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waylintaylin's review against another edition
5.0
I reallly, really liked this. The movie followed it perfectly, it's amazing.
kawther_ar's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
odin45mp's review against another edition
3.0
Read as part of my library's Libraryopoly challenge, I pulled this from the Chance box.
This is definitely outside my normal reading tastes. It is well written and fairly respectful to its subject matter, but I feel that it shied away from some of the more brutal excesses of life in the South in the early days of the civil rights movement - some brutality is mentioned off camera, but aside from one character doesn't seem to really touch the characters, and thus this reader. I struggled more than once with the African American dialect having been written by a white woman, that is a personal stumbling block and not an indictment of Stockett's prose.
The story itself feels small "i" impactful in what it is setting out to do, and it does it well. We follow the lives of women in Jackson, MI, 2 black, 1 white, and how they together end up telling the stories of "The Help", the black women who work as maids for the wealthy white women in town. Small town politics, small town gossip, small town sticking-noses-in-other-peoples'-business made me want to give up reading it more than once because I. Don't. Care. And frankly they shouldn't either, it isn't the end of the world like they think it is. But I stuck with it and the story and characters were entertaining and sometimes touching, but this is not something I would normally read and doubt I will ever read again.
This is definitely outside my normal reading tastes. It is well written and fairly respectful to its subject matter, but I feel that it shied away from some of the more brutal excesses of life in the South in the early days of the civil rights movement - some brutality is mentioned off camera, but aside from one character doesn't seem to really touch the characters, and thus this reader. I struggled more than once with the African American dialect having been written by a white woman, that is a personal stumbling block and not an indictment of Stockett's prose.
The story itself feels small "i" impactful in what it is setting out to do, and it does it well. We follow the lives of women in Jackson, MI, 2 black, 1 white, and how they together end up telling the stories of "The Help", the black women who work as maids for the wealthy white women in town. Small town politics, small town gossip, small town sticking-noses-in-other-peoples'-business made me want to give up reading it more than once because I. Don't. Care. And frankly they shouldn't either, it isn't the end of the world like they think it is. But I stuck with it and the story and characters were entertaining and sometimes touching, but this is not something I would normally read and doubt I will ever read again.
librarianinperiwinkle's review against another edition
5.0
It took me a while to adjust to reading the written dialect/accent of Aibilene and Minny, but once I got going, I fell in love with this book. The characters felt like real people--even Hilly wasn't a one-dimensional villain. I was never entirely sure where the story would lead, not even when I guessed a bit of someone's secrets here or there. I had a hard time putting the book down at the end of my lunch breaks because I wanted to find out what happened next.
I kept wanting to put everyone in a room and make them TALK to each other and see how artificial and arbitrary their differences were, founded on ignorance and prejudice. (I especially wanted Minny to talk to Miss Celia.) But then, I was born more than a decade after this book took place and in an entirely different part of the country. I have very little personal experience with racial prejudice. Or domestic help, for that matter! :) I don't know how I would have handled the cruelty and shameful miscarriages of justice. Would I have been brave enough to risk my life to challenge the hateful status quo? It's really amazing to me just how far we've come in a generation. To have improved that much gives me hope that we will be able to continue the progress into--and beyond--the next generation.
For Reader's Advisors: story and character doorways, with setting also pretty important.
I kept wanting to put everyone in a room and make them TALK to each other and see how artificial and arbitrary their differences were, founded on ignorance and prejudice. (I especially wanted Minny to talk to Miss Celia.) But then, I was born more than a decade after this book took place and in an entirely different part of the country. I have very little personal experience with racial prejudice. Or domestic help, for that matter! :) I don't know how I would have handled the cruelty and shameful miscarriages of justice. Would I have been brave enough to risk my life to challenge the hateful status quo? It's really amazing to me just how far we've come in a generation. To have improved that much gives me hope that we will be able to continue the progress into--and beyond--the next generation.
For Reader's Advisors: story and character doorways, with setting also pretty important.
min_angele's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
23kak85's review against another edition
5.0
I really really enjoyed this book. I don't understand why people keep writing bad reviews! I thought this book was amazing.
pinkpanther's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
sandysan_11's review against another edition
5.0
When I tell you The Help was a fantastic book, I truly mean it. What a beautifully crafted story.
kittycat2302's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent novel! I saw the movie first (because I'm extremely picky about book-to-movie adaptations), and as it turned out, the movie did an excellent job of things! A couple of interesting changes (particularly the whole part with Constantine and why she was fired) but the heart of the book was the heart of the movie, and that heart was wonderful. I was also glad to read Stockett's own account of her life with a maid growing up there at the end, and her acknowledgement that she could never ever know what it was really like to be a black woman working for a white family.
The book didn't have quite the emotional impact I expected, but that might have been because I'd seen the movie or because I was reading it while quite sick, but it was still an awesome book. :)
The book didn't have quite the emotional impact I expected, but that might have been because I'd seen the movie or because I was reading it while quite sick, but it was still an awesome book. :)
balancedlife1971's review against another edition
5.0
So wonderful I can't recommend it enough! Pick it up if you haven't already!