The Help

Every once in a while a book comes along that you just love. And everybody else loves it too. It's one of those books that gets out mainly by word of mouth. Everyone is reading it and talking about it. It's a book that will appeal to just about any reader. Last year, it was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. A few years ago it was Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, The Secret Life of Bees, and The Kite Runner. I find these books hard to come by. Yes, good books are written all the time, but there are few that are "sure bets," meaning you can give it to just about anyone and they will like it. The Help by Kathryn Stockett is definitely one of these books. Set in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s, a young white woman decides to compile the stories of the colored maids that work for the white people in town. Stockett captures the voices of these women so well. Each character is very well defined and their stories are so engrossing. Stockett does a wonderful job of conveying the racial tensions in Mississippi and the fear these women have over telling their stories. The audiobook is exceptional and incorporates four different narrators, which makes the characters' voices even more distinct. This was one book that I was sorry to reach the end. The Help is Stockett's first novel, and she has set the bar pretty high for herself. I'm looking forward to reading more by this talented author.