The Help

Product Description

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 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.

Customer Reviews

The Help
This book is by far a much bettr read then Kitchen Help. I enjoyed both books and both are highly recommended. This book is the kind that you do not want to end. Leaves you actually thinking about it long after your done. A real page turner.

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lovable, adorable characters
This is one of those books that I don't want to analyse too much because I fell in love with the characters instantly and care too much about them. The three main characters are wonderfully flawed and human, intelligent, wise, clever, funny, loving, just adorable. The supporting and peripheral characters are equally interesting except for the main antagonist who I wish were a little less one dimensional, which, in my opinion, would have avoided the flavor of Hallmark TV movie. The precarious setting of the 60's in American politics, not limited to civil rights movement, experienced by the South provides complexity to the collective and individual neurosis. I love the cover which captures the essence of the story, and the author's own words that add personal history and heartfelt sincerity to the story.

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a gripping tale
The Help is a book that gives perspectives on different folks living in the SAME place and time, with race and economic factors, culture and being stuck in past ways, a prime recipe for a fabulous story...couldn't put it down!

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Conflicted
I actually enjoyed reading the first half of the book. The concept is interesting, and I wanted to know what was going to happen.

The ending is terribly unrealistic to me. The author never convinced me that the maids SHOULD put their lives, safety, and livelihoods on the line to help Skeeter write the book. They had nothing to gain, while Skeeter had everything to gain. The fictional book portrayed both good and bad white employers, so it's hard to believe that the book would have been so groundbreaking outside of Jackson, Mississippi. I think I fully gave up on the book when Aibileen was found out based on a superfluous detail included in the book. I can't imagine that in this situation they would not have been more careful after seeing what happened to Louvenia's grandson after making a harmless mistake.

And the buildup about what happened to Constantine was a big letdown. I was expecting Skeeter to find her body under the house based on the buildup. Use of dialect only for the black characters contributes to the patronizing manner of the book. "Skeeter the great White Savior" would have been a more accurate title. I had a huge problem with the fact that Aibileen didn't get credit for writing and editing the book, on top of putting herself in harm's way. And at the end of the day, Aibileen had to sacrifice everything while Skeeter's dreams came true and she walked off into the sunset.

And Celia wasn't believable at all.

It was an interesting read, but I definitely felt uncomfortable with this book.

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AMAZING!
What a wonderful book. I couldn't set it down! Not only does it keep your attention and in suspense, but it sends a wonderful message. The characters in the story are so real and you fall in love with them (well most of them).

GET THIS BOOK, you won't be disappointed!

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