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The Help |  | Author: Kathryn Stockett
Publisher: Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $11.77
as of 7/31/2010 18:55 CDT details
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Rating:  2379 reviews
Sales Rank: 5
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 464
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.4
ISBN: 0399155341
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780399155345
ASIN: 0399155341
Publication Date: February 10, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Southern whites' guilt for not expressing gratitude to the black maids who raised them threatens to become a familiar refrain. But don't tell Kathryn Stockett because her first novel is a nuanced variation on the theme that strikes every note with authenticity. In a page-turner that brings new resonance to the moral issues involved, she spins a story of social awakening as seen from both sides of the American racial divide.
The murders of Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King Jr. are seen through African American eyes, but go largely unobserved by the white community. Meanwhile, a room "full of cake-eating, Tab-drinking, cigarette-smoking women" pretentiously plan a fundraiser for the "Poor Starving Children of Africa." In general, Stockett doesn't sledgehammer her ironies, though she skirts caricature with a "white trash" woman who has married into an old Jackson family. Yet even this character is portrayed with the compassion and humor that keep the novel levitating above its serious theme.
Copyright 2009, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 2379
 Conflicted July 31, 2010
Sabrina Penelope
I actually enjoyed reading the first half of the book. The concept is interesting, and I wanted to know what was going to happen.
The ending is terribly unrealistic to me. The author never convinced me that the maids SHOULD put their lives, safety, and livelihoods on the line to help Skeeter write the book. They had nothing to gain, while Skeeter had everything to gain. The fictional book portrayed both good and bad white employers, so it's hard to believe that the book would have been so groundbreaking outside of Jackson, Mississippi. I think I fully gave up on the book when Aibileen was found out based on a superfluous detail included in the book. I can't imagine that in this situation they would not have been more careful after seeing what happened to Louvenia's grandson after making a harmless mistake.
And the buildup about what happened to Constantine was a big letdown. I was expecting Skeeter to find her body under the house based on the buildup. Use of dialect only for the black characters contributes to the patronizing manner of the book. "Skeeter the great White Savior" would have been a more accurate title. I had a huge problem with the fact that Aibileen didn't get credit for writing and editing the book, on top of putting herself in harm's way. And at the end of the day, Aibileen had to sacrifice everything while Skeeter's dreams came true and she walked off into the sunset.
And Celia wasn't believable at all.
It was an interesting read, but I definitely felt uncomfortable with this book.
 AMAZING! July 31, 2010
ekh32
What a wonderful book. I couldn't set it down! Not only does it keep your attention and in suspense, but it sends a wonderful message. The characters in the story are so real and you fall in love with them (well most of them).
GET THIS BOOK, you won't be disappointed!
Intense. July 31, 2010
K. Kenyon-Berry (Saratoga Springs, NY)
I bought this book on impulse, and I am so glad I did! It is an awesome story and an eyeopener, especially to those of us who did not live in the era the book was written in. It is hard to imagine that people were treated this way, in the USA, in the 1950-60s. Yay for Miss Skeeter, who against all odds, liberated her friends! I could not put this book down once I started!
Fabulous Book July 31, 2010
Tamara L. Torbleau (MC FARLAND, WI, US)
I was thrown in to the story as soon as I started reading and couldn't put this book down. I finished it in 24 hours and then was sad that it was done. If you're interested in other stories involving the treatment of African Americans after they were considered "free", I suggest you read "I, Alex Cross".I, Alex Cross
The Help needed help July 30, 2010
Sheldon Laskin (Baltimore, MD)
I liked much of this novel but can't say it is a great book. The main problem is that the author never found a consistent tone for the novel. I call this the "reverse Irving" effect. John Irving is a master at underscoring the ultimate horror in his novels by initially setting a very humorous tone and then suddenly shifting gears. Comedy to horror works; horror to comedy does not. The Help early on does manage to convey the fear of being either an "uppity" black or a pro-civil rights white in the South of the early '60's. But the author throws that away by interjecting humor (childish, bad humor at that), starting with the fundraising gala. The book just loses all credibility at that point. The "dramatic" confrontation between Celia and Hilly at the gala is just silly and the Terrible Awful is ridiculous. While it was apparent that the Constantine story would have something to do with her daughter, the resolution of that plot line lacked all credibility -- this is the early 60's, not the late 60's and the daughter came across as a Black Power radical about five years too soon (speaking of authenticity, no Jew would ever describe Christmas by saying "we call it Hanukah" as Stein did to Skeeter).
Also, the author's treatment of Celia is puzzling, given that this is a book about prejudice and stereotyping. As written, Celia just confirms all cliches about poor, white trash -- her brains are entirely in her boobs. I wanted to see Celia really see Hilly for what she was at the gala, not kiss her ass. Similarly, it is inconceivable to me that Skeeter would care for a nanosecond that Hilly and Elizabeth had dumped her -- she had already moved far beyond them by that point.
Finally, and this may be a bit unfair, but my feeling all along while reading it is that this book was written forty years too late. One of the things that makes To Kill a Mockingbird so enduring is precisely that it was written at the time; as such it was a gutsy book to write, and the writing of it shaped history. The Help is "merely" an historical novel -- not terribly courageous to write now and with no new insights on the times about which it deals. In forty years, people will still be reading Mockingbird. But not The Help.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 2379
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