Review of 'The Help'

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

In the vanished world of Jackson, Mississippi 1962 black maids raise white children but experience continual and systemic racism by the wives and husbands of the community. It is in this setting that we meet aspiring author Eugenia 'Skeeter' Phelan who comes up with the idea of compiling the maids' stories into a book. An older maid, Aibileen, is raising her seventeenth white child and is the first to volunteer to come forward with her story, working closely with Skeeter to find other maids to contribute as well all the while pretending to meet together to work on a household advice column for the local paper. Maid Minny is an amazing cook but has recently been fired by wealthy local community busy-body Hilly Holbrook so now works for a secretive Celia Foote who refuses to allow Minny contact with her husband, taking credit instead for Minny's work around the house (and her cooking). Eventually the reluctant Minny agrees to adding her story to the book along with many other maids in the community, secretly meeting at night in Aibileen's kitchen to share their tales of love, tragedy and, of course, prejudice. What effect will the book have on their lives and the community…?

I originally saw the film of this book several years ago (see here for my review) and was anxious to read the full story which does, of course, flesh out a lot of the details but with the same end result. Stockett really manages to bring the characters to life though is careful to clarify in the afterward that she does not pretend to understand at all what the black maids must have thought and gone through in those difficult times. What is heart-affirming to learn is that even with the backdrop of institutional racism the maids had genuine love for their young charges and pride in their work. All of the maids eventually pull together to expose the hypocrisy and, of course, set the stage for societal change that was shortly to come. Much of the story focuses on the vindictive and petty Hilly character who is determined to maintain the status quo and have her vengeance on anyone who stands up to her. She is the face of the community the maids and Skeeter target with the book but the cost might be too high to some.

An amazing and interesting novel of an often forgotten chapter in American history that deserves to be brought into the light. Sensitive, often tragic, but ultimately heart-affirming, “The Help” is a well worth a read despite it dragging in pace quite a lot throughout. A slow burner but it gets there in the end.

Rating: “Nearly perfect, but not quite”

Review Date: 2025-05-04

Genre: General Fiction

Publisher: Penguin

Publication Date: 2009

ISBN: 9780141039282