The Help

Have you ever done something in spite of yourself? That is what happened to me when I read The Help by Kathryn Socket. A good friend of mine suggested a few months back that I read the book. When I finally came up on the massive library waiting list, I was ecstatic. As I read the slip cover for a synopsis of the story, I was intrigued and anxious to get started until... I flipped to the back flap and there was a Caucasian woman. I was stunned and almost offended. I distinctly remembered reading just moments before about two of the main characters being African American women, in the tumultuous 1960's and in Jackson, Mississippi no less! How can she [Kathryn Socket], who is not a minority member or even a bi-racial woman, write from the point of view of a black woman? I would soon find out! Against my own judgment I started to read the book and let's just say I read all 440+ pages in a week's time; it would have been sooner if work didn't get in the way! All I can say is BRILLIANT! Stockett depicted the characters so vividly that I almost forgot who had written the book. She seamlessly wove this tale of racial and human relations, with such precision and depth that I would easily read the book again. Believable characters, an exciting and at times suspenseful plot, what more can you ask for? I was fully engaged! I was committed to reading and drawn in almost seductively by the words on the pages! At times, I wanted to cry and other times I laughed out loud. There were times I was literally afraid and others I was so angry, I wished I was part of Civil Rights movement of the 1960's so I could DO something! Aibileen could easily be any one of my aunts, reading her throughout the book made me feel like I was eavesdropping on all the elder women in my family! She is wise, smart, and compassionate despite her circumstances. I found myself labeling random strangers as possible shoe-ins for the book's characters. I found Miss Minnie and Miss Skeeter by day two while sitting in the hairdresser chair! Utilizing fiction, Kathryn Socket was able to allow us a glimpse at a critical time period in American history through the eyes of two different classes of people who experienced it. She offered the ying and the yang, the good and the bad of human relationships amongst racial tension and political turmoil. Sadly, I was disappointed with how the books ended, I craved more information, I wanted to know that all my characters, all the heroines ended up ok. But I suspect Stockett left it that way purposely in order to give way to our own imaginations! If nothing else, this book will educate you and motivate you to learn more. I am pleased, entertained, and I don't even care anymore that the authors is not black! FIVE STARS!Show Less