The Help Deluxe Edition

A book that will be remembered for a long time.

I have to admit I did not go out and buy this book right away. I honestly thought I wouldn't like it. Eventualy I got tired of hearing about how much people liked it and about how good the movie was that I finally broke down and bought it so that I would know what people were talking about. I took about a chapter or two before I really got into the story. The charaters are extremly funny and brave and Kathryn did a great job of writing from the point of view of an African American women. I especially loved when she wrote about her childhood with her own maid. It really completed the story by showing you that she acctually experienced parts of the story herself. I can honestly say that this book will not leave readers minds easily.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

AMAZING Book!

I bought this book after I saw the movie previews and i must say it has become my FAVORITE book that I have ever read!

Great book!

What a great story! I have never felt such a range of emotions while reading a book. I was angry, sad, happy, hopeful, excited and nervous all throughout the book. After reading this story, it still sort of haunts me as to the realities of racism in the past and the present. A must read!!

Great Book-must read

I haven't read very much of this book - "The Help". But the few pages I have read are amazing. I wanted to read the book before going to see the movie.

What can I say that hasn't already been said??? Excellent!!!

I downloaded this book in audio format to listen on my long commutes to and from work. This made my drive so enjoyable I looked forwared to going home even more so I could get back to listening to it. Excellent story and really made you love (or hate) the characters. Highly recommended! I hope she writes another one soon!

The Help

Introduction
In 1962, in Mississippi, Minny, Miss Celia, Abilieen, and Yule May are all African American maids who are employed by their boss' daughter's, Skeeter, friends. Each woman cooks, cleans, and cares for her boss's children, and suffer from very rude insults from their boss's and their boss' children. Despite all these problems they face they always stay positive.

Description and summary of main points
The Junior League that Skeeter works for is trying to create new bathrooms for the domestic help in private homes, Skeeter contacts a New York with an idea. Therefore, she has a secret meeting with all the maids, or the help, of her community and they tell their stories to capture them for publication for a book that is quite scandalous.
Evaluation
I think that it is horrible how the maid's of Mississippi where treated like that just because of their skin color. I also think that it was also unfair to the white children of the bosses because the probably did not get very much attention at all because down in the south adults would have many kids because they did not have to take care of them.
Conclusion
The help, or maids, of Mississippi created a book about their boss' secrets to make money but, their boss' daughter and friends take the money and create new bath rooms for the domestic help in private homes and the maids get mad.
Your final review
This is by far the best book I have ever read. I would recommend this book to everyone in the world; it is such a great book.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Beyond Classic

Every forty or fifty years a book comes along that not only makes readers sit up and take notice while at the same time shaking beliefs we've grown up with. That, to me, makes for a book destined to become an American classic. For a country that prides itself on human equality, and for this reviewer who was brought up in the idealistic North, this book was a revelation that human inequality was alive and well in the 1960s. Although this story is set in the town of Jackson, Mississippi it could very well have been almost any city or town in the South. Bent on a career as a writer, Skeeter Phelan (white college graduate)applies for an editor's position with a New York firm. Her ambitions and ideals are high. While she awaits a response she goes about her normal routine: bridge club on Wednesdays, Junior League on Thursdays (she's the newsletter editor), church, and the rounds of events at the country club. Like her peers she has little interaction with the help (black maids) of her friends, although she dearly misses the black maid who reared her while her own mother was similarly occupied with social events. In an effort to win her coveted job, Skeeter is advised to submit something she wrote - something of substance about an idea or philosophy that means something to her. The first thing that comes to Skeeter's educated mind is the inequity of the way in which the black maids are treated. Set against the background of the racial crises of the 1960s and the very real threat of danger to not only Skeeter's life but that of the black maids and their families, Skeeter convinces Aibilene (the maid of one of her friends) to tell her story. When Skeeter's New York connection reads what she has submitted, Skeeter is asked to submit the remainder (Skeeter lies about having a dozen or so more maids to interview). If the New York publisher likes what she reads, she will publish the book. Over the course of a year, Skeeter eventually gets her story. Along the way we are introduced to two very strong characters in the guise of black maids - Aibilene (cautious and quiet)and her friend Minny (impetuous and mouthy). On the other side of the racial line are Hilly (white, president of the Junior League, and master manipulator) who is married to a political hopeful and Cecilia (white, low-class, born on the wrong side of the tracks) who is married to Hilly's former beau. In a seamless blending of viewpoints, Ms. Stockett gives us a rounded approach to everyday life in the South during the 1960s: from the blind acceptance of the white women expecting their black maid to do everything from housework to child rearing to the quiet understanding of the black maids that they are not worthy to share even the same bathroom as their employers. Ms. Stockett's characters are well-rounded and complex. We learn to love (or hate) each of them and sometimes want to reach out and shake one or two. A thoroughly enjoyable book that is destined to become an American classic. It should be on the reading list of every book club in America. I wish I could give it more than five stars.

YOU MUST CHECK THIS BOOK OUT!!!!!!

The help is a very interesting novel on three young women trying to make a change. Trying to show people that everyone is not who they say they are but you still find a little light in a person. When i read the help i simply fell in love with it because it shows that when someone cares for you and wants to show people the best in you. Thats why the help is the number one book that could change your point of view for any other book cause it speaks to you. Im only 13 years old and reading the help made me realized that sometime everyone is who they say they are.

This is a MUST READ for a person of any age!!

The Help is a riveting page turner that is perfect for people of any age. Kathryn Stockett takes true events and puts them all together to create a truly phenomenal and inspiring novel. I was sucked into the book from beginning to the end! This book is set during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, a very trying time for many African Americans. A young woman, Miss Skeeter as many call her, has become fed up with the way the white people of Jackson, Mississippi have treated their help. She believes that she can launch her journalism career and open up the eyes of white people across America by writing an extremely controversial novel that is written from the help's perspective. Aibileen and Minny are the first two maids who get the ball rolling on the book when they decide to be interviewed and share their good, bad, funny, and sad stories with Skeeter. However, this task is easier said than done. Skeeter must find a way to publish this book without endangering the maids of Jackson. In a time when black and white people weren't even allowed to go into the same bathroom, this controversial book becomes harder and harder to write. Kathryn Stockett creates the good, the bad, and the ugly throughout this book. Some of the maids' stories are laugh out loud funny while others are absolutely heart breaking to hear. This novel portrays a universal theme that anyone can appreciate. It doesn't matter if you're black, white, blue, or green; we are all Americans and deserve the same rights and freedoms as the person standing next to us. I loved almost every aspect of this book because it is inspirational and it opened up my eyes to what the maids went through during this time in America. This novel also includes some stories that were absolutely hilarious that broke some of the tension that was created in the book. The author also decided to write the book so that the diction was different depending on which character was speaking. Kathryn Stockett did a very nice job on that part of the book, but there was one thing that she could've improved. Some of the stories seemed to go on and on which made me disconnect from the book at times because they seemed like they would never end. But, that is one minor quirk among the indefinite amount of fantastic qualities of this novel. It is definitely one that you will never be able to put down. If you are looking for a heartfelt, enjoyable page turner, then The Help is the perfect book to read. This is a novel

The Help Book Review Highly Recommended

The Help, written by Kathryn Stockett is a wonderful book which captures the readers in learning and reading about what life was like for an African American maid living during the 1960's in Jackson Mississippi. The book is about a woman named Skeeter who comes back to her home town of Jackson Mississippi. Skeeter's desire is to be a writer while her mom wants her to be married with children like all the women in Jackson. While she was home, she hung around her friends who all were married and had a maid. She is tired of listening to her friends talking about their maids (the help) unkindly and decides to write about something that no one had ever written about. Her friends all have maids and do not treat them very well. Skeeter decides to write about what life is like for "the help" and get their perspective on their lives and how they are treated by the white people. Skeeter first starts to talk to Aibileen Clark who is the black maid who works for Miss Leefolt. She is timid about sharing her story at first because of the worry of being caught and put in jail from talking to a white woman. She eventually tells her story to Skeeter and also gets Minny, her best friend involved who is also a black maid working for Miss. Hilly. They both tell their stories and also get the other black maids involved who tell their stories as well. Many of the stories shared were about things that the white women might do or say to them. Skeeter publishes the book anonymously. The people in Jackson Mississippi read the book and find it humorous at first but come to find out that many of the stories in the book are exactly what they did to an African American maid. Women in Jackson like Miss Hilly are very displeased when they find out the stories are what they did or said to the black maids. Some of the major messages and themes in the book are not judging people for the color of their skin and standing up for what you believe in. The things that I liked about this book are learning about what life was like for those African American women in the 1960's and how badly they were treated. It was fascinating to me to hear stories and events that really would happen during that time. One thing that I disliked about this book was how rude the white women were to the black maids. It was sad for me to read about that. You should read this book because it is a book that captures your emotions learning about the lives of these black women in the 1960's. I would overall rate this book 9 out of 10 because of how Stockett really captured my attention and emotions. Read The Help and be captured into the world the African American maids of the 1960's in Jackson Mississippi.