The Help

Like most Americans, I get information on which new books to read by what movies are soon to come out in theaters.  While on date night with my husband, I saw a preview for The Help, and I had to look it up!  Once it was downloaded on my Nook, I was unable to put it down.  This book isn't suspenseful.  It isn't a mystery, but it is a page turner.  The Help by Karen Stockett is one of the best stories I have ever read.  It is easy to become immersed in these characters. 

Told in three different characters perspectives, this is the story of what living in Mississippi during the 1960's was like.  This story shows how the lives of  three women intersect when Skeeter, a young white woman from an affluent family, decides to write a book about what really happens in the lives of the African American servants in her town.  With the help of Aibileen and Minnie, two maids in the town of Jackson, Skeeter learns the deepest, darkest secrets of her friends and neighbors.  Through the lives of these three women, the reader laughs, cries, and has the ability to form their own opinions of the other characters without bias.  Trust me, there will be those characters you love, and those you love to hate. 

I loved every aspect of this story.  Stockett wasn't afraid to implant in her characters the biases and prejudices that would have been the norm in the South in the 1960's.  Hilly Holbrook, the most biased woman in the story, has some of the best scenes in the novel.  And Mrs. Celia Foote, along with Ms. Skeeter, show the beginnings of the changes America was going through by forming their own opinions before judging those around them.  These characters all have so much depth.  Each one, like every person you will encounter throughout your life, has their own story.  And Stockett weaves all those stories together beautifully. 

She was not afraid to take chances with her characters either.  I was pleased to see that, although it was a sub-plot, she did not focus of Skeeter gaining the husband her mother so greatly desired for her.  She created strong, brave female characters, especially for the time peroid in which the book is set. 

This novel is amazing!  It is a must read for anyone and everyone.  Please do yourself a favor and pick up this book today.  And if you aren't interested in reading the book then, although it isn't out yet, go see the movie.  If it is as good as the book, it is a a necessity for the at home collection.