Original title: The Help
Author: Kathryn Stockett
Year of Publication: 2009
Number of pages: 476
Available in: 42 languages
I read it in: Spanish
"You is kind. You is smart. You is important."
In the small town of Jackson, Mississippi, live 3 women that are quite different from one another. One of them, Skeeter, has just come back from college with one idea on her mind: to write, and this way begins her friendship with Aibileen and Minny, two black servant women of her friends, whom she asks to narrate their daily experiences as the help of white people, in a time that the opposition to the segregation laws is not welcome.
In 1962, the laws of Jim Crow were being upheld with total rigour en the whole south of the United States, laws that segregated the black people, and is in this context that our story starts. It is important to understand that even though the book is stablished in this context, it doesn't modify it, and in that way the whole story feels more like a quick look to what could've been happening at some place in Mississippi.
The book
has its strengths and weaknesses. The first thing I noticed when I started
reading it is that it clearly had a specific demographic target group from the
beginning: mainly white women of middle / upper class. The context in which it
takes place is a very delicate one, so the main goal of the book is to
sensitize the reader, however, not think, the teachings are fairly
straightforward and don’t leave much room for rationalization itself. Another
aspect of it is that, as I mentioned, the story does not change the context,
making everything that was happening in the early sixties purely background
noise or footnotes, so not much happens in, leaving the dreaded Hilly Hoolbrok as the final enemy. Not trying to justify Hilly’s
actions, but her status as main antagonist of the book is really undeserved compared
to what was happening in the rest of the country, while men in the book were
painted as peaceful observers and rarely perpetuators of crime.
All these is
well reflected when Stockett writes: "Womens, they is not like men. A
woman is not gone beat you with a stick. Miss Hilly would not pull no pistol on
me. Miss Leefolt would not eat my house burn down. No, white womens. They like
to keep hands clean. They got a little shiny They use set of tools, sharp as
witches' fingernails, laid out neat and tidy, like the dentist picks on a tray.
They gone they take time with em. " Wanting to demonstrate the dichotomy
of "women's world", reinforcing the idea of who was the book addressed
to. In addition, the descriptions of the physical appearance of other women were
not the best.
But nonetheless,
(yes, there is a but), the book also
has its strengths. This book can be seen as a door. Simple words and direct
arguments can and change people, make them see things from another perspective
and to step into the shoes of others. Kathryn Stockett did an excellent job
with historical research, so all the background noise of what was happening in
the country, as well as small details (cars, clothing, accessories, modus
vivendi) are well represented in the book.
At the end
of the day, it is a story of friendship. The best chapters definitely are Minny’s
and I wish it had more of them, or the whole book from her perspective.
However, the chapters of Aibileen really swayed Minny’s strong personality.
My high
expectations (of how and by whom it was recommended to me) may as well be the
reason for my disappointment, however, it is a beautiful story with many merits
and deserves to be read.
It was made
into a film in 2011 starring Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Jessica
Chastain and many more actresses. The film definitely moved and changed some
things in story to fit the film industry, and I highly recommend it.
- Where to buy: Amazon, The Book Depository or Barnes & Noble
- Movie Trailer
- "I have a dream" by Martin Luther King Jr.
