The Help

For her first novel, this author did an amazing job. I love to read but it is rare that a book affects me like this. This was one of those books that I thought about all day at work and couldn't wait to get home to continue reading. It's been a long, long time since I've had a book like that.I enjoyed the first person story telling of each chapter as it went from Minny to Abileen to Skeeter and back. I think this was the absolute best way to write this book. It was brilliant, frankly and I don't think the book would have flowed quite so well if it had been written from only one person's perspective.This book brought out all sorts of emotions in me. I got angry, (Hilly...grrr!!), I was disgusted, I was happy, I felt respect and for some characters, deep respect, I laughed, (Minnie...oh, wonderful Minnie), I cried, I felt shame, I was scared, anxious, apprehensive...sigh. I've read a lot of books. Many books have made me emotional but I don't know any book that has made me feel these things consistently, throughout the book from the beginning all the way to the end.This writer grabbed me right from the start and kept my interest to the very last word. Her characters were incredibly well developed and I cared for Skeeter, her mother, the Help and little Mae Mobely. I did not care for Hilly, Elizabeth and their ilk but this writer made me feel intensely about them. I really wanted to smack Hilly right in the mouth. Many times. I even started to care a little bit about that ditz, Miss Celia.But mostly, I cared about the help. I adored Minnie. I love that woman! She may have had a thick wall of defense around her but inside she was soft. She tried not to care, many times but she did care. Not that she would admit it, maybe not even to herself. I loved how she would bite her tongue, bite her tongue, bite her tongue and STILL something would come out. I totally understand. It does get one in to trouble a lot but for some of us, the candor we cannot control, no matter how hard we try. And the pie? Oh how I laughed! Gutsy, strong willed, beautiful woman.And Abileen, with her warm, giving heart. Her constant prayers. Her willingness to be the first to work with Skeeter on the book. All the praises she gave Minnie, she failed to realize, she should have given to herself because she was the one who stood up and said, "I'll do it" and convinced others to, as well.Finally, Miss Skeeter: Young and naive. Eventually though, she stopped being a toy for Miss Holbrook and started thinking for herself. She started the writing for one reason but as she went along, learned a great deal about her life and the life of those around her. She grew stronger with each passing month even as she lost all of her friends and her boyfriend. While those who were "The Help" had much more to lose, Skeeter was also brave. As she grew, so did my respect for her.This book is about brave women who stood up against those who said such nasty things as, "you can get many diseases" from a black person. Who had their tongues cut out for speaking out. Who were mistreated in so many ways. Who were not looked upon as humans but rather as disposable. They were scared but they did it anyway.I tried to put myself in the shoes of those maids. Empathize with what it would be like to have someone view me that way in everything I did. I think we've all had a small, very small taste of what these women went through on a daily and constant basis. There is no way for us to ever fully understand it though.And this is where I found the deep respect for them. It actually affected me in my own life. I found myself standing up for myself more at work. I also found myself brushing off things that I used to think were a big deal but now realize, I've had it really easy all this time.I just can't say enough about this book or this author. I am truly impressed with the author and I found her "In Her Own Words", at the back of the book to be equally interesting.It takes books as well written as this to get me to write a review. I want to sing this book's praises from the mountaintops. I don't typically do reviews because I feel I'm not very good at them but mostly because I'm just not moved enough to actually write something other than, "it was good" or "it was not good". I tend to stick to reviewing that which I truly enjoyed but even then it's going to be rare that I give 5 stars.I give this book 5 stars. I would give it more if that option were available. And I will definitely buy books from this author again just as soon as they start getting published.The only downside to this: After reading something so engaging, so wonderfully written, feeling all the emotions I felt, really caring about the characters, it's going to be a tough act to follow. The next book I read is going to have to be good in its own right or it won't stand a chance.

I absolutely loved The Help. I’d already seen the movie and enjoyed it, but reading the book gave me so much more backstory and detail that really filled in some of the gaps. The additional layers made the characters feel even more real and complex, and I appreciated how the novel explored their motivations in ways the film didn’t have time to cover.One of my favorite aspects was the dynamic between all the women and the glimpse into life in the South during the 1960s. The story does such a powerful job capturing the tension, fear, and quiet strength that defined the civil rights movement on a personal level. The relationships—both the alliances and the conflicts—were compelling and at times heartbreaking.I also loved that the book was told from multiple viewpoints. I’m always drawn to stories that switch perspectives, and here it really worked to show how each character saw the events differently and carried her own secrets and hopes. It made the narrative feel richer and more authentic.

The Help is set in Jackson Mississippi from 1962 to 1964. It is told from the perspective of three women. Aibileen, is a black maid who has a special gift for working with other people's children. Every day she tries to make Mae Mobley, the little girl in her care, feel loved and important. It hurts Aibileen to see the way Mae Mobley's mother treats her as a burden and a nuisance. She feels sometimes that no matter what she does, Mae Mobley will turn out like her mother.Then there's Miss Skeeter. Skeeter is a young white woman who has just graduated from college. She and her friends are officers in the Junior League. They hang out at the local country club and host bridge parties every week. When Skeeter returns home she discovers Constantine, the black maid who raised her, has disappeared, and no one will tell her what happened, least of all her mother. The loss of Constantine makes Skeeter more aware of the people her friends refer to as "the help". Her eyes begin to open to the injustices that the black maids in town put up with every day. She wonders if they ever wished that things could change.The final narrator is Minny, Aibileen's best friend. MInny is a smart-mouthed, black maid who has a habit of getting fired for speaking her mind. She butts head with one of Skeeter's best friends, Hilly Holbrook, the president of the Junior League. Miss Hilly does her best to make sure Minny will never be hired as a maid again. Minny finds a job, albeit a strange one. She must work in secret every day for "white trash turned rich girl" Miss Celia, so that Miss Celia's husband will believe that she is a good housekeeper. Minny thinks Miss Celia is crazy, but she takes the job because it's the only one she can get.The characters' lives begin to intertwine when Skeeter, an aspiring journalist, decides to write about the lives of black maids in Jackson, Mississippi. Her search for the truth leads her to Aibileen and Minny. The trouble is, some people in Jackson don't want the truth to get out. Those people don't want things to change, and they will go to drastic measure to make sure "the help" stays in their place.I love finding a book that I can't put down! This book has such an array of memorable characters. I really enjoyed reading about how each of their lives intertwined with the others'. I also really liked that there were three narrators. I think it added a sense of mystery to the book. One character would begin telling of an event, and it wasn't until later, in another character's story that you discovered the outcome of that event. The author really embodied each character. I felt as if I was reading three separate memoirs.I also love books that make me think about them long after I'm done reading them. Desegregation of the south is not a topic I'm unfamiliar with, but this was a new perspective on the topic for me. I knew that many people were against desegregation and that terrible things were done to people who were black in the south in the early 1960's. But I've never stopped to think about how dangerous it was for anyone, even a white person, to speak out in favor of desegregation. There were "normal," seemingly nice people who were dead set against black people having equal rights. It's pretty hard for me to imagine someone who believed in segregation speaking out about it just like they were discussing the weather. It's even more incredible to me that those people could have felt no shame or guilt. My eyes have been opened to the fact that, in some parts of the south, it wasn't just a few radical groups like the KKK that treated black people as if they were something less than human. This book helped me feel as if I lived during that time for a brief period. Thankfully, when I was done reading, it was 2010, and though we have a long way to go until there are equal rights for all people, we sure have come a long way.I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys great, character-driven fiction, especially historical fiction. I orginally got this book from the library, but I loved it so much that I bought a copy so that I could read it again and pass it along to my friends and family!