The Help: a book review

Although it may be extremely nerdy of me to say so, there is nothing better than finishing a life-changing novel and thinking, “Why aren’t we forced to read books like this in English class?” While I agree that “curriculum literature” can sometimes be dry at best, it can be quite effective at opening your mind and expanding your perspective, if you give it a chance. However, one of the best parts of pleasure reading is discovering a book that has English class potential and also happens to be completely fascinating.

The Help is an endearing, heartfelt (and bestselling) novel by debut author Kathryn Stockett, and features a To Kill a Mockingbird-esque feel with a fresh voice. Set in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960s, The Help is the story of two black maids and a white socialite who set out on writing a book about what it’s like to work as a black housekeeper in the heart of the South. The times are a-changin’ everywhere else in America thanks to Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks, but Jackson, Mississippi is still deep in its beliefs of race-oriented heirarchy and segregation. Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter form an unlikely alliance with a common goal of bringing change to the place that fears it the most. The Help will have you laughing and crying as it winds through a rollercoaster of humorous situations and life-threatening risks, bringing to mind a vision of a world that is so impossibly far from the present and yet is only fifty years in the past.

Stockett’s painting of Jackson in 1962 is lively and all-consuming, as are her courageous characters. Highlighting the real-life issues of racism, abuse and childhood neglect, The Help is a story that pressures your heart, until a single line comes that brings it all together: “Wasn’t that the point of the book? For women to realize, We are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I’d thought.” The overall impact of the book leaves the reader shocked at the new heights it reaches, and cheerful at the accomplishment of humanity’s ongoing mission of change.

It is not an overly intellectual read, which I think works to the novel’s advantage. It makes its main point rather clearly and refuses cover up the message with pretentious wordiness or vague symbolism. The result is a writing style that is honest and simple (the maids’ portions are written in a perhaps offensive yet admittedly right-of-the-times colloquial manner), and a story that is as realistic as it is interesting. While being technically labelled as an adult read, The Help is definitely not beyond the scope of high school students. I personally feel that I learned more from it than I did from the tenth-grade classic To Kill a Mockingbird, and I can also say that it was easier to understand than its English class equivalent. This is possibly the novel’s only downfall; it is so completely perfect in doing its job that appreciating it is not the challenge that it expectedly should be.

Ultimately, if you’re sitting around this summer with not much to do, then I highly recommend picking this book up and giving it a try. Who knows? Maybe you’ll even want to crack open that beloved copy of Mockingbird afterwards, just to compare.