GO, GET IT AND READ AND LOVE IT!
I have found various reviews on the book (after I had read it), all of them speaking of the brilliance of this first-time author's work. However, some seem to think it is about a young white woman with strong and controversial ambitions in the early 60s, others say it's about a coloured, middle-aged lady working as a housekeeper and child-minder for a middle-class white family in a time when segregation was "the law" in North America.
Both are right. In actual fact, the story is about three main characters, all with different backgrounds and ambitions and the story beautifully connects and intertwines their paths.
I find it interesting that people extract different things about the story line to represent this book. That must mean that different people identify themselves with their own character of (deliberate or unintentional) choice and thus point out that the book is about that "chosen" character.
I nearly fell into the same trap with one of the side-line characters, Mae Mobley. This little girl's story I can relate to the most. A thing I live with, but [I am] tall and straight. [I am] proud. [I] got a better haircut. And [I am] remembering the words [I myself] put in [my] head...
The book is more than about a bunch of characters that each offer different things to us. It's about a time in history that was very real but seems almost forgotten. It's about the people that lived in those times covering different angles and view points. And lastly, the book is about the book itself! But you will just have to read it yourselves to find all of that out...
I use fishpond.com.au here in Australia to get my books
for the hardcover use
http://www.fishpond.com.au/Books/Fiction_Literature/Literary/9780399155345/?cf=3&rid=464868928&i=5&keywords=the+help
for the paper back
http://www.fishpond.com.au/Books/Fiction_Literature/General/9780141039282/?cf=3&rid=464868928&i=1&keywords=the+help
Amazon. com of course has the book as well
http://www.amazon.com/Help-Kathryn-Stockett/dp/0399155341
