Three women, Aibileen, a black maid and raising her seventeenth child; Minny, Aibileen's best friend whose cooking is wanted all over town but whose sass is not; and white Miss Skeeter who had just come home from college and is in search for the maid who raised her, all come together to tell their story. Little do they know, what they are planning are more dangerous than they thought.
Rating: 5 out of 5
I'd wanted to read The Help for a while, but that massive queue for this book at the library was pretty detracting. I can tell you now that this was my first time being number 243 on a reserves list. Not even for Twilight, did I end up having to wait for so long. Four months I had to wait. And I wasn't even sure if I could finish the whole book and three weeks didn't seem like enough.
Turns out, the wait was worth it and I didn't even need the whole three weeks, I finished well within the return date.
The topic that this focuses on was a topic I was unaware of. I mean, I was aware that discrimination was happening in the world, but I never knew it was ever this bad. Plus I think Kathryn Stockett did a fantastic job at this. I was amazed at how simple her style of writing was and yet she could excel at describing an environment like this one. And this is her first novel! Goodness…
One of the things I loved most about the book was the strong narrative voice. Even with three points- of view, I could flick to a random page and be able to tell who exactly was speaking. There would never be a time where I’d sigh with relief when a particular person’s chapter ended, in fact, I dreaded that moment because I desperately wanted to know what happened to Minny when Johnny came home. Which resulted to me reading on, and on, until, before I knew it, I’d finished.
Another thing I liked was the fact that the one word of which was the name of the characters oozed personality. It’s like you can just say, “Skeeter”, and I’d be able to tell you what she’s like on the spot. I would do it now, of course, but you’re here to read about how great The Help was, not so that you can admire my many talents. And another thing I liked was that all three main characters, Aibileen, Minny and Skeeter’s lives were linked in some way and so were the other ones. Nothing annoys me more than useless characters.
I loved, loved loved, The Help. It was easy yet informative. Serious yet humorous. So go read it now! While I’m off in search of the movie…
Ela's note: Okay, so I know that this isn't exactly a young adult book but, I thought this book would teach you a lot about what happened in the past as it did me. Plus it's just a good read :)
