The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help by Kathryn Stockett, fiction, 451 pages.
I re-read this for our January book discussion. I was more comfortable with the book, knowing how it ended, knowing that everything turned out as it did, but still . . .

The book, set in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1962 follows Skeeter, a 22 year-old white woman, as she develops a heightened social conscience and starts writing about the plight of black domestic help in Jackson. She can only do this with the help of Aibileen, who works as a maid for one of Skeeter's friends, and Minnie, who has been fired by another of Skeeter's friends, Hilly. Hilly is at the root of all the town's problems with her inhumanity and her obsession with toilets.

It has become a much beloved book, striking a chord with many readers, and we had a very good discussion about it, but I found it a bit off somehow, like it would have been a great book back in the 1960s, or more righteous if the author's brother's housekeeper wasn't suing over her alleged portrayal as one of the book's characters. Not one of my favorites, but a huge seller nonetheless.
I did enjoy the narration of the downloadable audio when I listened to it last year.

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