Book Review

The Help by Kathryn Stockett is a gripping read.  Set in early 1960's USA it is about the friendship between two coloured maids and a young white ex-college girl who tells their stories, crossing boundaries dangerous to them all. I couldn't put this book down.  It was gritty, powerful, moving and humorous.  The author has used her own experience of growing up in a house with a coloured maid and admits being scared to have written in the voice of two black maids but she brings you right into their world, a world where a black man can be almost beaten to death for accidently using the 'white only' bathroom and the often expoitation of  maids working for white families. The book reveals the love maids had for the children they brought up and who often called them Mama when they first learned to speak.  Some maids were treated well and loved their jobs but always there was segregation, of not being able to use the 'white only' library or white shops (unless they were buying 'in uniform' for their employer) and always there was the risk of being attacked for just being black.

The young white lady sees for herself a different world and the bond between the three strengthens as her own friends being to avoid her.  She has a lot of growing up to do but her courage and the courage of the coloured maids and their friends binds them together.  This is one of the best books I have read this year, beautifully told and one I didn't want to end.  Having to say goodbye to the characters left a lump in the throat.