The Help Book Review

I finished The Help last Wednesday and have to say that it has been one of my favorite reads in a long time.  I laughed, I cried, and I also cringed throughout the novel.  After dragging through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Help was a welcomed change. 

The book takes place through the Civil Rights in the 1960's and tells the story through three different narratives, Skeeter - a white college grad who belongs to a ladies society and wants to change the way "the help" is treated, Aibileen - a black maid to Skeeter's friend Elizabeth and confidant to Skeeter and Minny - a recently fired by the leader of the ladies society black maid with a strong personality.

I loved every one of the narratives and the different opinion and view they had to offer.  Aibileen - nurturing, cautious and brave.  Minny - defiant, hard-working and brave.  Skeeter - alone, creative, and brave.  When Skeeter witnesses horrible acts of racism in her city, she sets out to pursue her passion of writing while trying to make a change to the future with some help from the maids of Jackson, Mississippi. 

Without giving too much away, the book has moments of extreme happiness and moments where I was disgusted that all this happened a mere fifty plus years ago. You grow extremely attached to the cause and rooting for change and when I finished the last page, I was sad to be finished and had to remind myself that these characters although fictional, really existed back in the day, and left me wishing for their happiness. 

The movie comes out August 12th and you better believe I am hoping one of my gf's here in LA finishes the book in time to see it with me!  I just started The Hunger Games (rec'd from Pink Sass) and am already loving this series, more to come about that, but for now, check out the preview for The Help.