Set in Mississippi in 1962, "The Help" is the story of three women and their fight to have a voice in their society. First is Aibileen, an older black woman who is facing a life crisis when she begins to resent the way she is treated in her world. Next, we have Minny. Possessed of the best cooking skills and the sassiest mouth is Jackson, Minny is at a point where she is almost unemployable. She fights both her employer, her husband, and her society for the right to speak her mind. Finally we have Skeeter, a twenty-three year old debutante who is feeling the pressure to marry and 'settle' when she'd rather write. The three come together largely in reaction to the mounting sense of injustice they both feel within themselves and see in their society, and end up changing both their own lives and the lives of others.
I had to give this a couple of days to settle before I was ready to review. First, let me say that I was up quite literally all night reading this book. I shut the back cover at 4am. I found the story interesting and enjoyable, and was quite captivated by the author's use of language--she's very good at choosing the best verb/descriptive word, without resorting to a lot of messy adverbs. I found the intertwining of the three stories believable and compelling.
The thing is, I felt a real uneasiness from the beginning, for a variety of reasons. First and foremost had to be the author choosing to write in patois when writing as Aibileen or Minny. White authors doing this always strikes me as vaguely... condescending is the best word that I can come up with. It always smacks of Butterfly McQueen and her "I dwan know nuthin''bout birfin baybees" (Gone With The Wind). I was disappointed by 'stock' scenes: Aibileen rescuing the toddler from her evil society mother; Minny getting the declaration from her employers that she has a job forever (as they all sob in the kitchen, no less); Skeeter getting her dream break... they all seemed very Hollywood. In fact, this book, with its highly charged emotional moments and theme is a Hollywood dream. The fact that the only black male character is an abuser didn't go over well either. The use of non-date appropriate songs and details bothered me; I think that those should have been dinged by an editor
I kept coming back to "The Color Purple", in fact. Minny seemed to be drawn directly from that book (I could clearly see Oprah, in her role as Sofia), but with fewer shades of gray. As an examination of black Southern life, I found Walker's narrative far more compelling (and far better than Spielberg's movie). Just as many high points and low points as "The Help", but more believable-they ring true where Stockett's book verges on emotionally manipulative.
Still. I did stay up all night, so the good things were enough to keep me reading. I just don't see myself reading it again.
I had to give this a couple of days to settle before I was ready to review. First, let me say that I was up quite literally all night reading this book. I shut the back cover at 4am. I found the story interesting and enjoyable, and was quite captivated by the author's use of language--she's very good at choosing the best verb/descriptive word, without resorting to a lot of messy adverbs. I found the intertwining of the three stories believable and compelling.
The thing is, I felt a real uneasiness from the beginning, for a variety of reasons. First and foremost had to be the author choosing to write in patois when writing as Aibileen or Minny. White authors doing this always strikes me as vaguely... condescending is the best word that I can come up with. It always smacks of Butterfly McQueen and her "I dwan know nuthin''bout birfin baybees" (Gone With The Wind). I was disappointed by 'stock' scenes: Aibileen rescuing the toddler from her evil society mother; Minny getting the declaration from her employers that she has a job forever (as they all sob in the kitchen, no less); Skeeter getting her dream break... they all seemed very Hollywood. In fact, this book, with its highly charged emotional moments and theme is a Hollywood dream. The fact that the only black male character is an abuser didn't go over well either. The use of non-date appropriate songs and details bothered me; I think that those should have been dinged by an editor
I kept coming back to "The Color Purple", in fact. Minny seemed to be drawn directly from that book (I could clearly see Oprah, in her role as Sofia), but with fewer shades of gray. As an examination of black Southern life, I found Walker's narrative far more compelling (and far better than Spielberg's movie). Just as many high points and low points as "The Help", but more believable-they ring true where Stockett's book verges on emotionally manipulative.
Still. I did stay up all night, so the good things were enough to keep me reading. I just don't see myself reading it again.
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