Release Date: February 10th 2009
Format: Ebook
Pages: 451 pages
Source: Library
Goodreads Summary: Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.
Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.
Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.
Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.
In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women - mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends - view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.
Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.
Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.
Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.
In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women - mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends - view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.
My Thoughts:I have had this book on hold at the library since about August and just when I thought I would have to go out and buy it I received an email informing me that it was finally my turn. At this point I had already seen the movie and, to be honest, I didn’t really like it all that much so I was a tad hesitant to pick up the book. I am really glad that I did.
This book became my guilty little pleasure that I would rush home from work to read every night. Ms. Stockett must have herself a wicked sense of humor because somehow amongst all of the terror of Jackson, Mississippi she is able to show the reader that you can laugh despite your circumstances. My biggest laugh occurred around page 48 when Minny tells us about her sister who had a “heart condition.” How could you not find that to be funny?The characters sprinkled throughout this novel are easily distinguished and feel fairly well-rounded. I love them all, well except for a select few, and feel as if I know these women. I also love that the overall purpose of this book isn’t to show that despite racial differences we are all the same. The purpose is for women specifically to realize and understand that even if we think we are so incredibly different from one another, we really aren’t. That is a nice reminder in a world where mean girls seem to win.
I do have one complaint. What is up with the man touching his dingy? That was seriously out of nowhere and honestly made me throw up, just a little bit, in my mouth. I really didn’t see the point, so if you “get” it then please let me know.
Rating:5/5 I know a book is good when I am rushing home just to spend the whole night reading!
Bonus Features:
*Soundtrack playlist, which is automatically awesome because of the Bob Dylan track:
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