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The Help

Kathryn Stockett

Start date: March 1, 2023

Finish date: March 31, 2023

Discussion: Monthly Group Reads

Why we're reading this: The Help by Kathryn Stockett
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last updated Feb 12, 2024 09:45AM

The Help (March 2023)
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last updated Mar 06, 2023 09:46AM

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What Members Thought

Nov 14, 2011 Lisa rated it it was amazing

This book piqued my curiosity when my son called to say he had seen the movie and it was the worst thing he'd ever seen. He couldn't believe that anything could be as black and white as the movie depicted people. Having been born after the Civil Rights Movement was over, he didn't realize that it could and probably was. That said, I have to say I grew up in NY and my only contact with Jackson, Mississippi was the contingent of exchange students from Jackson State who attended my university Bingh ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Aug 24, 2011 Candace rated it really liked it

I enjoyed Stockett's novel. She is good with characterization. I closed the book feeling as if I knew Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny. ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Apr 24, 2011 Ammar rated it really liked it

So far I love the 3 narrators and how the author use 3 distinctive voices to narrate the story from three different POV The end is really good.

the whole setting of the novel is so then and there, one can smell the food in the kitchen, the sounds of the cars, one can feel the segregation in the city and the ghetto.

One would feel sorry for the injsutice of Yule May and her being in prison for stealing an old ruby ring so her children can go to college, yet that dream is questionable.

5 likes · Like · see review

Sep 11, 2010 Donna rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction, adult-fiction

This book really hit home. It is a sad story in that it tells just how bad it was toltry to survivive in Mississippi during the earky days of the Civil rights movement. The main characters (all maids) tell the story through their eyes. Minnie, Abiline Lorraine and others spoke in colorful language and you really get an idea of how they were feeling. This book has someone for everyone....men, women and children.Careful - you might have trouble getting used to the dialect (southern) that was used ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Nov 14, 2011 Marilyn Diamond added it

May have to continue reading when I am in a better mental state..

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 11, 2011 Christina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-i-would-read-over-and-over, novels, adult-fiction, 52-books-in-52-weeks, historical-fiction, contemporary, adult, drama, american-southern, book-club

Amazing is what this book is! Initially, the book started off kind of slow for me, but as I moved from Aibleen to Minny, I was addicted to the story. Historical fiction, and I do classify this as historical fiction has always piqued my interest. The way Kathryn Stockett writes, is perfect. Her ability to capture the dialect of the times, the culture, and the people are fascinating. I would have imagined trying to write as an African American woman (several African American women) would be challe Amazing is what this book is! Initially, the book started off kind of slow for me, but as I moved from Aibleen to Minny, I was addicted to the story. Historical fiction, and I do classify this as historical fiction has always piqued my interest. The way Kathryn Stockett writes, is perfect. Her ability to capture the dialect of the times, the culture, and the people are fascinating. I would have imagined trying to write as an African American woman (several African American women) would be challenging, daunting, and possibly nerve-racking. However, she does a fantastic job in capturing the lifestyle of these women during the 1960's.

It is amazing and shameful at the same time how white women lived during these times. Especially after trying to be so independent in the 1920's, that they would fall to the level of "ignorance is bliss" mentality. Having a maid in the 1960's showed a certain level of class, financial status, and superiority for women. If you didn't have a maid, then who were you?? A nobody. The white women though, treated these maids like trash, second class citizens, and almost like slaves! I understand that the 1960s were very turbulent with the uprising of the Civil Rights Act that were to happen in the very next year, and coming off of a lifetime (seems like) of sharecroppers, cotton pickers, and slavery. These white women in this book were down right evil, well some of them. The stories these maids told had me shocked, appalled, and crying. These maids were segregated, made to watch and raise children that weren't their own, never had time for their own families, and some were abused at home by husbands who were in a perpetual drunken rage.

I could not imagine myself working for white families, let alone, working for someone who thought my skin color was a disease. Making me use the bathroom in a separate facility because she thought I could pass along germs and diseases to her and her family. Yet, she would eat the cooking, allow me to raise her kids, and handle her laundry. Many of these "rules" just did not make sense. The Jim Crow South was another time, and this country has made huge strides away from that, but there are some racism still alive. This book puts the racism in perspective for the world to see, and I appreciate that.

Ms. Skeeter was a brave woman for putting herself, and her family in jeopardy for the backlash and rage of racist whites. She defied the laws of the Jim Crow and wanted to showcase how stupid it was to continue living as they did. White women were ignorant to how to cook, how to tend to children, how to take care of a house, and how to wash clothes, amongst other things. For black women to be so "dumb" as they thought they were, the white women always came to these maids for advice, to help with watching their children, for ironing/washing clothes, for everything! Even to talk to about their problems! How then is it that these maids had no sense?? I didn't get these white women's reasoning behind this.

Ms. Skeeter lost all of her friends, boyfriend, and status just to put forth the truth. She then was able to publish a book about this way of life in the South for the entire world to read, she got a job offer to write/edit (her dream job), and she made sure her friends knew where she stood.

Aibileen, Minny, and the other maids all did a brave job in sharing these stories. Horrific as many of them were, I was glad to see some stories were a happy ending. At the end of the book I was looking for more! I wanted to know more about how Aibileen did after she "retired", and how Minny fared as a single mom of multiple kids after leaving her husband. Kathryn Stockett did a wonderful job! I will definitely pass this book on to my daughter to read.

I would rate this book a 5. I recommend this book to everyone. ...more

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Aug 24, 2010 Laura rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I loved listening to this book. Probably one of my all time favorites. The story is told from three different characters living in Mississippi in the early 1960s, read by different readers using southern accents, It feels like you've been dropped into a different time and place. It was such an eye opener for me - this civil rights history that's really so recent. ...more

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Jan 13, 2011 LeeEllen rated it it was amazing

This is one book that lives up to the hype...One of the best books I have read in a long, long time... you will laugh and you will cry... and you will think long and hard about your true feelings...

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