The Help
By Kathryn Stockett
What's it about?
What does it look like to be a black women in 1962 in Jackson, Mississippi? If you guessed difficult and taking the punch of a racist and white privileged society, you'd be right. The Help tells the story of three women who work together to challenge the status quo and poor treatment of the black women who work as "the help" for white households.
When you read, you meet Abilene, Minnie, and Skeeter, three women who lives and experiences look very different. Abilene is a black woman who works for a white family and takes care of their daughter. Minnie also works for white families, but has trouble keeping jobs because of her tendency to tell her employers how she really feels about them (which at this time is not seen as a good thing). Skeeter is white, but also doesn't fit into the mold that her friends and mother want her to. As their lives in Jackson begin to overlap, these three women become the power behind a movement to challenge the sexist and racist status quo.
Why did I choose it?
The Help is not only a wonderful drama, but it gives insight to what it would have looked like to live in the South in the 1960s as a black woman or a white woman. Neither, as seen in the story, has a large amount of power, but as you can imagine, there is certainly an extreme hierarchy even between women. I chose this book because it, from what I know, does a good job at identifying the ridiculous amount of privilege white women had over black women, who at this time, found employment as "help".
This book identifies the realness of social and economic segregation after legal segregation was abolished. It welcomes the reader to understand privilege and white social supremacy while also just being an incredibly well written book. Stockett is able to portray the many faces of social expectations of women, whether black or white, and how we all do worse because of those expectations. The book challenges beauty standards, work ethic, injustice, loneliness, racism, sexism... the list goes on and on.
It's also incredibly hilarious. Like this book is HILARIOUS. The ways in which the main characters push back against the status quo is brilliant and uplifting. They don't back down from hardship and challenge those who have a lot of power and say in their lives. They grow in community and strength. These women are incredible and complex characters.
Where can you get it?
The Help is available at Coe's library and at the Cedar Rapids Public Library. If you don't have a library card, you can get one for free whenever the library is open. You can visit the CRPL website here.
Additionally, The Help was also made into a great movie in 2011. It stars Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, and Emma Stone. You can also get it at either of the libraries mentioned above.
