"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett

I absolutely could not put this book down!

It  tells the story of recent college graduate Eugenia who is has decided to embark on her writing career by observing and documenting the relationships between the African American maids in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960’s and their white employers. I was born during the 1960's so I don't have first hand experience of the relationships between the races before the Civil Rights Movement, especially in the deep South.

I was drawn in by the strange ideas that were so commonplace, such as way the women trusted the maids to raise their children, but did not trust them with the silver in the dining room or want them to use the restroom inside the house.

One review I read about this book dismissed it a frivolous attempt to assuage the author’s “white guilt,” but I think it is so much more than that. It is a glimpse into the lives of people who are raised with a particular set of beliefs and who don’t even question that what they are doing is wrong or hurtful. The whole time I was reading the book, I was so worried about Eugenia and the maids Minny and Aibileen and their families because I just knew that Eugenia’s writings could have awful repercussions. It is a story of pain, cruelty, and racism, but it is also a story about friendship, loyalty, and hope.

I found this book even more fascinating when I learned that, although it is not autobiographical, it is based on the experiences of the author who had an African American housekeeper when she was growing up in Mississippi in the 1960’s.  I always like books better than movies, so I encourage you to read this one before the movie comes out and form your own opinion!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454029/