The Help

I loved this book.

It takes place in the early 1960's Mississippi, and is told from the perspective of three different characters.  Two of the voices are those of black maids.  From their perspective we learn something of what it's like to be living in the highly segregated and prejudiced deep South.  Aibileen is the tender-hearted maid for the Leefolt family, and Minny is a hot-tempered maid that can't keep a job because of her sassy mouth.  The third voice is of Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan.  She is a 22 year old white girl that just graduated from college.  She longs to be a hard-hitting journalist, but is resigned to live at home and write a housekeeping column for the local newspaper.  These three women form an unlikely relationship and tell the personalized story of civil rights in Jackson, Mississippi at that time.

For all the seriousness of the theme of the this book, Kathryn Stockett managed to incorporate humor and love-ability in the characters.  We feel horror at how African Americans are treated in this book, but can appreciate the honesty and authenticity of each of the characters.  I'm a sucker for historical fiction, because it tells a side of the story I wouldn't necessarily have ever heard from a history book.  In this book, I discovered just that -- a behind the scenes glimpse of a tumultuous time in our history. I saw familiar scenes such as Martin Luther King, Jr's "I have a dream speech" being told through perspective of Aibileen and Minny.  And I related to Skeeter as she desired to write and make a difference.  I felt so connected to the characters that I found myself crying and laughing and rooting them on throughout the entire novel.