November 9, 2010
by Tammy
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.
