Title: The Help
Author: Kathryn Stockett
I have wanted to read this book for so long. It just sat on my nightstand ... waiting. But, once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down.
The Help is set in Jackson, Mississippi at the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement (1960s). The story is told from three perspectives .... Aibileen and Minny, who are two black maids serving white families and Miss Skeeter, a young white woman who grew up with 'help' of her own, but has a very different view than that of her friends.
Miss Skeeter, freshly out of college whose close friends have already married and hired 'help' of their own, decides to write a book on the maid's stories of what it's like to work/serve white families. She gives them a voice that, up until then, no one had heard or cared to hear. What was interesting is maids weren't only responsible for cooking and cleaning, but also raising the children in the home.
I forced myself to exhale and relax all through the book, not wanting any of these women to get caught. The book describes different incidents of those trying to change 'society boundaries' and the results were violent and unimaginable.
I fell in love with the characters. Aibileen cared so deeply for the white children she raised and told them stories that secretly taught them blacks and whites were the same. Minny spoke her mind so much she was often in trouble (I could relate to her! :). I felt myself cheering on Miss Skeeter ... loving that she wanted to do something different than what was expected of her .... seeing incredible injustice and taking a risk to blow the whistle.
This goes down as one of my all-time favorite books. I didn't want it to end.
So, I was thrilled to find out it is being made into a movie. Yay!
Opening night in August, you will find me at the movies!!!
