The Help by Kathryn Stockett is set in Jackson, Mississippi during the early nineteen sixties.
This is an era when Negroes are only just being allowed into Woolworth and public libraries.
Stockett has written a well executed novel about three women's lives and the risks they take for the sake of change. Change that will see better conditions for black people in America.
The author takes on each woman's voice with ease; their stories ensure a riveting read. At times I felt anxious and fearful for the characters. The second half of the novel erupted such feelings of unease in me that I found myself with book in hand - when I should have been doing chores. I needed to know that everything would turn out alright.
If I was to find a fault with this novel, it's that although it stirred many emotions in me, the reader, the characters themselves seemed emotionally detached. But perhaps this in itself may have been a trait of the times, a survival mechanism.
Definitely a 'must read'.
