The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Jackson, Mississippi, 1962. Black maids raise white children, but aren't trusted not to steal the silver. Some lines will never be crossed.Aibileen is a black maid: smart, regal, and raising her seventeenth white child. Yet something shifted inside Aibileen the day her own son died while his bosses looked the other way. Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is by some way the sassiest woman in Mississippi. But even her extraordinary cooking won't protect Minny from the consequences of her tongue.Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter returns home with a degree and a head full of hope, but her mother will not be happy until there's a ring on her finger. Seeking solace with Constantine, the beloved maid who raised her, Skeeter finds she has gone. But why will no one tell her where?Seemingly as different as can be, Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny's lives converge over a clandestine project that will not only put them all at risk but also change the town of Jackson for ever. But why? And for what?The Help is a deeply moving, timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we won't. Itis about how women, whether mothers or daughters, the help or the boss, relate to each other – and that terrible feeling that those who look after your children may understand them, even love them, better than you . . .

I absolutely loved this book! I must admit I was a little uncomfortable with the stereotypes and a lot of the language used, mostly because it's coming from a white author, but I realise that was necessary and realistic and it really got the point across and I think Stockett did a surprisingly good job considering.

One complaint that I have is that I feel as if the one white character took up a lot of space. I understand how important Skeeter was to the plot and I really liked her but I do feel her chapters were much longer than Minny's and Aibileen's and were filled with a lot of unnecessary information.

But I have to commend Stockett for the story and the characters she brought to life. I was so invested in absolutely every character, even the evil ones! I loved Minny, she was easily my favourite! I especially loved her smart mouth, how courageous she was, the way she looked after everyone in spite of herself, and the way she cared about Celia in her own way really warmed my heart.

Aibileen was the heart and soul of the story. The way she helped garner maids for Skeeter, when both she and Minny encouraged Skeeter to go to New York, the way she looked after and encouraged Mae-Mobley and the affirmations she would recite to her daily, and the way she handled Minny and really understood her. I loved their friendship the most of all.

Skeeter was great too, even though I do believe she had selfish reasons of writing the book in the beginning. As the story went on you could really tell how she came to free herself of earlier thinking, I loved when she saw how nasty Hilly was and questioned why she was ever friends with someone like that and I loved when Skeeter had a moment of clarity and truly understood what her own book was about.

And I loved seeing Ms Hilly backed into a corner by the scheming done by the trio, especially Minny, I do wish I got to see more of a comeuppance for her but in the real world I know that wouldn't happen and I appreciate that things were done realistically.

I like to believe in my hearts of hearts that after the open ending everything went well for Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter and for my own sanity I will ignore everything that says otherwise.

I really didn't care for the choice to use dialect for one of the characters, and the book touched on a little bit of Nice White Lady syndrome. It wasn't as bad about that as I feared it might be at the beginning, though. The dialect, though. Man.

I was kind of torn by this book. I had low expectations from the beginning – I was discomfited by the dialect, my northern-identity politicking-liberal arts sensitivities were a little appalled at a white woman writing this book and Skeeter read like an obvious self-insertion character.

That being said, I warmed up quickly. Stockett has clearly done a lot of research, in addition to having grown up in Mississippi with a maid. She is honest, at time brutally so, without taking a clear side. She depicts white people who do terrible things while being well-meaning, white people who have a lot of ingrained racism and are striving to be better and those who aren't. She has white characters who have grown up in poorer circumstances and are trying to fit in. She has African-American characters who pander to their white employers and those who hold their ground and those who have their own ingrained notions. My only complaint from a character development stand point is the completely villainous portrayal of Hilly – she's easy to hate in a novel that's supposed to be about realistic people in a toxic setting.