On wards then.
Yet again I have been able to come across another more than impressive book, The Help.
This one has you from page one literally. My first encounter with The Help was of course the movie, which came outwhile I was in high school. Since it features Emma Stone, I was pretty much sold on it due to her stellar performance in Easy A, which may I say was a hell-of-a good movie. So good that up to this day, I can hardly sing "Pocket Full of Sunshine" with a straight face this scene right here.
So turns out The Help was nothing close to Easy A and once that discovery was made, I paid little or no attention to it. Turns out I was missing out.
Fast forward three years later, yes it took me that long to realize that The Help would become one of my all time favorite books.
Set in the sixties in Jackson, Mississippi when racial tension was probably then at an all time high, three ladies, two colored Aibileen and Minny, one white, Skeeter, decide to do what was then considered unthinkable.
Both Aibileen and Minny are maids who've been working for white folk since their teens. With such vast experience, they could only have millions and millions of stories. Until Miss Skeeter, a struggling writer who is looking for THE STORY comes in, they never thought anyone would ask for their stories much less want to read a compilation of their stories.
Kathryn Stockett could not make this book any more crystal clear than she already did. Dividing the book such that Minny, Aibileen and Skeeter each have an individual section in nearly every chapter really connects you to each character intensely.
These ladies couldn't be more different from each other but that's what makes them so similar , captured by Stockett, "We are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I'd thought."
The beauty in this book is that it's not only Aibileen and Minny's stories, but nearly every maid in Jackson who were reluctant at first but after an unfortunate turn of events jump in, both feet.
You would think that nothing but name tainting of their former and current bosses would be the order of the day, but you will be quite surprised at what is in their testimonials, I sure was.
An array of emotions overcomes you as you read you this book. One moment you will be stifling a laugh, the next I guarantee you will be laughing out loud, forget the LOL you are used to while texting, this here will be the real deal. The next moment you will be fighting back tears eventually leading to down right bawling, which I suggest you do in your own company, we can't have you scaring away potential suitors if you plan on reading it in public. Moments like these are rather intense and wide spread in the book. Forget TFIOS when Gus,no, Augustus Waters died and you sobbed. The Help has you closing the book, having a moment, pulling yourself together and getting into it all over again. It is safe to say that emotion is one thing this book is not lacking.
It doesn't stop there. The writer is not black and it is a completely fictional story but the authenticity will have you second guessing the fact I made right there. It's beyond amazing how she did it. Stockett, a cyber high five is in order.
There is so much I would love to say about this book, a single post seems like an injustice, I may probably do another one in the near future. My advice, don't walk you're butt to the bookstore, run it 'cause Law it's good. (Read the book if you wanna get that line).
I just wish it didn't have to end.
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