Friday 28 January 2011

Stockett, Kathryn "The Help"

Stockett, Kathryn "The Help" - 2009

Three women in Jackson, Mississippi. 1962. There is Skeeter, a daughter from a rich house and there are Aibileen and Minny, two black maids. Skeeter tries to find out how it feels being a black woman and writes a book about the life of her friends.

A very interesting story, the first book by Kathryn Stockett. A new author where people will wait for her next one to come out. She manages to write a very gripping style, you really want to find out what comes next. The story alternates between the three women, they each have their own language and style which makes the book even more interesting.

You can tell that the author knows what she is talking about, that part of herself is in that story. She is Skeeter and writes her book about the maids.

In a way I am very glad I found this book before it became so famous. I am always a little cautious when there is too much publicity with a book, especiallywith a new author. This is certainly a book I will recommend to my friends.
 
From the back cover:

"Enter a vanished and unjust world: Jackson, Mississippi, 1962. Where black maids raise white children, but aren't trusted not to steal the silver . . .

There's Aibileen, raising her seventeenth white child and nursing the hurt caused by her own son's tragic death; Minny, whose cooking is nearly as sassy as her tongue; and white Miss Skeeter, home from College, who wants to know why her beloved maid has disappeared.

Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny. No one would believe they'd be friends; fewer still would tolerate it. But as each woman finds the courage to cross boundaries, they come to depend and rely upon one another. Each is in a search of a truth. And together they have an extraordinary story to tell...
"

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2022.

4 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. As I said in my review, I'm so happy that I found this before it became so famous, so I could read it without any prejudice. I still love it. And it's one of the few books where I also really, really love the movie.

      Thanks, Lisa.

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  2. Funny, we read it the same year, and also with caution at first and we both enjoyed it. My reading tastes have changed a lot since, I would probably not even have tried it and it came out this year.
    I wrote a few thoughts on this one: https://wordsandpeace.com/2010/10/02/read-in-june-september/
    Sorry, you will have to scroll down quite a bit. These were my early blogging years, it shows...

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    1. Same here, Emma. But I'm glad I read it. Thanks for the link. As to the scrolling, I just used the search function. ;)

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