Book Review - 'The Help' by Kathryn Stockett

2020 EDIT: I'm changing my rating because, while I still remember 'The Help' being an enjoyable page-turner, it is a white saviour story. There's no getting around that hugely problematic and insulting trope, now that I am older and more educated on the many, many, many ways in which racism remains prevalent in our culture and society. White people cannot solve racism, not on their own at any rate. White people have always historically been the oppressors, the abusers, the ones with the power, the ones whose stories have always been valued over others'. Let POC authors write their own stories - no, they have been telling and writing their stories for centuries, nonstop; everyone merely needs to pay attention. Listen to the marginalised speak with their own, authentic voices. Listen to them speak from their own, real experiences. There are thousands-to-millions-of them out in the world. That's where we'll really learn something.

Final Score: 3/5





I've put off writing a review of 'The Help' for a long time, because I don't think I can write a proper one when its subject matter has so much history and sensitive connotations behind it. I am afraid of what I might say; afraid I'll offend someone with my opinions. After reading this book, I felt that although I could understand the social impact racism/oppression has had on African-Americans in the sixties, I couldn't say the same for its emotional and mental impact, due to the fact that I have never experienced it. However, being female I have experienced a form of discrimination, and bullying for being different. Plus I have an imagination, and writers of historical fiction - such as of the Tudor era - often cannot help but take a few liberties, no matter how much research they do, simply because they weren't alive in that time.

I'll only say that, as a story, 'The Help' is a wonderful, poignant - albeit flawed - page turner. There is a reason why it was a bestseller; no one had really written a book about the treatment of black maids in 1960s Mississippi before, and its themes concern both racism and sexism. It doesn't really have a happy ending either, despite the efforts of the main characters. Sadly, since achieving change in any society of prejudiced people does take a long time, it is a realistic ending also.

Kathryn Stockett obviously put her whole heart into her debut. She herself grew up in Mississippi in the sixties, and a black maid had looked after her when she was a child. In writing 'The Help', Stockett was giving her belated thanks to her now-deceased maid for all she'd done for her. Even though she has admitted to not knowing how to capture the voices of black women in the sixties perfectly, I think this can be forgiven, as the voices of Aibileen and Minny are distinguishable and reveal their individual personalities, secrets and painful struggles.

Heartfelt, humourous but still meaningful, and even a little sweet, I thoroughly enjoyed 'The Help'.

Really, it only has a star knocked out of its final rating for this reason: Skeeter. She is spectacularly dumb, and I'd speculated that she has to be because most of the events in the novel couldn't have happened otherwise. While I do take comfort in how 'The Help', in my personal opinion, manages to avoid the offensive Mighty Whitey/Caucasian superiority cliche by making the white "savior" of the black people very flawed, Skeeter is meant to be an educated adult, so her clumsiness and stupidity are a little much.

Anyone can take whatever they want out of a book which deals with racial oppression. I found 'The Help' to be very effective and unforgettable - a story needing to be told, regardless of the author's skin colour.

The book is definitely better than the film at least.

Final Score: 4/5