated and the civil rights movement.

Book Review by Madilyn B.

The Help

The main character in this book, The Help by Kathryn Stockett, Aibleen faced a lot through this entire book. The theme would be people can help another to grow just by all of the racial problems going on. This book takes place back the 1960’s when the Whites and African Americans were separated from each other. Except when the African Americans would be the maids for the Whites. That’s why this book is called ‘The Help’ because they are the help. In this book, Aibleen faces a lot of problems dealing with people talking about her because of her race. She is still recovering from her son, Treelore, dying.

Skeeter, a journalist, decides to get the helps stories and wants to make a whole book out of it. The whole time they are doing this and telling their stories, they have to hide what they are doing because basically what they are doing is illegal and they could get in BIG trouble doing it. Throughout the book, Aibleen and Skeeter try to find other women who are help to White families so they can add to the book that Skeeter is writing. At first, people are hesitant at helping but in the end, they decide to help her out.

This book is really good and it’s my second time reading it. I really like it and I think everyone should read it. I recommend it to everyone. It actually gets your mind thinking about what it was like to live in that kind of time where we separated and what it would be like if it was still like that. Some of it is really crazy and how they treated people like that back then. I don’t even know what I would do if I was around any of it. I think this is a good book for everyone to read, so you should. 

Book Review by Ebony B.