Kathryn Stockett's debut effort The Help will forever be a favorite of mine. It is at times hilarious,at others heartbreaking. It is an important book.
Skeeter, Hillly, and Elizabeth are best friends in Jackson Missippi in 1962. They are white and well off. Each of their families employs a black woman as a maid. Aibileen and Minny are best friends too. They live in the poor section of Jackson. They each work as maids and nannies for white families of Jackson. This is the story of what happens when these two worlds colide.
After Hilly ddeclares her intention to build her maid Aibleen a seperate bathroom to reduce her family's risk of catching disease from Aibileen, Skeeter decides to write the stories of the maids of the city. What follows is an examination of the Civil Rights movement through these these women's stories.
I loved how this book used real historical events to spotlight the racial tensions in the country. Everything from the student sit-ins at Woolworth's to the Freedom Riders and Dr. King's March on Washington were mentioned/ When you learned about the Civil Rights Movement you often only heard about the leaders who fearlessly faced danger, went to jail or even died for the cause. The people in this book are different. They are afraid. They look at the monumental changes on the horizon with suspicion and distrust. This is refreshing to see in a telling of the Civil Rights story.
Read this book. Plain and simple.
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