The Help

It’s been a long time since I found myself reading into the wee hours of the night (1am).  I’ve been reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett, for my own Book Club and I couldn’t put it down.  I finished it in two sittings.

The Help was set in 1962 in Jackson Mississippi; a few years after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to make way for white people.  An unlikely friendship develops between, Skeeter the daughter of a Cotton Plantation owner, who’s white, recently graduated from college and dreams of becoming a writer and Aibileen, a black maid of one of her friends, who has raised 17 white babies in her time.

Skeeter wants to write a book from the perspective of the maids working for white families.  However, she needs 12 maids to interview and this is going to take a lot of trust as the consequences to these women are grave.

A lot of the book was predictable, but I found myself laughing, cringing, shaking my head, angry, hopeful, frightened.  I don’t want to spoil the book for people, but it was interesting to read it 50 years on and to see towards the end that there was a glimmer of hope for change.

Have you read it?

What did you think?

Author: mediocremum

A slightly older mum of one, who drinks far too much red wine and has an unhealthy obsession with her slow cooker. During the day she's an ICT Trainer, Social Media/Online Marketing consultant and does a bit of public speaking. Full Profile on Google+

5 thoughts on “The Help”

  1. No but thanks for reminding me I have it on my shelf. I’m in a book club too and we’ve just read Maya Angelou’s I know why the caged bird sings.

  2. I liked it but was also very disappointed by it – I guess there was a part of me that wasn’t sure about the whole privileged white woman trying to write about black experiences of segregation and wondering if she really managed to do it

    Still found it compelling once I got into it

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