The Help By Kathryn Stockett

The front cover of the books says it’s one of the best pieces of literary fiction since “To Kill A Mockingbird” – and they were absolutely right. I remember reading To Kill A Mocking Bird at another place and time and being drawn into the book slowly. This one had an even more so.

The Help is about society in Jackson, Mississippi. It’s about the black maids and the white society women whom they work for. Its about a mother who loses her son for absurd reasons, its about a wife who accepts a beating from a husband and simultaneously raises his children. Its about a daughter who lives under the twin shadows of an oppressive societal pressured mother and a black housemaid’s beliefs and convictions that made her who she is.

The Help begins with the story of Abeline – an old black maid who has worked across a number of white families for whom she raises children, cooks, cleans and shops.  She has no one in this world and lost her only son in an accident. Ever since that, her black maid training starts to play tricks on her mind. She no longer wants to be submissive, she no longer wants to accept things the way they are and she is willing to take risks.

The other key element is Minny – an outspoken black maid, mother of 5 and wife of a wife-beater. She knows the tenets of being a black maid – she is just too outspoken to follow them. But she is scared too and out of a job. Till she joins what appears to be a crazy house with a white woman who insists on keeping Minny’s presence a secret. 

Then we have Skeeter - white, unmarried beyond marriageable age, ambitious, oppressed and a member of the white women’s league. But Skeeter is more than that. She craves independence, craves her own life and refuses to accept the atrocities that white women inflict on black.  She becomes the game changer. She undertakes a project with a dual agenda – to give herself an opportunity to have the career she dreams of and to talk about things that matter to her the most. 

But she cant do it alone and is aided by Abeline and Minny. Together they embark on a journey where the reality of women – black and white – in Jackson is beautifully and painstakingly laid before us. The honesty of thought, the simplicity of language and a story that makes you weep – sometimes with joy, sometimes in sadness and often in horror. Its reality so real at a time gone past that it seems unreal and surreal all in one.

It’s a story of triumph, courage, hope,  and despair. More than anything, it’s a story about the human spirit and how human beings are just human – colour has little to with the true depth of this book.