Editorial Review:

Product Description:
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.

I would not consider myself a big reader. Every once in a while I pick up a book, get about halfway through and lose interest. But this book is absolutely amazing! It's incredibly engrossing. I couldn't put it down from the minute I started. I even took it on the treadmill with me. I hate working out but I would get so into reading that my workout was a breeze. This book is an absolute page turner. I was almost waiting for the boring part where I would lose interest but it never happened. There was always the feeling of "what's going to happen next?!" The only bad part is that it's finished. I'm a finicky reader so it rarely happens- but I absolutely mourned the end of this book. I absolutely love Abileen and Minny and could read about their lives every day. I don't want to give anything away because almost every page is more interesting and hinges on the next. So about the author I'll say- Kathryn Stockett does a great job of capturing moods, personalities, and the racial and political climate of the era.

Absolute must read- I almost wish I had not read through it so fast. My advice is to savor it as much as possible!

Average Rating:

Rating: - AMAZING! Must read!
I would not consider myself a big reader. Every once in a while I pick up a book, get about halfway through and lose interest. But this book is absolutely amazing! It's incredibly engrossing. I couldn't put it down from the minute I started. I even took it on the treadmill with me. I hate working out but I would get so into reading that my workout was a breeze. This book is an absolute page turner. I was almost waiting for the boring part where I would lose interest but it never happened. There was always the feeling of "what's going to happen next?!" The only bad part is that it's finished. I'm a finicky reader so it rarely happens- but I absolutely mourned the end of this book. I absolutely love Abileen and Minny and could read about their lives every day. I don't want to give anything away because almost every page is more interesting and hinges on the next. So about the author I'll say- Kathryn Stockett does a great job of capturing moods, personalities, and the racial and political climate of the era.

Absolute must read- I almost wish I had not read through it so fast. My advice is to savor it as much as possible!

Rating: - A Good Read
I was very impressed with Mrs. Stockett's first novel. Being an African-American, middle-aged woman, I was intrigued by the storyline.

I would recommend this book to my friends.

You may want to read Tina McElroy Ansa's book.
The Hand I Fan With

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Rating: - Superb
Best book I've read in a long time. First time I ever finished a book, then started it right over again.

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Rating: - Reality
What a wonderfully profound book. I am amazed that this is the author's first book! I cried, laughed, and angered throughout it's 400 pages. I caught myself laughing out loud while reading, and then just remembering passages throughout the day! It is a very sad depiction of racial relations during the civil rights movements in Mississippi. It is a story of strong women, both black and white. I will recommend it to all my friends...

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Rating: - Amazing.
This is easily the best book I have read in a long time. I had never heard or it, it was not recommended to me, and I did not see it at Borders. I just happened across it on Amazon and decided to take a gamble on an "unknown". I read this book in 2 days, and was overwhelmed by the amount of feelings it conjures up. This is a great time period novel, and I will be recommending it to all my friends.

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