Guest post: The Help

Hello Followers! Today I am doing something that I have never done before….I have a guest doing a book review! Not only is this just a guest post…this is from my oldest sister! I hope you enjoy!!

The Help 

By: Kathryn Stockett 

Publisher: Berkley 

Pages: 464 

Source: ebook, bought for enjoyment!! 

Goodreads Synopsis: 

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women - mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends - view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't. –Goodreads- 

Tascha’s Thoughts: 

I decided to read "The Help" because my one rule for my daughter is "if you want to see a movie that's based on a book, you have to read the book first!" The first time I seen the trailer for the movie I figured it was based on a book and I was right. I had quite a few people tell me they had read the book and "could NOT put it down!" I have to be honest; I was quite excited to start this new read!

The book takes place in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 60's, just before the civil rights movement is in full swing, when society was still segregated to the max. White families ran the towns and Colored Families worked for them. Raising their children, cleaning their houses, cooking their food, farming their land. This story digs deep into what it was like to be "the help" in those homes....the good, the bad, and the downright ugly.

I absolutely adored the main characters in this book. Skeeter, the young college grad, an aspiring writer, looking for change. Aibileen, career maid, who is fed up with the way her people are treated. Minnie, the strong willed but lovable maid who just cannot resist sassing her bosses. As different as these women are they work together secretly to write a book about all the drama the maids deal with working in these homes.I would have to say it takes a bit for the book to really get going, but once it does it is definitely worth getting through those first hundred pages. The Help made me laugh out loud and it made me cry, more than once.

I did not, however, enjoy the ending. There were many things brought to our attention in the middle of the story but never seemed to have any conclusion at the end. I wasn’t expecting a "happy ending" giving the issues the book was dealing with, but I did expect something other then what I got. It was as if the author was in a hurry to meet a deadline and just sent in what she had. I finished this book wondering if my kindle had not downloaded all of the chapters. Now after making sure it hadn't, I'm wondering if there will be a sequel. I doubt that will happen so ill keep my hopes up that the writers for the movie had plenty of time to prepare!!

Tascha’s Rating: 

Overall, The Help was def worth reading and I will most likely read it again. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars!!!! 

Thanks Tascha for being my first guest post! I hoped that you will many more to come!! :)