Book Review: The Help

I just finished reading The Help By Kathryn Stockett.

Brief overview of the book:
The Book takes place in 1962, Jackson, Mississippi. It unravels the relationships and the roles of being a black maid, looking after the families of the town's white women. The love between the maids and the children and the struggle between classes and defining lines between them.


I admire one of the main characters of the book - Skeeter (Eugena) Phalen. In the book, she is a 22-year old graduate from Ole Miss who longs to be a writer. After graduation, she returns home to her mother, who will not be satisfied until she is married.


Another one of the main characters in the book is Aibileen - a black maid who is wise and regal, raising her 17th white child. She is such a strong character and the author does a really great job of bringing them to life off the page.


In the book, throughout the course of events, Skeeter requests the help of Aibileen and other maids to tell their stories of the white women they work for. They change the names, but the stories stay true to the things they have lived through. Once the book is published on a short run, it slowly gains momentum and spreads across town. The maids guarded by their secrets, as well as being set free. The book tells a universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t, and the decisions we make to daily choose between them.


My Take:
I really enjoyed this book. At first, I was a little daunted by how large it seemed - close to 600 pages, but I dug in, mainly because I enjoyed the movie so much, and I had not had the chance to read the book beforehand. I am so glad I did. I love the characters in the book - there are such strong personalities that really come to life and I could easily imagine them myself, albeit the movie helped plunk people into their roles for the most part, although a couple of the characters from the movie cast differed from the book descriptions of them. I thought the book Skeeter and Hilly would have looked different than what the movie characters looked like. It does make me want to see the movie again and compare and pick up things I may have missed the first time.