Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 21-25 of 1156
 Wonderful Book! November 18, 2009
Pamela Roberson (New Haven, CT)
I absolutely loved this book! I was a child in rural NC in the late 60's early 70's, and I do remember separate schools and places that were designated that only "white people" or "black people" went to. I think Kathryn Stockett captured that time period perfectly. I loved most of the characters but I do think that Celia's character should have been given a more time towards the end of the book.
excellent in CD audio version November 18, 2009
Bat Sands
This is a really good book. It's also one that is excellent in the audio version. While listening I keep forgetting that it's a book being read and feel like I'm just hearing a story told by three different people. The actors are fantastic. Also, the skill of the writer shines out because the dialog is so completely natural. It's hard to put away. The story is moving and compelling. If you have a long car ride take along this CD and it will pass very quickly.
Best book I have read in a long time November 18, 2009
Pam Gersh (Louisville, KY)
The Help is a wonderful, compelling, disturbing book. I read it in three days, I just could not put it down. I cannot believe that this is the author's first book. It is destined to become a classic and a book everyone should read. I cannot believe that this happened in my life time and that we have come so far - and yet - we still have so far to go when it comes to accepting people who have a different color skin. It's truly a story of deep love and deep hate and the fine line that separates the two. Now I know why black women are so strong and won't take any crap from anyone! I lived these characters as I was reading this book - they are so human and so powerful, but power can come in different ways and that is what Kathyrn Stockett shows us is this book. I will never forget Abileen, Minny and Skeeter. I will always love them and they are now a part of me. Parting was such sweet sorrow!
 annoying but worthy of reading November 18, 2009
N. Bagley (western North Carolina)
I just finished reading The Help last night, after having ordered it back in August. Why did it take me so long to read? The first time around, I picked up the book, read perhaps seven pages, and became overly annoyed with the author's heavy use of "deep south vernacular" for two of the main characters, as well as by the stereotypical depiction of southern "white trash" and country club young women. I grew up in Montgomery, Alabama during the tumultuous 50's and 60's, and was not exposed to the black/white discrepancy issues that were so blatantly depicted in the novel. Yes, we had a housekeeper, but she came once a week to help my mother with ironing and cleaning, and did not spend every day raising white children at my house; no, I did not grow up on a cotton farm or plantation, nor did I belong to the holy country club. We treated Mavis with respect and affection, and the notion of building a separate bathroom for her was never a consideration. I don't know Ms. Stockett's age, but from the photograph on the book's sleeve, she seems to be much younger than someone who would have been a young child in the early 60's, someone who would have truly experienced the deep south of this time frame; this assumption of mine made her authenticity a bit more difficult to swallow.
All of that being said, I picked up the book again last week when I found it on top of the stack by my bed, and read it to completion within the week. Towards the end, I had become quite attached to Aibileen, and enjoyed Ms. Stockett's thorough development of her staunch character. This, in turn, helped me to overlook and forgive the stereotypical portrayals of Skeeter (enlightened country clubber) and Celia (white trash ignorant woman), as well as that of Minny (saucy, dissing black woman who bakes a good chocolate pie).
Of course this will be made into a movie. Of course it will. All the movie trappings are here: main character gains wisdom and strength enough to better her life, bad southern women come off looking even more evil, good overcomes bad in the end. And some wonderful cake baking and coffee sipping mixes with clandestine late night meetings behind curtains closed with clips. Hollywood can't go wrong.
If you want a truer portrayal of the south for this time period, complete with wide open accounts of southern prejudices and hates, you'd spend better time reading (if you haven't, already) Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (my favorite novel - and movie - of all time), or Sena Jeter Naslund's Four Spirits - both very accurate, clear eyed depictions of the sorry state my South was in, back then (and now, to a degree).
 The Help November 18, 2009
Stretch (Upper Michigan)
True picture of the times during the 60's. It shows how we have over come the prejudical feelings of the times. Good descriptions of people and how they felt about"THE HELP"
Showing reviews 21-25 of 1156
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