The Crafty Princess Diaries

Tammy Powley’s Crafty Weblog

Book Review: The Help

| 2 Comments


Well, I finished what will be one of my last hard copy books for awhile, now that I have my Kindle. This book, though, is available in a Kindle edition. I had purchased it awhile ago and was in the middle of it when I decided to go digital.

It is called The Help by Kathryn Stockett, and it is the author’s first novel. According to an essay by the author located in the back of the book, this is semi-autobiographical, so that may be why much of the story feels so real. The characters, especially, come off very believable.

The book has three narrators: Aibileen and Minny (both African American women who work as maids) and Skeeter (a 23 year old white woman fresh out of college and eager to become a writer). The time and place is the early 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi, and this obviously becomes an important element in the book.

The three protagonist weave their stories together as they also work on a book together that describes the experiences of about dozen African American maids in the community. In the background, there are race riots, beatings, freedom marches, and the Kennedy assassination. Pulling off multiple first person point of view is not easy, but it really works in this book. That was one of the first parts of it that impressed me.

The voices are also really well done. Stockett is able to create the southern tone or speech pattern for each woman, and I found it worked. Some folks, especially in the south, do talk this way, and she was able to recreate it, again something that’s not that easy to do well.

On the down side, about half way through the book, I began to find the storyline a little predictable, and one part, especially, I thought was contrived. I just could not believe it would have happened, and not because it was such a surprising part of the plot but more so because of the logistics involved of the character doing what she did. Unfortunately, I can’t be specific here because it would ruin part of the story for anyone who hasn’t read it yet. For those who have read it, I’m talking about the “terrible awful” thing Minny did to Hilly. Seriously, do you see anyone who is supposed to be a great cook and meticulous about cleaning ruining her cooking utensils, oven, etc. to do this to anyone, even someone as horrible as Hilly? It just didn’t ring true to me, and this particular part of the plot is integral to the rest of the story. So if you can’t buy into it, then you may also be disappointed.

Still, I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good read, and I look forward to any future novels by Kathryn Stockett.

Author: Tammy

Welcome to the Crafty Princess Diaries, my weblog and site where I get to blab about my passion for crafts, primarily jewelry making, and my crafting career. My name is Tammy Powley, and I decided to call my blog the Crafty Princess Diaries because of this very dorky picture I have of myself and because my husband often refers to me as “the princess and the pea,” which is just another way to say that I tend to be particular sometimes. Along with this weblog, I have a number of jewelry making books published.

2 Comments

  1. we just read this in our book club and several of us listened to it which was amazing! I loved the book and didn’t want it to end. I never questioned the part of the story you didn’t like as I guess I have become numb to people’s bad behavior and those women were treated soooooo bad! It would drive you to do things you normally would never do. My favorite bit was the story with the two pieces of candy, simple and touching.

  2. I think it’s on the New York Times Best Sellers list. I am not usually one read the latest on that list, just happened to find it browsing, so I may have to pay more attention to it. I normally prefer classic works, but it is good to see there are still some decent writers a live today.

Leave a Reply

Required fields are marked *.


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.