Editorial Review:

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.

Kathryn Stockett did an amazing job creating a journey of laughter and tears. For a few days I was flying in the lives of the extraordinary women in this book. As a black woman I found it hurtful at times and then I would turn the page and completely relate to the sassiness of Minny. This book is on my top five reads. Awesome, Awesome, Awesome!!!

Average Rating:

Rating: - Awesome, Awesome, Awesome!!!
Kathryn Stockett did an amazing job creating a journey of laughter and tears. For a few days I was flying in the lives of the extraordinary women in this book. As a black woman I found it hurtful at times and then I would turn the page and completely relate to the sassiness of Minny. This book is on my top five reads. Awesome, Awesome, Awesome!!!

Rating: - The movie might be better
Before I purchased this book, everything I'd heard about it - which, granted, was very little - made me believe the author was African-American. Unfortunately, I found out that was not the case just prior to reading it. The mention of that fact - the book written about the lives of black maids from the point of view of a white author - got me turned up noses, rolled eyes, and pursed lips. I pride myself on not settling with initial feelings that I have that are racist, biased, or prejudiced. However, I found myself thinking thoughts such as, "How is a white woman gone write about life from the point of view of a black woman?" Mind you, I still haven't cracked it open yet.
Finally, I began reading and what I found most difficult was getting a rhythm. I have read books that are written in dialect, so to speak, such as Zora Neale Hurston's work and usually have to read them aloud until I find the rhythm of the writing. But this was different. I found myself thinking, "See? She don't even know how to write the way we talk." My authority on the matter is self-ordained. Never mind I didn't grow up in Mississippi in the 60's and never was a maid - I have decided I am an authority on writing the way we speak, also ignoring the fact that I am not a best selling author yet.
As I go further into the story I am very much engaged. I want to know what the Terrible Awful was and am guessing why Miss Celia has a rust colored stain on her rug. I am pulling for Skeeter and feeling sorry for Stuart. And I feel like this is more of the author's story than her perspective of life from the point of view of a black maid.
But in the end I think, "Why is this book just now being released?" I am not asking a question about the author's timing in writing the book nor the time it took to be published and released. I feel like this should have been released in 1965. Then I would appreciate it better. But right now it just makes me angry. As so much of what I hear about Mississippi does.
Anyway, I felt a little more connected to the author in the section where she shares her story in her own words. She is from Mississippi and lived in New York for several years and now lives in Atlanta. She may complain about Mississippi but you better not complain about it in front of her - especially if you aren't from there. That's real and brings me down off my high horse.
As far as the story - as I said, it was engaging. I want to know more about what happens to each character - I'm not content with the ending where you have an idea of where each person is heading. I want to know the history of Hilly and Elizabeth - two women I feel sorry for (although if I said that in Book Club I would get the strangest looks, dead silence, and then they'd move on to the next question). I felt that it ended a little more optimistic than I would expect to be feasible for some of the characters. There were stories that I felt could have been expanded - but the book is over 400 pages so I guess some things had to go.
I don't know if I will specifically suggest you read it. I hear it's going to be a movie. The movie may be better than the book.

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Rating: - Amazing
One of the top books i have ever read!! I want to read a sequel--our book club had great discussion! and any other books Kathryn writes.Jackson mississippi 1962 beginning of the civil rights movement--some very brave women.

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Rating: - The Help
The book is great and it arrived it great condition, too. The price was the lowest I had seen anywhere.

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Rating: - Couldn't put it down!!!!
I am a mother of two with one on the way....and let's just say, the dishes could wait, laundry could pile up and I had to Tivo my favorite shows! I COULD NOT put this book down. I fell in love with Minny and Aibileen! The fictional lives of these 2 brave women were truly mesmerizng. You will laugh, cry, and even get a little angry at some parts. Katheryn Stockett paints a vivid picture and truly puts you right in the heart of Mississippi during a time when everything was truly black or white, while adding enough color to paint a rainbow! I look forward to her next novel, like a slice of caramel cake! "Which, is something I had never even heard of til reading this amazing book...then had to rush out and buy the ingredients to make my own,lol!"

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