Book Review: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

“You is kind. You is smart. You is important.”
― Kathryn Stockett, The Help

The Help by Kathryn Stockett is the kind of book that stays with you long after you turn the last page. It is one of the best books that I have ever read. This book reminded me of The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, another book that I enjoyed immensely.

The setting of the book is Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s, an era that was marked with racial segregation. The story is told from the perspective of three women. Aibleen and Minny are colored house helps working for white families in the town. These women are as different as any two people can be. Aibleen has a gentle and regal personality, she is also proud of having raised seventeen white children. She is currently working for Miss Leefold and taking care of her daughter, Mae Mobley. However, something changed in Aibleen after her only son dies.

“That’s the way prayer do. It’s like electricity, it keeps things going.”
― Kathryn Stockett, The Help

Minny on the other hand is hotheaded and sassy hence can’t seem to keep any job. She is revered as being an excellent cook but her mouth always seems to get her into trouble. Minny struggles to find a job until Aibleen gets her job working as a maid for someone new in town, someone who doesn’t know her reputation.
Skeeter is a white woman who dreams of being a writer. She is the only one from her race who seems to sympathize with the plight of the colored helps in the town. Skeeter was raised by a black maid, Constantine, who mysteriously disappeared. All efforts to find out what happened to Constantine seem fruitless as nobody seems willing to talk to her about it. The three remarkable women embark on a dangerous clandestine project that could change things in Jackson. However, the project also puts them in grave danger in a town marred by racial tensions.

“Ever morning, until you dead in the ground, you gone have to make this decision. You gone have to ask yourself, “Am I gone believe what them fools say about me today?”
― Kathryn Stockett, The Help

The Help by Kathryn Stocket has an easy flow and the shift between the three perspectives is well paced hence not confusing. The dialect used the book is in line with the characters and the setting and it didn’t throw me off at all. Good Law, I be honest and just admit that Diana done downright loved it!

 

“Mississippi is like my mother. I am allowed to complain about her all I want, but God help the person who raises an ill word about her around me, unless she is their mother too.”
― Kathryn Stockett, The Help

This book has both sad and happy moments that make the characters easy to relate with. Although, a work of fiction, The Help is a historical but timeless masterpiece that will make readers take another look at the way they treat their helps. This book also takes readers back to the tumultuous time in history that shaped the world we live in today.