The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I know most people have already read this book or at least know what it’s about but I’m going to summarize it anyway.  The story is told in three voices, a white woman, young and idealistic and two black maids.  The white woman, Skeeter, has just graduated from university and would like to be a writer.  The story takes place in Jackson, Mississippi in the mid-sixties, an extremely volatile time and place in white-black relations.  Skeeter has an idea to write a book about the relationships between white women and their black maids – the help.  Aibileen and Minny, two black maids are persuaded to help her with the book.  At a time when black men are being beaten just for using a white bathroom, being involved in this project is extremely dangerous and all three women are taking a huge risk.

I listened to about the first three-quarters of the book on audiobook and read the last bit from the book.  I have no complaints about the audiobook but I don’t have as much time to listen to books as I do to actually read them and I really wanted to find out what happened so I just picked up the book.

The audiobook was amazing.  There were three different readers, one for each woman, and they were all so good.  I loved the accents and the dialect and I actually felt like I was right there sitting across the table from them telling me their story.  I might actually have to go back and listen to those last few chapters because I found it kind of disappointing to read after the listening.  It made the story richer and more real to be able to hear those voices.

As for the book, I loved it.  It was funny, and sweet and poignant.  I’ve never experienced racism and it really bothers me that it even exists.  Books like this are so important because I think we need constant reminders about how hurtful and wrong it is so we can hopefully prevent it from happening.

I will definitely read this book again and I would recommend it to anyone.