Friday 15 August 2014

Summer Reads | 'The Help'

It's every bit as fantastic as the film.



This is a book that gave me every emotion I could possibly feel. You'll laugh (well silently shake while trying to repress laughter in public if you're anything like me), maybe cry but above everything you might actually learn from this book. 

I saw the film a little while back and thought it was phenomenal. The acting was flawless and the story was so interesting to follow. And the same can be said for the book. Well, not the acting part obviously, but the characters are so well thought out and you can relate to all of them- they're all believable as real human beings. 

The book comes from 3 points of view: Abilene, a kind natured, experienced black maid, Minny, a feisty but secretly vulnerable, hilarious black maid and Miss Skeeter, a kind, forward thinking new generation of white privilege. The whole story happens in Jackson Mississippi in the 60's. 

There's a bit of everything in there: drama, loss, anger, violence, romance, comedy, mystery, cliff hangers, tension, you name it this book has got it. It's great for anyone, male/female, old/young. 

Essentially the book follows the three women over the course of a few years. It looks at the prejudice towards black people and how that could be changed. The characters play with fire and almost have a death wish, all in the name of equality and human rights. 

It shocked me that the human race could be that way with people they let into their lives so completely. Their maids bring up and love their children as their own until the child flees the nest with the same values as their parents. Skeeter is an exception. After her maid mysteriously gets replaced when she returns from college, she sets about getting the stories of all the maids in Jackson compiled into a book. With the help of Abeline and Minny, a big struggle and against the odds, they all work together to make it happen.

You'll love the three main characters, hate Hilly, root for Stuart, pity Mae Mobley and want to shake Elizabeth. The story is so clever and well thought out, with nothing done half heartedly. It's not going to change your life but it will make you think. Above all else it's a bit of a feel-good story.

The only problem I have is with the ending. It's too much of a cliffhanger for me and I'm desperate to know how everything panned out! It's also one of those stories you can't over-cut, so the film is pretty bang on and equally as good as the book- a rare feat nowadays. 

What books have you been loving lately?

Happy reading!




3 comments:

  1. I've seen the movie, and you're right you have to laugh as well as cry with this story :).

    xoxo

    Sharon
    www.thefabspot.wordpress.com

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  2. I also seen the movie! wonderful book:)
    please visit me in free time:)
    http://mesmerize87.blogspot.com/

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