deQuintal,+Lauren

The Help

By: Kathryn Stockett Reviewed by: Lauren deQuintal

** Kathryn Stockett :** · Born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi · Graduate from University of Alabama · Worked in New York for nine years in magazine publishing and marketing · She currently resides in Atlanta. · National Bestseller //The Help// (2009) is her first novel.

//"When she moved to New York City from Jackson, she came to understand how deeply ambivalent she felt about her roots. If a New Yorker told her that Jackson must be beautiful, she would say it was fraught with crime. But if a New Yorker spoke contemptuously about Jackson, Ms. Stockett would rise to its defense. “Mississippi is like my mother,” she writes in an afterword to “The Help.” And you will see, after your wrestling match with this problematic but ultimately winning novel, that when it comes to the love-hate familial bond between Ms. Stockett and her subject matter, she’s telling the truth." -Maslin, New York Times.//

** Destiny Review: ** Stockett’s book is one of my all time favorites; she questions her very own hometown’s morals and values. Not only is the book a page turner, but the characters are likeable right from the start. The independent Skeeter takes on the world throughout the book, although she does it mostly alone she explodes like a rocket as she discovers herself. Aibileen acts as the care-taker, she is forever worried about her loved ones. In contrast to her best friend, Minnie, is very blunt and honest about what she is feeling. The characters that Kathryn creates made the novel for me; I loved reading about the events that happened as they were trying to win a social battle.

//“Most subscribe to the racist attitudes of the era, mistreating and despising the black maids whom they count on to raise their children. Skeeter is not racist, but she is naive and unwittingly patronizing. When her best friend makes a political issue of not allowing the "help" to use the toilets in their employers' houses, she decides to write a book in which the community's maids -- their names disguised -- talk about their experiences.” -Steinberg, The Washington Post //

Kathryn Stockett sets the scene around 1962 in Mississippi. During these times, the boundaries between the races have been clearly defined by organizations such as the Klu Klux Klan. Eugenia 'Skeeter' Phelan is a determined young woman. Freshly out of college Skeeter wants to establish herself in the world of journalism. Stockett begins the beautiful tale of three women joining together to expose a looming prejudice among society.
 * About the Book: **

** Stockett's Style ** Kathryn’s first book was a great start for her career. I really enjoyed that she wrote the book from three different perspectives; Miss Skeeter, her family’s maid Aibileen, and another maid Minnie who is Aibileen’s best friend. These women get together to share the most intimate secrets of their lives. Alternating chapters between the three strangers opens the readers’ eyes to grasp the whole situation and understand how the developing friendship is lethal. While Skeeter is drifting away from her white friends, she becomes close with Abilieen and Minnie. She developes a backbone and begins to stand up for what she believes in. Throughout her first novel, Stockett adds a personal flare by writing about her controversial hometown.

// "Yet when an author treads into specific territories, the ground becomes awfully muddy. We’re happy to let writers play around with being a Roman slave of the first century or a prostitute of the eighteenth, but when it comes to depicting a person who has lived through the Holocaust or the Civil Rights era, ah, then I think we hesitate. Does an author, even in the services of fiction, have a right to appropriate these stories? Stockett is smart enough to know she will be asked this question, and she tackles it in a number of ways. For one, she starts and finishes The Help with Aibileen’s narrative. Aibileen is middle-aged and without family – she lost a grown son to an industrial accident – but has raised seventeen white children as part of her duties. Maternal by nature, she nonetheless retains a dry sense of wit about her former charges" -Teele, California Literary Review //

// Works Cited: // Maslin, Janet. "Racial Insults and Quiet Bravery in 1960s Mississippi." //The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia//. 18 Jan. 2009. Web. 24 May 2010. [].

Steinberg, Sybil. "Book Review: 'The Help' by Kathryn Stockett - Washingtonpost.com." //Washingtonpost.com - Nation, World, Technology and Washington Area News and Headlines//. 1 Apr. 2009. Web. 25 May 2010. [].

Stockett, Kathryn. //The Help//. New York: Amy Einhorn, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2009. Print

Teele, Elinor. "Book Review: The Help by Kathryn Stockett | California Literary Review." //California Literary Review: Books, Art, Movies, Performing Arts//. 8 Feb. 2009. Web. 24 May 2010. [].