Archive for July 1, 2009
THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett
Kathryn Stockett’s THE HELP opens in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962. The story is told by three narrators: Aibileen, a kindhearted maid in her fifties, Miss Skeeter Phelan, an ungainly twenty-three year old who longs to be a writer, and Minny, another maid who cooks and bakes like a dream but can’t seem to keep her opinions to herself. Aibileen works for Mrs. Leefolt, a skinny and thoughtless woman who treats her baby, Mae Mobley, with indifference. Aibileen tries to make up for the mother’s apathy by affectionately fussing over Mae. Skeeter is a college graduate, but her mother’s main concern is finding a suitable Southern gentleman to take her tall and frizzy-haired daughter off her hands. Minny has a bunch of kids and an abusive husband. She has lost a number of jobs because of her penchant for backtalk. She finally lands a position with Celia Foote, a naГЇve and friendless woman from a poor background who wears tacky clothes and is shunned by her disapproving neighbors.
July 1, 2009
Tags: 1960s, Civil Rights, Mississippi, Time Period Posted in: African-American, Book Club Choice, Debut Novel, Fiction based on Time Period, Multicultural, Top Pick, US South, Women's Fiction 
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