Review: The Help

Title: The Help
Author: Kathryn Stockett
Source: Library
Date Finished: December 17th, 2010

Summary of Book:

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.                                                                                                                                                            

Review:
 I don't understand the cover. Birds. I don't remember anything in this book being about birds. Was this the cover of the book Skeeter and all the maids had written? It's something to ponder after a while. . .
I only had 7 days in which to read this book. It was a 7 day loan from the library and I accepted the challenge. The week that I was reading this book, I was doing some traveling (and not driving, obviously), so I had some time to read and think about the book after I had finished.
It makes you wanna ask what the white folks were really thinking about. Black, white, what's wrong with color? I'm glad that things weren't that bad now. I mean, I probably would write the book as well. I love writing myself, but can't finish a book to save a life. But if I could write it, I totally would. I'd want others to see what's really happening.
But I'm just confused. The ending. What kind of ending is that? Skeeter goes off to a publishing job, the world is still at war about the book, I mean, what happened to Minnie and her husband? What about Celia? Hilly? A lot of things aren't quite explained yet. . .More pondering. . .
I want to know what happens next. Does Skeeter live happily ever after. . .Alone? What happens with the book? Lots of things to ponder.

☺☺☺☺☺

Review coming soon: