The Help Case

Stockett , Kathryn. The Help. New York: Penguin Group, 2011.

Upon reading this book, I had read many reviews before reading it much less watching

the movie since I am a pretty firm believer in reading a book before watching a movie even

if 90% of the time the book always prevails, in which this one did, but I still enjoyed both.

The book had an excellent story line that kept you wanting to read more and as I read

more and more of it I gathered a sense of laughter, tears, and, slight heartbreak. The book

did a really good job of explaining each person's main character with having a good sense

of who they were as if I had known them in real life. All in all, I am very happy I took the

time to read this fictional 464 page book. Although I have my disagreements with some

of the context I truly enjoy a good eye opener on an idea of how things were and how

we have grown into a much different society today.

There are three main characters. Minnie, a bold house maid who isn't afraid to talk

back to anyone, except her abusive husband. There is Skeeter, a young, awkward college

student who just wants to be a writer, but her mother wants her to get married. Aibileen is

an wise, older maid who lost her only son a few years ago, and now she has become very

close to the little white girl she takes care of, but it is a very fragile bond now that she is

going behind her employer's back. Skeeter interviews the three women about what its

really like to be a maid in Jackson, Mississippi. but the book is very risky, and if they were

ever found out, they would all be in danger. It is told in alternating viewpoints from the

three main characters, so we get to see from both sides of the story in this book; from the

League ladies such as the truly venomous Miss Hilly, to the maids who work for them and

basically raise their children single handedly.

I think this book should be allowed in a library of any sort as well as taught by any