Title: The Help

Author: Kathryn Stockett

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: Berkley  

Format: Paperback    

Pages: 544

Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Aibileen is a black maid in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, who’s always taken orders quietly, but lately she’s unable to hold her bitterness back. Her friend Minny has never held her tongue but now must somehow keep secrets about her employer that leave her speechless. White socialite Skeeter just graduated college. She’s full of ambition, but without a husband, she’s considered a failure. Together, these seemingly different women join together to write a tell-all book about work as a black maid in the South, that could forever alter their destinies and the life of a small town…

Review:

I loved this book! The characters, the story, the setting; every aspect of this book was well thought out and written.

The story takes place in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960s. This was during the civil rights movement, and the book does a great job of highlighting some of the inequalities between the races. The book focuses on the coloured Help who help to raise the children and look after white families. They are poorly mistreated, and a young aspiring writer notices this. She grew up and went to school with the people who are now promoting the unequal, and she can’t shake off the feeling that this is wrong; especially as she had a special relationship with the maid who worked for her family. So she wants to write a book of interviews where the help get to tell their stories. Not all stories are bad, but they tell the real story of what it’s like for these women to work for white families in the neighbourhood. Shown through three perspectives, Stockett shows that many recognized the problem centred around civil rights and tried to do something about!

Skeeters perspective was interesting because as a white, unmarried female, she was considered unsuccessful. But she showed everyone by writing a successful book that mattered. I loved that about her.

I absolutely loved reading this book. It was heartwarming and emotional and I highly recommend it as a work of historical fiction.

Happy reading bookworms!