The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Book #2)

Links: Good Reads

Synopsis:

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.
Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.
Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.
Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

Review:

Despite having an incredibly serious subject that could get really dark and hopeless at times, it remains a somewhat light, relatable easy read. I finished this book over about four different reading sessions, but if I'd had my way, it would have been three. I was so engrossed in The Help for the last half of the book, I didn't want to put it down, I had to know what happened. This is the primary reason why I give this book 5/5 - I literally had to force myself to put it down, it didn't alienate me in a subject I (unfortunately) know very little of, and each character seemed to have a whole backstory that I was just itching to find out. I love it when you can tell that the author knows so much more about their characters than what's written in the novel, and that's how I felt about The Help.


Who would enjoy this book? I believe almost anyone would, but primarily women, as I just shortly realized after finishing it that the only main characters are women, every man is only a secondary character.

What type of read is it (one word!)? Engrossing.

Would I recommend this book? Absolutely!

Which character was my favourite? Skeeter

Will I read it again? Probably, I hope that if I read it again, I will find new details that I skimmed over before.

Review (in related to my reading style): This book is one of the best examples as to why I will sometimes blindly pick up a book to read based purely on buzz, I always figure that if there's buzz about a book, it must be good. I picked up this book based on the buzz and I wasn't disappointed!

Overall review: 5/5

This post got deleted somehow, it was originally posted back in June.