Fall Reading Suggestion - The Help by Kathryn Stockett, Even Better Than The Hype

“The Help” by Kathryn Stockett should be on the reading list for everyone this fall. Stockett brings you into the lives of three extraordinary women dealing with the issues of segregation and civil right in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960’s. Miss. Skeeter, who is perhaps one of the first in her town to go away to college and come back with a degree but no man, longs to write about something that will truly matter. When Skeeter returns to Jackson to find her beloved childhood maid missing she decides to write a book from the perspective of the maids. These women who work in white homes, care for white babies, and are often treated like second class citizens under the “separate but equal” Jim Crow laws of the deep south. Miss Skeeter secretly teams up with Aibileen, a wise and devoted maid currently raising her seventeenth white child, and Minny, Aibileen’s smart talking best friend, to write this remarkable story from the perspective of the help. Along the way Miss. Skeeter find her own unique perspective as she learns the true nation of the people she holds dearest to her. The experience will leave her, and her small town of Jackson Mississippi, forever changed.

What I really enjoyed about this book was the Kathryn Stockett switched between the perspectives of Miss. Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny spending about three chapters at a time telling the story from their perspective. It allowed the reader an opportunity to truly identify with each character on a more personal level. In addition to Stockett’s strong female leads she has a cast of characters that will keep you intrigued including the prim and proper (and wholeheartedly raceist) Miss. Hilly and my personal favorite “Miss Celia with her hot pink...well everything. I will warn you that from page 300 or so you will not be able to put “The Help” down. I was up till 4am one night finishing the book.

I also went with my quilt girls this past Tuesday to see “The Help” in theaters. I was a bit skeptical. In my experience the book is far superior to any movie inspiration. There is not a great track record here. For example, “The Lovely Bones” loved the book hated the movie, “How to Make an American Quilt” loved to book hated the movie, “Eat Pray Love” loved the book hated the movie (sorry Julia Roberts). The only movie that stood up to the book, in my opinion, was J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” but lets be serious. There was a great deal to work with there.

Well I have to say that “The Help” is one of the best movies I have ever watched. It complemented the book perfectly even breaching the most controversial of topics, including Minny’s special chocolate pie (shhh no spoilers). The characters appear just as you picture them in the book with sufficient character development throughout the film that you literary watch as the book comes to life before your very eyes. It is an absolute must see.

In my opinion everyone needs to read “The Help” and it should be in American history classrooms throughout the United States. It is stories like this one that remind us of how far we have come but how much further we have to go, as a nation, as a society, to truly be kind to one another.

Thank you Kathryn Stockette for this wonderful book...Check The Riverhead Free Library today!

Happy Fall Reading,

- Jeannie Sargent