The Help: Book review

found here

I just finished this book last night and all I have to say is: wow! This book is over 500 pages long and I flew through it in less than 3 days. I started in when I was babysitting on Wednesday night and read almost half of it in less than 3 hours. I didnt have a whole lot of reading time on Thursday, but yesterday I babysat for most of the day and I devoured the rest of the book. I have heard of other people having similar experiences too!

Basic plot:

This book is told from the perspective of three different people: two African American maids (or "help") and one Caucasian woman. The book is set in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s, during the Civil Rights era. The premise of the book is that the white woman, Miss Skeeter, aspires to be a writer. At the onset of the novel she is part of the socialite group of white women who have help in their homes. Miss Skeeter begins to see the injustices of the "help" system. She decides she wants to write a book from the perspective of the help to share the stories of what it is really like to work in a white family's home. There is only one problem: she has no idea what is it like to work as the hired help. The book details her struggles to get the African American community to open up to her and share their stories, the good and the bad, of being the hired help.

My opinion:

I absolutely LOVED this book! Like I said, I just devoured it in a matter of days and now I wish I had taken more time with it! I thought the writing was phenomenal and the story was very unique. When the story is told from these different perspectives, Stockett takes on different dialects and you can distinctly hear each character's own voice. You laugh and cry along with the characters as you re-live the humorous and not so humorous tales of being the hired help. There was only one episode in the book that left me confused as to why it was even in there. It sort of felt like this episode was thrown in at random. You will recognize the scene when you see it! I feel like I know these three women after reading the book. Phenomenal read, go read it and tell me what you think!