The Help

By Kathryn Stockett

The Help is yet another book I picked up because I wanted to read it before seeing the movie. I still haven’t seen the movie, and now I’m a bit trepidatious about it. Not because the book wasn’t good, but because it was SO good, I can’t imagine the movie will live up to it. It portrays the casual prejudice, daily fear, and quiet joys experienced by black help in the white South with piercing simplicity. The narrative is split between a few different narrators, each speaking in the 1st person – and this is done so well, I could hear the different voices in my head as I was reading. Miss Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny are three of the bravest women you’ll meet in a book, and the journey they take to learn to trust one another is moving. Overall, it’s funny and heartbreaking, and some parts will make you downright angry. A book that makes you feel so many different things so deeply, and sheds light on something that still isn’t talked about widely, is a rarity. I highly recommend this book.

I give it 5/5 stars.