The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

This book has been made into a movie and at the time of writing is about to be released. It will be interesting to see Hollywood's take; I'm sure they will have added plenty of cheese on top!

The story is set in the early 1960's in the southern states of America when white households employed black domestic servants. It is told predominantly from the black servant perspective, or at least that is certainly where the author's empathy lies. The white lady bosses prove to be vain, racist and not interested in raising their own children. Miss Hilly, the leader of the white housewives, campaigns heavily to have all households in their town install extra outdoor toilets so the coloured help do not have to utilise the family bathroom.

The black maids by comparison are diligent and hardworking; the main character is the lovely Aibileen who has a special fondness for the white children she raises and personally feels the heartbreak of them growing up and away from her, ultimately losing their innocent blindness to colour. Minny is the other main character who is keen to stand up to her white bosses and has a few tricks up her sleeve for dealing with those who disrespect her!

The hero of the story however is a white woman named Skeeter, a friend of Miss Hilly's, who has an interest in writing a tell-all book that reveals the experiences of the maids. It requires a brave and tenacious effort, and one that will surely create trouble for all involved if it were to ever see the light of day.

I really enjoyed the book, it moves at a good pace and seems to capture the essence of the black characters through their dialect. The author is a well-to-do white woman living in New York City. She herself was raised in Jackson, Mississippi by the black housemaid employed by her household and ultimately lost track of her. The book is her attempt to fill the void from not knowing any personal details of the person who played such an instrumental part in her upbringing.

Stockett seems to have attracted a lot of criticism for writing from the black perspective when she grew up on the other side of the story. Many question whether she has the right to take on the story from any other perspective than one she experienced herself. Interesting... she seemed convincing to me, but what would I know about slave labour in the deep south in the Sixties!

Scene taken from the upcoming movie