'The Help' by Kathryn Stockett
'The Help' by Kathryn Stockett

The good

  • Seeing the way African Americans and women were treated 1960’s Mississippi was… disturbing. I have to shamefully admit that, until reading this book, I didn’t realize that the Jim Crow laws were still in effect in the 1960’s—the same decade we went to the moon. How can a society to be so advanced in some aspects and so backwards in the others? How could things have been this bad, just 60 years ago? Of course, looking around the US ever since 2016 has been equally eye opening in terms of how bad things still are.
  • Some powerful, memorable, moments. Many of them dark, but that makes the uplifting ones all the more powerful.
  • Strong characters.
  • Good writing.

The not so good

  • The book starts off very slowly.
  • It also peters out a bit towards the end. There’s a climax, followed by a beautiful scene where the book probably should’ve ended… And then some more stuff after that probably could’ve been left out.

Rating: 4 stars