Book Review: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

When Skeeter graduates from college in the early 1960's, she returns home to Jackson, Mississippi. Her friends are all married and having children, while she is a single aspiring writer. Her sorrow over the loss of her childhood maid, who left town while Skeeter was in college, and her desire to become a professional writer propel Skeeter to a project that will affect the lives of most of the women in her town.

This is an incredible debut from Kathryn Stockett. Written from three different perspectives, in three different voices, the novel follows Skeeter and two maids - Aibileen and Milly - as they come together to tell the true stories about the relationships and interactions between the help and the white women for whom they work.

Stockett does an amazing job of developing each of the many female characters in this novel. Although all of the women fall within two categories - the help and the white employers - each is unique so it's easy to keep track of them, their families and their storylines from beginning to end. It's an excellent look at how life was for these Southern women as they embarked on the changes that the civil rights movement would eventually bring to all of them.

My Rating: 5/5

Reading group guide and discussion questions for The Help

This review was written based on a copy of The Help that I purchased.