Book Review: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help by Kathryn Stockett has been on the best seller list for over six months now and I must say it is not one of my favorite books. The premise is that a young woman in the 1950's comes into her own by looking for the true story behind her housekeepers sudden disappearance while the narrator was in college. This woman who basically raised her and loved her left without a word and our "heroine" feels abandoned and forsaken.

The time is the 1950's when women would just beginning to have their voices heard and in the south there was still a very strong line between the races. The main character embarks on a journey to interview the friends and the family of the woman who left her without any real explanation. The battle and race lines are drawn. White against black, rich against poor. Into this backdrop comes a young man from a wealthy politically connected family a dream date and husband material. The problem is that he is still really in love with his old girlfriend and has never lived up to his father's expectations so instead of standing up and finding his own voice he sinks into alcohol and despair. Yet "our girl" sticks around to the bitter end even as she is interviewing the maids in town about what life is like working for and looking after a white woman's child while you leave your own child at home.

The author admits that the book is semi-autobiographical and that she has never fully recovered from the indignities that her family placed upon their maid. Some of the chapters are filled with insight and laughter and I have no doubt that many of the stories related are based in reality. White employers not allowing their black maids to use an inside toilet yet crying like babies when their old nanny died. Others who defied conviction and even in the 20's and 30's did what they could to ensure that "the help" had food and medical care for their children along with a true appreciation and respect for the work that was done but the overall tone of the book is one that is depressing.

The author tries to show us that while it looked like two separate worlds it was really one each group of women relying on themselves and each other but this message got lost in the drama and many times I felt not as if I was reading a book but if I was listening to a lecture. It may be that my childhood was not spent in the south so I do not have a full understanding of the true underlying issues that are addressed in this book and are still in place today but living in the south today I have seen changes, positive changes. Race relations in the United States have never been easy and the reality is that we are still in our infancy remember the sit-In's happened just fifty years ago.

I have many friends who loved this book and I know that many "professional" reviewers had nothing but praise for Kathryn Stockett and I will agree that she is a beautiful writer and the story had great potential I just wish it had more joy and a little more forgiveness and hope for the future. This book will not raise your spirits.