kadyofbooks's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I finally read this, quite a few years after it was gifted to me. I struggled getting into the writing style, though, and ended up using the German audiobook to finish this in time for our bookclub discussion. But I still want to reread it sometime and finish annotating it - even if it would just be to engage with it more critically (I have seen many criticise this book for not giving an authentic view of the life of a Black maid and I have to educate myself more about the subject to have a better understanding of the life in the USA during the 1960s and before - before I can form my own opinion on this [but this much I have to say now: It was written by a white woman who grew up being cared for by a Black maid]).
I liked that the characters seemed real and were all flawed. What I didn't like about the characters, though, was that there was a definitive difference between how Black men and Black women were portrayed. Black men were mainly absent or abusive toward their wives... And I think that's a problem and something I can't get behind. So the Black maids were shown to depend on how their relationship to their employers is, since they didn't have the backing from their family - the close circle that you normally live with at home and that is there for you no matter what. Since we didn't get to see that relationship even once I did struggle with the portrayal of Black families. And in lieu with that I think the language used by the Black characters to me seemed like stereotypical and afflicted with prejudices.
Even with these criticisms I still liked following the characters' stories
I liked that the characters seemed real and were all flawed. What I didn't like about the characters, though, was that there was a definitive difference between how Black men and Black women were portrayed. Black men were mainly absent or abusive toward their wives... And I think that's a problem and something I can't get behind. So the Black maids were shown to depend on how their relationship to their employers is, since they didn't have the backing from their family - the close circle that you normally live with at home and that is there for you no matter what. Since we didn't get to see that relationship even once I did struggle with the portrayal of Black families. And in lieu with that I think the language used by the Black characters to me seemed like stereotypical and afflicted with prejudices.
Even with these criticisms I still liked following the characters' stories
Spoiler
and I actually like the open ending. We don't really know what will happen to most of the characters in even the near future but we get to hope for the best.hoosgracie's review
4.0
Set in Mississippi in the turbulent early 1960s, two African-American maids - Minnie & Abileen - work with Skeeter, a privileged white girl to write about what it's like to work for white women. This was an interesting way to approach looking at the civil rights era. I really enjoyed this book. I particularly recommend the audio as the three readers - (the story is told in three viewpoints) bring the characters to live. There is a fourth reader who reads one chapter, which is told in third person.
cbendito's review against another edition
4.0
I was ready to hate The Help. The way you automatically can’t stand a new Mexican restaurant everyone raves about because it can’t be that good. I mean, come on people, it’s just another taco. But, despite my best cool kid efforts to be above the gushing I kept reading in every magazine and the excitement about the upcoming movie adaptation (I do love Emma Stone!), I ended up falling right in line with the crowd and falling in love.
Kathryn Stockett may be one of my new favorite writers. That may be an overstatement after just one book, but holy hell can this woman create a character. A lot of characters actually. That’s the part that fascinated me the more and more I read and the more and more I got to know these women.
Lots of books use the literary device of shifting character point of view. A few chapters from one, a few from another and so on until sometimes you get so dizzy trying to figure out who is talking your eyes cross.
But very few do it with such distinct voices. I didn’t have to look at the chapter heading to know if I was speaking with young southern white girl Skeeter, or feisty maid Minny or restless and quiet Aibileen. Each woman has their own cadence, vocabulary, thought process and soul. It takes a skilled craftsman and years of devotion to their art for a writer to create one great character. Stockett creates countless individual living breathing women so well that you can’t help but fall into their world.
And what a world it is. I know the history. Names like Medger Evers and the 4 little girls that died in a church bombing are not unfamiliar markers of our national history. In this context though, they became more real to me than ever before. Through the eyes of actual witnesses living those events like our narrators are, the reality of what the south was like in the 1960’s became a little more focused for me. The lives of these women become more and more real with the infusion of history and what I can only imagine are real accounts of life as a black maid to a white family. These women are writing the book we are reading as we read it. (did I just blow your mind?)
Its layers like this that leave me astonished at The Help. Very rarely do I finish a book and want to read it again. But instead I’ll just jump higher on the bandwagon and gush until I have every other cool kid loving it too.
Kathryn Stockett may be one of my new favorite writers. That may be an overstatement after just one book, but holy hell can this woman create a character. A lot of characters actually. That’s the part that fascinated me the more and more I read and the more and more I got to know these women.
Lots of books use the literary device of shifting character point of view. A few chapters from one, a few from another and so on until sometimes you get so dizzy trying to figure out who is talking your eyes cross.
But very few do it with such distinct voices. I didn’t have to look at the chapter heading to know if I was speaking with young southern white girl Skeeter, or feisty maid Minny or restless and quiet Aibileen. Each woman has their own cadence, vocabulary, thought process and soul. It takes a skilled craftsman and years of devotion to their art for a writer to create one great character. Stockett creates countless individual living breathing women so well that you can’t help but fall into their world.
And what a world it is. I know the history. Names like Medger Evers and the 4 little girls that died in a church bombing are not unfamiliar markers of our national history. In this context though, they became more real to me than ever before. Through the eyes of actual witnesses living those events like our narrators are, the reality of what the south was like in the 1960’s became a little more focused for me. The lives of these women become more and more real with the infusion of history and what I can only imagine are real accounts of life as a black maid to a white family. These women are writing the book we are reading as we read it. (did I just blow your mind?)
Its layers like this that leave me astonished at The Help. Very rarely do I finish a book and want to read it again. But instead I’ll just jump higher on the bandwagon and gush until I have every other cool kid loving it too.
paigescrapart's review against another edition
4.0
Loved the book until the ending. Felt like the ending was cut short after so much character development and detail, I felt the author just decided to stop as if meeting some page number deadline and then ended it short.
smlamberton's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Loved this!!!
icey132's review against another edition
This book was too slow and couldn’t keep my interest to the point where when I’d put it down I would dread having to pick it back up.
kittykornerlibrarian's review against another edition
5.0
I read this in 2011 and really enjoyed it. I found a copy at my vacation rental this month and decided to read it again to see if it held up. It really did. I enjoy Aibelene's voice the most, I think, but I loved reading about Minny and Skeeter as well. This is about Jackson, Mississsippi in the 1960s, and it's about what happens when Skeeter, a recent graduate of Ole Miss with aspirations to become a writer, decides to interview Black maids who work in the homes of White families. Aibelene works in families with babies and young children, and leaves each job before the children are old enough to understand that they are supposed to despise her for being Black. Minny has a hard time keeping a job, because even though she's an incredible cook, she says what she thinks much too often to her employers. Skeeter misses her Black nurse Constantine, who left under unexplained circumstances while she was at college. She is under a lot of pressure to marry well and gets no support whatever for her dreams of being a writer. I really enjoyed this both times I read it.
ijdroney's review against another edition
5.0
This book was hilarious! I loved it so very much. I have never laughed harder at at book.
abbygrace1011's review against another edition
5.0
Oh my god. I cannot say enough good things about this book. A must read.
jsheldonsherman's review against another edition
5.0