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A review by anastasiyak
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
5.0
wow wow wow WOW!
i barely remember watching the movie for this book (which i was probably too young to even fully appreciate when i did see it)
first of all, this story was so well written, i really looked forward to listening to it everyday. it's set in jackson, mississippi in the 60's and follows the stories of 'the help', the african american woman who wait on the white families and practically raise their children. it really reminded me again just how little i understand about being 'not white' and how difficult it is for certain populations in the US just because of the way they look or where they live.
the story is written from the perspective of a couple of the maids and a white woman who decides to write a book about what it is like to be a black woman working for a white family.
some things that really struck me was
- the irony of the way that white people were unaccepting of african americans, yet the help would be mainly responsible for raising their children and many of the maids stories would talk about how fond the children were of them growing up, but how they would soon become just like their mothers
- it was interesting just how 'dangerous' it was for white people to stand up for african americans and you could really see that in how it isolated skeeter from all her friends, the community, and eventually got in the way of her getting married - standing up for the right thing is not always easy, can we be strong enough to do it anyway?
- obviously a classic and well known line from 'the help' but the line where aibileen constantly tells mae mobly that 'you is kind. you is smart. you is important.' - just love how unselfishly she loved her and looked out for her even though she didn't know how long mae mobly would stay so innocent
i listened to the audiobook version of this - and i would highly recommend it that way, they have a different woman narrating each of the 3 'main characters' and they do a really great job with sound effects, voices, etc. - looking forward to rewatching the movie and seeing if they did any justice to the book
i barely remember watching the movie for this book (which i was probably too young to even fully appreciate when i did see it)
first of all, this story was so well written, i really looked forward to listening to it everyday. it's set in jackson, mississippi in the 60's and follows the stories of 'the help', the african american woman who wait on the white families and practically raise their children. it really reminded me again just how little i understand about being 'not white' and how difficult it is for certain populations in the US just because of the way they look or where they live.
the story is written from the perspective of a couple of the maids and a white woman who decides to write a book about what it is like to be a black woman working for a white family.
some things that really struck me was
- the irony of the way that white people were unaccepting of african americans, yet the help would be mainly responsible for raising their children and many of the maids stories would talk about how fond the children were of them growing up, but how they would soon become just like their mothers
- it was interesting just how 'dangerous' it was for white people to stand up for african americans and you could really see that in how it isolated skeeter from all her friends, the community, and eventually got in the way of her getting married - standing up for the right thing is not always easy, can we be strong enough to do it anyway?
- obviously a classic and well known line from 'the help' but the line where aibileen constantly tells mae mobly that 'you is kind. you is smart. you is important.' - just love how unselfishly she loved her and looked out for her even though she didn't know how long mae mobly would stay so innocent
i listened to the audiobook version of this - and i would highly recommend it that way, they have a different woman narrating each of the 3 'main characters' and they do a really great job with sound effects, voices, etc. - looking forward to rewatching the movie and seeing if they did any justice to the book