Anyway, this book review is probably going to suck because I'm not as talented at this as Elle is but YOLO.
Why did I say YOLO?
Moving on...
The Help by Kathryn Stockett Review
Outline-
(As the summary on the back of the book says,) Aibileen Clark is a black maid in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, raising her seventeenth white child. She's always taken orders quietly, but lastly it leaves her with a bitterness she can no longer bite back. Her friend Minny Jackson has certainly never held her tongue, or held on to a job for very long, but now she's working for a newcomer with secrets that leave her speechless. And white socialite Skeeter Phelan has just returned from college with ambition and a degree but, to her mother's lament, no husband. Normally Skeeter would find solace in Constantine, the beloved maid who raised her, but Constantine has inexplicably disappeared.
Together, these seemingly different women join to work on a project that could forever alter their destines and the life of a small town- to write, in secret, a tell-all book about what it's really like to work as a black maid in the white homes of the South. Despite the terrible risks they will have to take, and the sometimes humorous boundaries they will have to cross, these three women uniter with one intention: hope for a better day.
This book was really good, guys. Like OMG good. I think that historical fiction books need to be written right, or else they can come out uninteresting. But this book was by no means uninteresting. The Help held my attention from the very beginning and was really a great representation of what it must have been like back then. It really amazed me how this kind of prejudice happened only 50-something years ago. My dad was born in the late 50's and it's really shocking that this happened in his life time.
The story was told in 3 different point of views, which were Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter's, who are the main characters in this book, Aibileen and Minny being black maids, and Skeeter as a white young woman. It was interesting to see how they all saw events differently depending on their personality and positions. And then there was the terrible Hilly Holbrook. This woman... Ugh. Hilly is the perfect example of the horrendous antagonist. It was really disgusting to see how she was probably the norm for this time period and how every woman in Jackson, Mississippi idolized her. Also, sweet sweet Mae Mobley. Oh, how I loved that little girl and her relationship with Aibileen. I thought the character developments were truly great in this book. At the end, I felt a true understanding of most characters.
If you have not read this book, (which is unlikely, because as I said before, I think I'm probably the last person to ever read this), you so should. You will not regret it. 'If we do not educate ourselves on the past, history is doomed to repeat itself.' (I don't remember who originally said this but my dad has told me this on occasion)
My Rating
5 Stars!!!
(You guys probably think we're push overs because all of our ratings have been 5 stars, but we've just had the pleasure of finding awesome books lately.)
Now, all I have to do is watch the movie starring the lovely Emma Stone.
Ciao!
Lise
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