The Help

The Help - Kathryn Stockett (2009)

Well onto November, and we have welcomed in the new month with a sunny warmish day - finally!! After a dreary and cold October, it is nice to feel a touch of spring.

So I got to sit in the sun in a couple of locations and eat my lunch and read, at the marina, in Civic Sq and in the backyard. The help has a few narrators, Abeline and Minny who are domestic help in Jackson Mississippi. Through their eyes we see what is going on in the households, as they clean, cook and raise the children.

Then Miss Skeeter, a college educated white girl decides to use her skills to get published. First working for the local paper, she is given the job of advice columnist for a cleaning column. Never having had to clean before, she asks for assistance from a friends help - Miss Abeline. Once they begin to trust each other, Skeeter is challenged by a New York editor to write more compelling prose in order to be published. So Skeeter approaches several of the domestic help to find out what they think about working for the white southern families they work for.

I looked forward to heading to bed and reading this book, which hasn't happened in a while. Each and every character was interesting in it's own way, and I love a story that is held up by the women folk, who aren't soppy over men. I'm going to have give it a big 5/5, how's that for brave. Just because I'm going to recommend this one to all my work colleagues and friends.

So November, you've started strong, I wonder if you can maintain this high standard for the whole month.