the help

Well friends, I have officially finished my second book of 2011! I bought The Help over the summer on a whim shopping at Costco {the question is --- what DON'T I buy at Costco???} after hearing rave reviews about it. I didn't even know what it was about, just that it was good. 

I'm glad I bought it :) and I'm so glad I finally got around to reading it!

The Help takes place in 1962 in Jackson, Mississippi. It is a story told from the perspectives of three characters. Miss Skeeter is a young twenty-something college graduate questioning the lines that have always been drawn between whites and colored people in her community. Aibileen is a wise and loving black maid, hired help to take care of white women's household duties and children. Minny is Aibileen's best friend, also works as hired help to white women, and has an attitude like a firecracker! These three women collectively embark on a brave journey --- writing a book about what it is like to be a black maid and working for white families. The peril these women are in is very real, as their controversial book is put together in the midst of Jim Crow Laws, MLK Jr Speeches, Rosa Parks, and "separated but equal."

This book is moving from start to finish. I smiled fondly at the eccentricities of Skeeter, laughed at Minny's audacity, and tears stung my eyes throughout Aibileen's telling segments. The end had me crying like a baby and left me thinking about perspective.

The author of this book, Kathryn Stockett, is a white woman who was raised in Mississippi. She credits her childhood hired help as the inspiration and motivation for writing this story. Her most beloved line in the book {and one of mine as well}, is said by Skeeter:

Wasn't that the point of the book? For women to realize, We are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I'd thought.

 This quote summarizes the purpose of the book, to get humankind thinking about the way we perceive others. Ms. Stockett was so effective with her writing style that it left me curious about what the other characters {like Ms. Elizabeth Leefolt} would have said had they been given the opportunity to have a tell-all segment. 

If you like plunging deep into the heart of characters, and are remotely interested in a story regarding civil rights --- and ultimately, our civil duties to each other --- I highly recommend this book to you :)

Cheers

It's 3 am and I just had to get this post off my chest. Now, maybe, I will sleep.