The Help
by Kathryn Stockett (audiobook)
About the Book
“Be prepared to meet three unforgettable women:
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.”
My Thoughts
Since I rarely see movies in the theater I knew I had plenty of time to read The Help before seeing the movie. I have heard that the movie does the book justice (unlike some books turned movie). This is another book that was great on audiobook because each of the main characters is narrated by a different actress really bringing each to life.
Oh my gosh I just wanted to smack some of the white women in this book. I realize that they were products of their time, but beyond the racism many were just plain catty and elitist even against women of their own race and social standing. But don’t worry, the worst one gets her just desserts…literally. And you’ll just have to read the book to see what I mean by that.
Despite the conflict in the book, it really is an uplifting story of several strong female figures. The main character Skeeter comes of age, and the two maids find their voice in a world where they typically have no say.
Purchase The Help by Kathryn Stockett from my affiliate Amazon.
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