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The Help
Kathryn Stockett
Too Little Too Late - in the authors own words at the end of this book, is perhaps the best way to analyze why it was written.
Jackson Mississippi, in the 1960's is the setting for this novel. Three women, one white and two black, are the main characters. Skeeter has just graduated from Ole Miss and returned to her home in Jackson. Aibileen and Minny are maids to two of her friends. The day to day lives of these three women would seem to not have much in common, but they eventually find themselves secretly working together to achieve a common goal - one that none of them would ever dreamed possible.
Skeeter is an English major and would like to work for a newspaper or magazine. She applies to Harper and Row, Publishers in New York and the letter she receives from Elaine Stein , Senior Editor, puts her on a new path!
Elaine Stein suggests she go to an entry level position at a newspaper in Jackson, to get experience, learn to write and then other things may follow.
Skeeter gets an appointment at the Jackson Journal
with a Mister Holder. He listens to her editor experiences with high school and college publications and offers her a job - writing answers to questions put to Miss Myrna's column in the paper that answers cleaning advice questions in a weekly column! Skeeter has never cleaned and has never read the column, but accepts the job, for $10 per week!
She decides to ask her friend , Elizabeth, if she can get answers to the cleaning questions from her maid, Aibileen. Elizabeth is hesitant, but agrees if it doesn't interfere with Aibileen's duties.
This is the beginning of a beautiful relationship, that neither woman would have dreamed of.
Elaine Stein eventually offers to read a book about the lives of women in Mississippi,black and white, if Skeeter can put one together. She will not publish until she finds it acceptable, with 12 authentic maids participating. The task is insurmountable and must be carried on secretly.
This is only the bare bones of this novel. The stories that appear, and the good and bad reactions and lives of both black and white take center stage. The Help is a wonderful look behind the scenes of daily life and the lines that are drawn at that time and place. There is sadness and despair, wit and humor, and finally just three women who have lived their lives by these rules and lines that decide to take a chance.
Kathryn Stockett has written a graceful and heart felt novel that takes the reader, a step at a time into a future for some women that was only a dream.
Published:
G. P. Putnam's Sons
Penguin Group
375 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
Copyright:
© 2009 by Kathryn Stockett
Reviewed:
01/10/10 - 291
Copyright:
© 2010 by Joan G. Smith
291
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