I recently read
The Help by Kathryn Stockett and really enjoyed it. I liked the way that she wrote it from multiple perspectives. Skeeter Phelan is one of the main characters who is also a narrator, she is trying to begin her career as a writer and decides to write a book that discusses what it is like to be a black maid for white families at the cusp of the civil rights movement. Aibileen is one of the maids who is also a narrator, she is the first maid brave enough to help Skeeter with her book project and is an integral part of getting other maids to join her and Skeeter with their stories. Minny is the other narrator, she is a more vocal person than Aibileen and has had to move from job to job because of it. I think
The Help is an important book because it explores issues that our society has made a great deal of progress in, but it is a reminder that we can not just assume that race relations and prejudices are non-issues now. I think the message is to keep it in our minds so that we don't repeat our past mistakes. Well written, very relevant, and a must-read in my opinion.
In
The Help, Stockett references
To Kill a Mockingbird several times and surprisingly enough, I had never been required to read the Harper Lee classic. So, I decide that I would read it simultaneously. After finishing the book I really couldn't believe that I had never read it before. The writing is impecable, truly deserving of the awards it received. Harper Lee spins a tale of the atrocities that humans are capable of doing to each other and brilliantly tells it from a child's perspective. I think this is the most important part of the book, that it is written from the point of view if a person who is not yet spoiled and jaded but sees people for who they are, based on their actions, not her prejudices.
To Kill a Mockingbird instantly became one of my all time favorites and I'm glad that it was referenced in
The Help because it encouraged me to finally take the time to read it.
