"the help"

book review
the help by kathryn stockett

this book took me forever to read. and caused me $3.80 in late fees at the library. but it was well worth in. i first read about the help on people.com. i guess it is being made into a movie.

despite the fact that it took me a full month to read i really enjoyed this book. it takes place in jackson, mississippi in the early 1960's. what's crazy is that was only 50 years ago and the things that happened during that time seem absolutely unimaginable now.
the story is about a white neighborhood and their hired African American help. the book is written by a talented Caucasian woman, which to me was surprising, because more than half the book is from the perspective of a black woman raising a white woman's children and cleaning her house.
the whole dynamic is foreign and entertaining. i really enjoyed this book. at times it was hard to follow because the author will periodically change narrators, but once i realized the name of the woman was titled at the beginning of the chapter made it easier! :) combine that with the busy month i had, i wasn't reading everyday.
the point of this book is change. change for the better. and i really like that. it is crazy that "normal" used to be having "colored" schools, libraries, and bathrooms. that "those" people carried diseases just because of the color of their skin. how closed minded were we? it makes me so proud that we no longer think that, that those ideas seem absurd! that change is possible for the greater good. for equality for all.
i would highly recommend this book.

50/50 60min
elliptical 10min