The Help
2 journalers for this copy...
I have been meaning to read this book for years so when I found a copy in a little free library, I figured it was about time to sit down and read it. Don't be daunted by the length because it's a fast read! It's about 500 pages and I read it all in two sittings. The story moves quickly.
The alleged main character is Eugenia aka Skeeter, but the main characters are actually Aibileen and Minny. The story is told from their three points of view. Skeeter returns to Jackson, Mississippi, after graduating from Ole Miss in 1962 to find that their family maid Constantine, who raised Skeeter, has gone to Chicago without leaving a forwarding address. Her mother wants her to find a husband and get married, but Skeeter dreams of going to New York and becoming a writer.
She has been best friends with Elizabeth and Hilly her whole life. Hilly decides to move her mother into a retirement home, which puts her mother's maid Minny out of work. Aibileen works for Elizabeth, taking care of her daughter Mae Mobley. Hilly's latest obsession is having everyone install separate bathrooms for their maids to use, not out of kindness but because she is convinced that colored people are dirty and have diseases. She wants Skeeter to print an article about this in their next Junior League newsletter, but Skeeter resists for months.
She applies for a job in New York and a female senior editor advises her to write about something that truly interests her. She gets a job at the local paper ghostwriting Miss Myrna's column of housekeeping tips. Since Skeeter is a genteel Southern woman, she doesn't know hot to clean anything so she asks Aibileen for help answering the letters that Miss Myrna receives.
Skeeter then decides to interview local maids to get their stories about what it's like to work for their white employers. This is a dangerous time for black people to speak out against whites, so she is asking them to take a huge risk. Aibeleen initially says no but comes around to the idea.
Minny has trouble finding a job because Hilly is telling everyone in Jackson that Minny stole from Hilly's mother. She finally gets a job working for Celia, a newcomer in town who has no friends because she is now married to Johnny, Hilly's ex-boyfriend. Hilly being the vindictive queen bee that she is has ostracized Celia (although Celia doesn't realize it and is persistent in trying to join Celia's social circle, the Junior League, etc. Celia doesn't want her husband Johnny to know that she has hired a maid, which makes Minny fear that he is the kind of Southerner who will kill any black person he finds in his house (which is no helped by all of the Civil War trinkets that decorate the house).
The alleged main character is Eugenia aka Skeeter, but the main characters are actually Aibileen and Minny. The story is told from their three points of view. Skeeter returns to Jackson, Mississippi, after graduating from Ole Miss in 1962 to find that their family maid Constantine, who raised Skeeter, has gone to Chicago without leaving a forwarding address. Her mother wants her to find a husband and get married, but Skeeter dreams of going to New York and becoming a writer.
She has been best friends with Elizabeth and Hilly her whole life. Hilly decides to move her mother into a retirement home, which puts her mother's maid Minny out of work. Aibileen works for Elizabeth, taking care of her daughter Mae Mobley. Hilly's latest obsession is having everyone install separate bathrooms for their maids to use, not out of kindness but because she is convinced that colored people are dirty and have diseases. She wants Skeeter to print an article about this in their next Junior League newsletter, but Skeeter resists for months.
She applies for a job in New York and a female senior editor advises her to write about something that truly interests her. She gets a job at the local paper ghostwriting Miss Myrna's column of housekeeping tips. Since Skeeter is a genteel Southern woman, she doesn't know hot to clean anything so she asks Aibileen for help answering the letters that Miss Myrna receives.
Skeeter then decides to interview local maids to get their stories about what it's like to work for their white employers. This is a dangerous time for black people to speak out against whites, so she is asking them to take a huge risk. Aibeleen initially says no but comes around to the idea.
Minny has trouble finding a job because Hilly is telling everyone in Jackson that Minny stole from Hilly's mother. She finally gets a job working for Celia, a newcomer in town who has no friends because she is now married to Johnny, Hilly's ex-boyfriend. Hilly being the vindictive queen bee that she is has ostracized Celia (although Celia doesn't realize it and is persistent in trying to join Celia's social circle, the Junior League, etc. Celia doesn't want her husband Johnny to know that she has hired a maid, which makes Minny fear that he is the kind of Southerner who will kill any black person he finds in his house (which is no helped by all of the Civil War trinkets that decorate the house).
Journal Entry 2 by silverstarry at Little Free Library at 2851 Hocking Street in Placerville, California USA on Monday, September 11, 2017
Released 6 yrs ago (9/11/2017 UTC) at Little Free Library at 2851 Hocking Street in Placerville, California USA
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I am currently reading this book and am enjoying it very much. I have wanted to read it for a long time, by high recommendation, but never got to it until I saw it in one of those tiny libraries people have. As a working mom of a 15 month old, I hardly get to the library anymore, but I saw this book and snatched it up! I can't stop reading and look forward to passing it on!
