The Help Have Opinions Too

Apparently I was one of the only people who hadn't read The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I have no idea why I didn’t, but I just never quite had the desire to pick up a book about relationships and people—I prefer my books to contain action, adventure, a fantastical setting if at all possible, humor and all that. I suppose I also view civil rights as a very serious issue and found it hard to believe that someone could make light about the situation.

How wrong I was. Not that the book made light about the situation, but it portrayed the conflicts in the book as a very real problem, but not to the point that it felt like a serious drama. The Help is more of a book about people and relationships, about how different people handle oppression and injustice. It’s almost offensive to simplify it in such a way.

The Help is set in Jackson, Mississippi, 1962, and is told from three points of view: Aibileen and Minny, two maids; and Miss Skeeter, a white girl with a very different opinion about the way black maids are treated. Miss Skeeter gets the idea to write a book about how horrible some of the help’s employers are and the stories the maids can tell. Of course, such a decision never goes off without a hitch; you need to break a few eggs to make an omelet. Maybe some grated cheese, a little salt and pepper, sauteed peppers and onions, a little ham...

Here are the main players:

The Help:

Aibileen: a caring, sweet, loving caretaker of Me Mobley, daughter of Miss Elizabeth Leefolt. She is good friends with Minny. She is not married and has no children.

Minny: Sassy, foot in her mouth, not afraid to speak her mind (gets her in trouble a lot), great cook. Funny! While Aibileen provided much of the sentimental parts, Minny provides a lot of the comedy, but that doesn’t mean either of them are caricatures. Aibileen has her share of laugh out loud lines and some of Minny’s parts elicited “awwww” reactions. 

The White Females:

Miss Elizabeth Leefolt: Not a maternal woman at all, in financial trouble, dislikes people of color, but doesn’t really stick up for herself. While she isn’t outright hateable, she isn’t likeable right off the bat either. She has character depth, though, and her timidity causes her to be more of a background character than she could be.

Miss Hilly Holbrook: a larger, overweight, horrible woman. She is the kind to just commandeer everything and take charge, even if she doesn’t do it right or if no wants her to. She’s bossy, she’s rude and she looks down on the help more than Miss Leefolt. You really get to hate her. She’s the one who starts the Home Help Sanitation Initiative, a movement started to get the help their own bathroom because God forbid someone with darker skin uses her own toilet and spreads “germs only the help have.” Like I said, you really hate her.

Miss Skeeter (Eugenia Phelan): Tall, skinny, frizzy hair, described as not very attractive. Considered a failure by her mother for not being married yet, daughter of a plantation owner. She is very intelligent and a hard worker. She has a degree in journalism and wants to move away from Mississippi and get a life. She is very friendly toward the Help and views them as actual people. She’s the one who starts the book initiative to give them a voice.

Yes, I am sure this is exactly the image Kathryn Stockett had in mind. I am not one of those
people to get upset over small details that- LOOK! HER HAIR ISN'T FRIZZY, OK??!? 

Celia Rae Foote: Newly married to her husband, no friends but is always trying to get into the women’s group Hilly, Miss Skeeter, and Leefolt are in, even though no one is friendly toward her. It’s because she’s built like Marilyn Monroe, wears tight tacky clothing, high heels and lots of makeup- she just doesn’t fit in with all the other women. She needs help acting like a good housewife, but doesn’t want to tell her husband. She is sweet, but clueless. Nice to Minny and treats her like a human being. She doesn’t leave the house!

The way Stockett writes is so true to the characters' personalities. She writes the help with true voice, with no regard to grammar or full sentences. When Aibileen or Minny is speaking, it actually sounds like a black maid in the 60’s and makes for some of the funniest parts in the book. When any of the women’s club members of talking, you believe they are women bred to be housewives in the south.

When it comes down to it all, the book makes you care. From the moment I turned the first page to the moment I closed the book and set it down, I cared. It just made me feel all the things! I laughed, I cried, it moved me Bob. It made me laugh, gasp, tear up, get all squishy inside, happy, sad, angry, yell, etc.

And it’s not just because the characters are good and likable, but the way they are written just elicits a response so subtly and yet necessarily. Miss Leefolt is usually more on the side of Miss Hilly, and yet, she shows moments of vulnerability and fairness that make you still want good things for her. (most likely the opportunity to unconditionally love her children and become a better mother, but not everyone is fit to be a mother.) When I closed the book, I felt like I had been on a journey with these women and been with them every step of the way. I laughed with them, I cried with them and I feared with them.

I read another book review on this man's blog that had a less than favorable review; I wonder if I was just awed by the characters that I overlooked some writing flaws or dimensions of characters. It could be that the book is more suited toward my age group (16-24) than a middle-aged man's age group. Or maybe it's just a question of personal taste. Everyone else I know who has read it fell in love with it like I did. And that blogger's opinion of "an ending that left me feeling unsatisfied" is not something I had a problem with. Given the amount of stirring the characters did in the novel, it made sense that they didn't get their happily-ever-afters. (Though this is not to say that they got the short end of the stick, either.) And if some people don't like the vague ending of the book, I would tell them that life is not a book. There is no ending for us until we die. Until then, there will constantly be new struggles, new joys, new heartbreaks, new people and new adventures. We will never see the "The End" of our lives. 

Oh wait, there's the end. 

Despite other people's reviews, I cannot stress how good this book is. I highly recommend it. I am waiting for Kathryn Stockett’s next book with eager anticipation. If she’s taking her time because she wants it to be good, however, I hope she takes as much time as she needs.