All right, after 3 non-fiction posts, time to get to the good stuff! This is the most satisfying novel I’ve read in a long while. Started it on Thursday, finished by Monday morning (I had a nice long weekend to really sink my teeth into it). The Help, the debut novel of Kathryn Stockett, is the story of three women, one white and two black, in Mississippi in the early 60’s. It is 1962 and twenty-two-year-old Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan has just graduated from Ole Miss with a degree in journalism and aspirations to be a writer. She is, however, perpetually single, to the chagrin of her traditional, proper Southern mother. Aibileen and Minny are best friends and maids for two of Skeeter’s closest childhood friends. The three women come together for a secret project that puts all of their lives at risk. The narrative is told in the first person, from 3 different points of view.

This book’s greatest strength is its characters. They are richly drawn, each have their own voices, and are very believable. The book is somewhat like a Jodi Picoult in that it has been written from the point of view of several different people, but I believe it was far better done here. There was quite a bit of dialogue, and the story moved along at a good clip—to a dramatic conclusion. There were many layers and characters, and part of the joy of the novel was watching the same events unfold through different sets of eyes. The novel was also very atmospheric and evocative of the Civil Rights Movement era and also the early 1960’s in general, the beginning of the hippie period, etc. (although the author admits she does take a few liberties with time, i.e., having a character listen to a Bob Dylan song slightly before it was actually released, etc.) Run to your library, or your local bookstore, and put your name on the list for this one now–you won’t be disappointed.

You might think that it’s strange that a site dedicated to black women is recommending a book written by someone who is not black. But there are some authors who can draw a compelling and accurate picture of our our struggles. Sue Monk Kidd did it with “The Secret Life of Bees” and reviews say that first time novelist Kathryn Sockett has woven an amazing character study in “The Help”. A privileged young woman comes home from college in the early 60s and decides to write about the lives of the black maids in the town. Let’s just say she meets some resistance but two brave sisters step forward to tell their stories and that makes me want to read this book (so I picked it up yesterday). I know that some of us would rather forget that many of our forebearers were the caregivers (I boycotted the show I’ll Fly Away for that very reason). But I think I was looking at the situation too narrowly because their vocations weren’t an indication that  they lacked dignity or didn’t want something better in their lives. If you think about it, we wouldn’t be where we are today without them.