The Help

by Kathryn Stockett

Hardcover, 451 pages

English language

Published Nov. 7, 2009 by Amy Einhorn Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-399-15534-5
OCLC Number:: 824626545

(13 reviews)

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 …

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

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. (jacket flap)

11 editions

MaidMerry reviewed The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Review of 'The Help' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This is one of the better books I've read in some time. The characters are compelling, the storyline well-developed and suspenseful, and the message still relevant.

Some people take issue with the book, and I have to agree that their concerns have merit. The people of colour are somewhat stereotyped. So are many of the white people, such as Hilly, if it comes down to it, but it's more problematic when victims of racism are stereotyped.

Also, some people raise concerns with what they see as racist attitudes and statements on the part of the author. This may be true, but it's important to remember that one can't always attribute the attitudes of the narrators to those of the author. Narrative voice does not equal author's voice.

For example, when Skeeter calls both black girls she plays with, "Mary," because she can't tell them apart--does this mean that the author has racist attitudes, or that she has drawn Skeeter in a believable and realistic way for someone who grew up in Mississippi in the 1940s and 50s? Yes, Skeeter becomes a champion of the maids, but would it really be likely that she would spring, fully formed in enlightenment, from her father's head and never reflect the racism she is taught, when she is a child--and even, to some degree, as an adult, even if she's better than the others to start with and learns more as the novel progresses? I doubt it.

Another criticism leveled at this book is that Skeeter becomes a sort of white saviour. If this were a big part of the book, it would be a fault I'd have difficulty overlooking. I dislike when stories that are intended to be anti-racist put the white person at the centre, teaching the people of colour how to save themselves. (Think "Dances with Wolves" or "Avatar" as examples, albeit with Indigenous people.) I think "The Help" is somewhat less guilty of this, although I can understand why some people might see it as a problem in this book. However, it is a story with multiple narrators--two of them maids who are black, and one of them the white woman, Skeeter. And, throughout, Skeeter is shown to be the one taking the least risk, and this becomes increasingly clear to her as the novel progresses. Also, if I remember correctly, the editor says that the stories written by Aibileen need the least work to make them publishable. So, even there, Aibileen is shown to be more skilled than Skeeter. Thus, while there might be a bit of white saviour syndrome happening here, I think the author does attempt to portray the maids as the real heroes, with Skeeter being merely the vehicle for them to express themselves.

Anyway, I think this book is well worth a read, while bearing in mind the criticisms.

Christina reviewed The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Review of 'The Help' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

It was well-plotted, but I felt Celia Foote's storyline concluded too early. Thought Minny and Aibileen were better imagists than was Skeeter, let alone characters. Maybe it's me, but I didn't see this as a weepfest and thought at least one major/minor character was one-dimensional (it's okay for the minor characters to be one-dimensional, but Stockett gives some who appear less in the novel more depth and complexity). Adept parallels between the hired help and their female employers practically hamstrung by convention.