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The Help (Paperback)
Short Description for The HelpIt's Jackson, Mississippi, 1962. Miss 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...
Full description- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
- Published: 13 May 2010
- Format: Paperback 464 pages
- See: Full bibliographic data
- Categories: Contemporary Fiction
- ISBN 13: 9780141039282 ISBN 10: 0141039280
- Sales rank: 3
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Reviews for The Help
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The Help
Fabulous book! I am stunned that this is the Author's first novel, she is a brilliant writer. I am equally stunned that this book was written about events only 50 years ago. I haven't read a book this clever in a long time. It was hard to put down and now that I have finished it, I am really missing it. At least I can watch the movie now. You won't regret reading this thought provoking book. by Claire Cosgriff
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Page Turner
Don't start reading this if you are busy! Even when you have been forced to put it down you will be thinking about it and wanting to get back to it. by Christine Emmett
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My favourite
I think I have never written a review but this book deserves to be recommended! This is one of the best books I have ever read! Touching, suspenseful, the characters are interesting and real - I could not put it down! by Natalie Negre
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One of the Greatest book!
Simply great! Well written, the author dealt with a taugh theme in a marvellous way! and really, you can't stop reading 'til it'ìs over! by Stefania Di Maggio
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A great read!!!
Absolutely loved it! Far better than the movie, altho that was quite good, too! It's one of those stories that sticks with you and you can't believe this kind of thing was happening less than 50 years ago... by Maggie Swithenbank
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Food For Your Soul
This is one of the most beautifully written books I have read in many years...it draws you deep into the lives of the characters & you cannot fail to be moved. by Elizabeth Sinclair
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amazing novel
I wasn't sure about this book. I like the theme and the cover, however knew nothing about the author. After having read the reviews in here and on Ebay however, I decided to give it a try.And thank goodness I did.
It's an amazing book with beautiful message.
A must read, for sure! by barbara prendota -
A beautiful book!
This is the best book I've read in a long, long, LONG time. And that's coming from a girl who reads a lot. This incredible book is told in three separate and astoundingly clear first-person narrative voices.
The first voice belongs to Aibileen, a wise and godly black woman who is employed in a household where she is raising the child of her white employers. The little girl, Mae Mobley, is an adorable kid who seems damned to follow in the ignorant footsteps of her awful parents. That is, until Aibileen decides that she can save her; she can teach the child that black people ARE people. This is something that many of the white characters seem to have forgotten.
The novel is set in 1962, after Ms Parks decided she deserved to sit wherever she damn well pleased on that bus... but the white population of Mississippi begs to differ. Rosa parks might have convinced people that she was good enough to sit where she liked, but one of the key images of Stockett's text is that of lavatory segregation! The white housewife for whom Aibileen works has a separate toilet built so that they won't have to share a toilet! The idea that black people carry strange diseases is discussed and agreed upon by the cloistered, ignorant white housewives. This forced segregation is one of the catalysts for Aibileen's determination to make sure that little May Mobley doesn't grow up to be just like her mother.
Aibileen's is a calm voice, under which lies years of sadness, resentment, feelings of insignificance and above all, fear.
The second narrative voice is that of Minny. How I loved this woman! At first I thought that perhaps she was something of a stereotype: she's sassy, a great cook, proud, boisterous and she just can't keep a lid on her sarcasm. Her narrative cracked me up and saddened me at the same time. It's just so unfair that such a bright and vivid character sho be so subjugated by the brain-dead harem of ninnies who run the town. However, underneath all of that sass, Minny is a beaten wife with too many kids and an inability to hold down a job because of her smart mouth.
These white ladies are led by the vicious Miss Hilly, an antagonist who I thoroughly enjoyed hating. On the one hand, Miss Hilly is strong enough to be the queen of the stinging ants nest of white wives, so in that respect she's preferable to some of the snivelling "ladies" of the book. Still, I loved despising her.
The third narrative is that of Skeeter. She is a young, white college graduate who has achieved a lot for a woman of her time, but she has not achieved anything important, at least not as far as society is concerned: not as far as her mother is concerned. After all, there's no ring on her finger, is there? Skeeter's character provides a balance to the story, making it something more poignant somehow. The educated white woman is suddenly confronted with the understanding that not all is right in good ol' Mississippi. She feels trapped and this allows her to relate, if only just a little, with the black women of the town. I loved that she felt guilty about this sense of connection, knowing that she is still a privileged individual.
Instead of moping about her lot, Skeeter gets the idea to write down the stories of "The Help" of the town. The problem is, with the lynchings, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, talks of negro diseases, along with dozens and dozens of other more private horrors faced by the black women, they are too afraid to talk.
It's important to say that when the stories do start to spill out, not all of them are terrible. Plenty of the maids talk about the great kindnesses that their employers showed them. The book conveys the idea that the world in which it is set is a changing one. Not everyone is stuck in the terrible dark age of segregation or apartheid. White people aren't demonized and black people aren't deified. The villain of the text is ignorance and narrow-mindedness. The hero of the piece is the bravery of the women to break their silences and just try to make a difference.
This book is truly amazing. The only aspect which disappointed me is that it was written so recently. I wish it had been written fifty years ago because then it would truly reflect the idea of broken silences and bravery. As it stands, however, as an educated reflection on the past, it is a wonderful book. When I closed the last page, I instantly began to miss Aibileen, Minny and Skeeter. I hoped and prayed that Mae Mobley would turn out good. I even missed my animosities for Miss Hilly. I'll read this one over and over. You can pretty much guarantee that this is going to be on school curricula some day, being read alongside Rees, Morrison and Angelou.
If you want an extra special treat, I whole-heartedly suggest you listen to the audiobook. Stockett's voices are truly brought to life in this medium.
Happy reading! by Laura Williams -
The Help
Such a thought provoking book. It addressed blatant racism between different cultures giving the perspective of the racist and the persecuted, while at the same time, addressing discrimination from those within the persecuted person's own culture. It was easy to relate to the characters within the book and overall, I believe, the book gives you a real 'walk-in-their-shoes' type of experience. I would thoroughly recommend this book as a light, yet thought provoking read. by Leana Fletcher
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Book Pick of March 2011
I really enjoyed this book - it wasn't perfect, but then few books are perfect for everyone. What it did was to challenge my perceptions and take me back to the era the book was written in and how different (or not) things are now. It was certainly a tear jerker and I selected it as my ourbookclub pick of the month for March 2011.
Read my full www.ourbookclub.net.au review at http://www.ourbookclub.net.au/LiteratureAndFiction2011.php#the-help by Tracy Hudson
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