The Help, by Kathryn Stockett

Now, the first thing you have to get your head around when reading this book, is that is written how it is said. Once you start reading, and imagining the voices of the women telling their stories, it flows nicely and it is so easy to lose yourself in the book.

This book is superbly written, with real laugh out loud humour and is both heart warming and heart wrenching in equal measure, making it such an enjoyable read.

It is told from the perspectives of Aibileen & Minny, the maids, and 'Skeeter' who is the idealistic young white society lady who wants to help them tell their stories despite the danger that they would face if anyone were to find out. Set in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962 "where black maids raise white children but aren't trusted not to steal the silver...", it is a poignant tale of racial intolerance and the efforts of these three ladies to try and change things for the better. The characters are believable and you are gripped from start to finish, I couldn't put it down.

I really enjoyed this book. I normally shy away from 'real' books as they can make sometimes really distressing reading. This book though made a difference. What I liked most about it was the women in it who had the strength and courage to go beyond the call of duty and to force more awareness of a situation that should have never happened. I will definitely go and see the movie but I am glad I read the book first as a movie can sometimes completely miss the mark. As happened with Eat Pray Love.

I loved this book, I've passed it on to my mum and a work colleague. I really heard the voice of "The Help" in this book. I got angry, felt happy, nervous and laughed out loud. I was amazed to think that the attitudes portrayed in this book were rife just 60 years ago.

This novel was the best book I read last year and is one of the best novels I have ever read.
It is the story of suburban racism in 1960s Mississippi and is set against the backdrop of the race riots, Martin Luther King and the birth of the Civil Rights movement in the USA. It tells the story of a young white woman determined to become a successful writer and achieve independence. She conducts a covert and, at times, life-threatening mission to obtain the first hand accounts of "domestics" who work for white racist women who treat them worse than animals. Without reading this novel, I don't think it would be possible to imagine the stories which are told in it.
The tales of hypocrisy and endemic racism in polite, white society are, at times, frightening and make for a compulsive read. It is a part of living history which, but for this novel, may well have gone overlooked.
It will make you angry and it is brilliant. The author's website says it is about to be made into a film but do read the book first

http://www.kathrynstockett.com/stockett-synopsis.htm