I couldn’t put this book down. I woke up during the night thinking about it, sometimes giving in and reading a few more pages. The Help by Kathryn Stockett is an insider’s look at life in the deep south in the 1960s. The story’s three narrators, a white woman and two black maids, live on the cusp of the civil rights movement.
Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, a recent college graduate, lives with her parents on a cotton plantation (though her mother is the only one who still uses that old-fashion description). Although a socialite through her family’s status, Skeeter has never felt like one of the girls. She’s too tall, her hair is never in the latest style, her clothes are not chic like her friends. She’s determined to be a writer, but her chances are pretty slim in Jackson, Mississippi. She arranges with the local newspaper to take over a housekeeping column, but, come to think about it, she really knows nothing about housekeeping. The help does all that sort of thing.
Miss Skeeter approaches a friend’s black maid, Abileen Clark. Abileen’s specialty is raising white folks’ children, and her housekeeping skills are impeccable. Abileen agrees to answer newspaper reader’s housekeeping questions for Skeeter for a small fee.
An idea forms in Skeeter’s mind, an idea that could bring terrible risks. Martin Luther King’s attempts at integration are making national headlines. In Mississippi, colored people aren’t allowed to enter white folks’ stores unless they’re in uniform and are shopping for their employers. They certainly can’t use “white” restrooms or attend their schools or churches. Even in private homes, every effort is made to keep the help from using bathrooms intended for family. The help’s bathroom is usually a roughed-out place, often attached to the garage. The help is expected to respond to their white employers needs, never mind if it interferes with their own life and family.
What would happen if a book were written, an expose’ about what it’s really like for a black person to work for a white family? Oh sure, the white people claim they “love” their black help; the black people “love” their white families. But the boundaries are firm and when they’re crossed, there can be serious consequences.
Abileen agrees, reluctantly at first, to share her experiences with Miss Skeeter. She enlists friend Minny Jackson who works for a lady local people call “white trash.” The idea gains momentum and grows to scary heights. The secret is kept by so many people, it’s hard to believe it won’t slip out. Skeeter gets a go-ahead by a New York publisher, but the offer to look over the manuscript doesn’t hold much hope of success.
The secrets shared by these maids could ruin them, right along with the people they’re talking about. Of course, there are a few good stories, too, stories about loyalty and generosity. Is the nation ready for such a tell-all? What will be the consequences? Is the awful risk worth the hope it might bring? The local society ladies live in a brittle, shallow world. The consequences of people learning the truth could be devastating. There’s a lot at stake for both whites and blacks.
The words “Change begins with a whisper” are displayed on the book’s cover. With change comes hope, hope that we’ve come a long way toward understanding one another and that we’ve been able to cross interracial lines in our every day lives. I highly recommend The Help. It’s not only a fun read, it’s an eye-opener. Coming from the State of Washington, my exposure to racism was pretty much limited to what I saw on the evening news. The Help is an inside look at “the rest of the story.”
Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale (Atria Books) is a breathtaking, suspenseful novel written in delightful English prose.
