Book Review Club: "The Help"

"Sit down on your behind, Minny, because I'm about to tell you the rules for working in a white Lady's house." As 14-year-old Minny listens to her Mama explaining the seven rules --the last one being "No sass-mouthing"--she thinks to herself "Why I got to be like that? I know how to stand up to people."

Set in Jackson Mississippi in 1962, The Help seems like a story from a long-ago time when segregation was still in force in the South and racist attitudes were common throughout the country. Yet it was less than 50 years ago that the fictional scenes Kathryn Stockett describes so realistically in this book could have been a reality.

The story focuses on three main characters who alternate as narrators: Aibileen and Minny, both black maids working in the homes of white families, and Skeeter Phelan, a young white woman whose life was shaped by her own family's black maid.

Aibileen is currently working for Elizabeth Leefolt, and her primary responsibility, in addition to cooking and cleaning and whatever else "Miss Elizabeth" needs, is to take care of the Leefolts' young daughter Mae Mobley. Aibileen truly loves little Mae, more so than Mae's own mother who ignores her and punishes her in a fashion that borders on child abuse. Aibileen has worked for many families in a similar capacity over the years, always quitting when the children got too old--specifically, when they began to see and accept the distinction in the color lines in society.

Minny Jackson is Aibileen's good friend and polar opposite. While Aibileen bears her burdens stoically, Minny never loses the attitude she had as a young girl. She stands up for herself to her white employers when she is treated unfairly, and as a result doesn't hold any job for long. When Hilly Holbrook fires Minny as her mother's maid, Minny retaliates with "The Terrible Awful," an act so outrageous that Minny can't tell anyone just what she has done. Known throughout the community as a great cook, Minny must resort to taking the only job offer she has, working for a woman shunned by the society ladies of Jackson for being "white trash."

Fresh out of college, Skeeter Phelan, the only white narrator of the story, is a disappointment to her mother because she comes home from Ole Miss with a diploma, rather than a husband-to-be. Living with her parents, Skeeter finds herself stuck in the expectations of others. The only person she could really share her feelings with, the family maid Constantine, has mysteriously disappeared before Skeeter's return, and no one will tell her why she left. While her mother constantly belittles Skeeter's height, her hair, and everything about her appearance, Constantine had been the one to instill self-esteem in her with the mantra she taught Skeeter at a young age: "Am I gone believe what them fools say about me today?"

Skeeter aspires to be a journalist and naively applies for a job at New York publishing firm. After a few months, she receives a reply from an editor at Harper's who doesn't offer her a job, but gives her some advice to build up her resume. She encourages Skeeter to find any kind of writing job as a starting point, and Skeeter does--as a replacement at the local newspaper for Miss Myrna, writing a weekly housecleaning advice column. Knowing nothing about cleaning, Skeeter approaches her friend Elizabeth's maid, Aibileen, for help and eventually begins to talk to Aibileen about much more than cleaning. A comment by Aibileen inspires her with an idea for a book--writing about what it is like for a black woman to work in a white home. "That's when the idea comes to me. No. I couldn't. That would be . . . crossing the line." But Skeeter does "cross the line," and in the process her eyes are opened to the injustices around her.

Though Skeeter has been raised with traditional values and is good friends with Elizabeth and the domineering Junior League President, Hilly Holbrook, she feels slightly uncomfortable with some of Hilly's ideas. In particular, she evades Hilly's constant request to publish an article in their League newsletter about Hilly's plan, "The Home Help Sanitation Initiative," a euphemism for building separate bathrooms for the black domestics in every white home.

Through the course of the book, Skeeter goes from a silent acceptance of the behavior around her to sneaking into the black neighborhood each night to visit Aibileen and record her story. As she meets more of the black maids in the town and records their stories with Aibileen's help, a new perspective of her world is opened up to her.

There are many sad and infuriating stories from the maids who risk telling their stories to Skeeter. One is imprisoned for stealing a worthless ring from her employer. Another's grandson is beaten and blinded for accidentally using the white bathroom.

Sign in restaurant window in Ohio (image from Wikipedia)

Not all the stories Skeeter records are tragic, however.

"Faye Belle, palsied and gray-skinned, cannot remember her own age. Her stories unfold like soft linen. She remembers hiding in a steamer trunk with a little white girl while Yankee soldiers stomped through the house. Twenty years ago, she held that same white girl, by then an old woman, in her arms while she died. Each proclaimed their love as best friends. Swore that death could not change this. That color meant nothing. The white woman's grandson still pays Faye Belle's rent. When she's feeling strong, Faye Belle sometimes goes over and cleans up his kitchen."

Skeeter is also surprised to learn that Louvenia, the maid whose grandson was permanently disabled, received help from her employer, who rushed Louvenia to the "colored hospital" and stayed by her side, brought casseroles to her every day, and gave her paid time off to care for her grandson.

Not until Skeeter finishes the book does she realize the true significance of what she has recorded. "Wasn't that the point of the book? For women to realize, 'We are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I'd thought.' "

March on Washington, 1963 (image from Wikipedia)

The Help is a compelling novel of ordinary characters who must deal with surviving in this segregated society and whose lives have not yet been touched by the growing Civil Rights movement. Those of you who have read my other book reviews know that I enjoy mysteries, but this book was every bit as much of a page-turner as any mystery. I was drawn into the stories of Aibileen, Skeeter, and even the sassy Minny immediately and found myself cheering them on even as I hoped that the obnoxious Hilly would one day get her comeuppance. There is a reason this book has found its way to the best-seller list and why some have called it an "instant classic." Future classic or not, The Help definitely deserves a place on your "must read" list this year.

The Book Review Club meets the first Wednesday of every month and is hosted by Barrie Summy. Check out other reading recommendations here; why not join us next month?