Author: Kathryn Stockett
Genre: Modern Fiction
Pages (words): 464 (N/A)
Readability: N/A
Rating (out of 5 stars): ***1/2 (Ben) ****1/2 (Jenn)
Reviewed by: Ben & Jenn
Description: The voices of three different women tell a story of early 1960s Jackson, Mississippi. "The help" are black women who work in white homes keeping house and raising the kids. While the help do the work, the white women spend their time organizing league meetings, going to bridge club, and eagerly gossiping about other women in town. The Help tells a story of those racial barriers slowly breaking, and the havoc that is caused as some fight the changes while others embrace them.
Thoughts: The Help has been gaining more and more popularity over the past few months, and it's no surprise that it has wide appeal. Overall, it's a solid book. For us, the best part about the book was the voice; Stockett did an incredible job giving each character a strong personality through her writing style. (Side note: we both listened to the audio book version, which had three separate readers, and it was incredibly well done.) Aside from the voice, Ben thought that the plot was good but maybe not spectacular. Jenn was much more drawn in to it, and finished it several days before Ben did because she couldn't put it down. We think that this is maybe because there aren't any significant male characters in the book at all, making it a bit harder for Ben to relate to it. At any rate, it's always interesting to consider just how far this country has come with regards to racism in the past 60 years, and this books definitely brought that to light. Overall, Jenn really loved it, and Ben enjoyed it as well.
Disclaimer: There are a few mild swear words, and also a scene with a naked man, but overall this is a pretty clean book.
No comments:
Post a Comment