The Help

This six weeks, I chose to read The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. This book was first published on February 10, 2009. It tells the story of a white woman in Jackson, Mississippi, who dreams of being a journalist. She wants to write a book through the eyes of black maids in the time, and she asks for the help of several maids she knows, Abileen and Minny. The book is about all of the risks they take to make this book succeed. One of the themes of the book is that sometimes it takes courage to do what is right. Abileen and Minny risk their lives to create this book, hoping to make a difference in their community and their world.

This book is told through three perspectives, Abileen Clark, Minny Jackson, and Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan. It is in first person point of view, telling about the everyday life of the three woman, and really showing how they feel about the things that are going on around them. Abileen takes care of Mrs. Leeflots young child, Mae Mobley, who is often mentally and physically abused by her mother. This is hard for Abileen, who recently lost her own son that year. Minny used to be the maid for Mrs. Hilly Hollbrock, a vicious and controlling woman, before she is fired, and has to find another woman to work for. No one wants to hire her because of something she did the Hilly before she left. (Read the book to find out) Skeeter has just returned from college, and is trying to decide what to do with her life. She wants to be a journalist, and applies for a job in New York. But what she really wants to do is write a book. One day, Skeeter asks Abileen to share some of her stories about being a maid, good or bad. At first she thinks Skeeter is insane, but she eventually agrees to the idea, convincing her friend Minny to come with her. They slowly share their stories with Skeeter, and she writes them down. Other maids offer their stories as well, and the book slowly grows bigger. But all the time the risk of someone finding out what they are doing hangs over their heads. I think the audience for this book is anyone from young adult to older. This book is historical fiction, and you can tell because it uses fictional characters in a historical place and time that actually happened. The author keeps me interested by adding more and more elements to the plot. Also, she used dialogue and the way that the people spoke (Abileen and Minny spoke with a certain dialect) to keep me hooked. The author's style uses a lot of sarcasm in the characters thoughts, and some irony. This all made the story quite interesting for me to read and enjoy.

This book did impact the way I thought about the world that I live in. I do not and will hopefully never have to go through the hardships that Minny, Abileen, and all the other maids had to feel in this book. If they speak their thoughts about the people they work for, they fear being fired, and having nothing to eat, or maybe even worse. Now I realize that my small chores, such as cleaning my room or doing the dishes mean nothing to these woman, who are so used to doing chores all day. It is hard to think that this was the world in this time period, and how much it has and hasn't changed. It did not bring up any specific memories of books I have read, but I know I have read books about this subject.

I loved this book, especially all the funny and unpredictable things that happened. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read.

Viveca Holman
11/5/2013
***** 5/5