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fictionalfelix 's review for:
The Help
by Kathryn Stockett
The Help by Katherine Stockett
Genre: Historical literary fiction
Short Summary: Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelam, the privileged white daughter of a cotton farmer, decides to write a book about the experiences of Black maids in the early 1960's.
My rating: 3 stars
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Racism, miscarriage, public nudity and masturbation, violence, shooting of a Black man, lynching references, possibly other things I can't remember.
Quick disclaimer: I'm aware that this book is considered controversial/problematic in its portrayal of racism and Black people, but as a white person, I'm not qualified to elaborate on this subject, so if you want to know more, here is an article: https://www.insider.com/the-help-is-a-terrible-movie-to-watch-about-racism-2020-6
Now, on to the book itself:
Plot
Honestly, I don't have a lot of opinion about the plot. Sometimes it's boring, sometimes it's quite good.
Characters
Skeeter is the protagonist, which is problematic in its own right (for more info, see the article linked above). But also, she's the literally the only character in the book with a character arc. All the Black characters are stagnant, while this white woman gets a character arc. Not to say that the Black characters are uninteresting; Minny and Aibleen are way more interesting than Skeeter is, and they're both good characters. Aibleen and her relationship with Mae Mobley is especially emotional and well-developed.
Writing
Like the plot, I don't have much opinion about the writing. It was pretty good, but not anything particularly memorable.
Other
This section will be about The Weird Bathroom Obsession, and I'll start this section with some quotes:
(to be fair, that quote was about a kid putting coins and stuff in his diaper, but it's still weird)
I didn't know that people commonly put books behind their toilets, but okay.
There's also multiple plot events that have to do with bathrooms and. . . things that are related to bathrooms, but I'm not going to go into detail because of spoilers and because some of it is pretty nasty.
Do I recommend it? Not really.
Genre: Historical literary fiction
Short Summary: Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelam, the privileged white daughter of a cotton farmer, decides to write a book about the experiences of Black maids in the early 1960's.
My rating: 3 stars
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Racism, miscarriage, public nudity and masturbation, violence, shooting of a Black man, lynching references, possibly other things I can't remember.
Quick disclaimer: I'm aware that this book is considered controversial/problematic in its portrayal of racism and Black people, but as a white person, I'm not qualified to elaborate on this subject, so if you want to know more, here is an article: https://www.insider.com/the-help-is-a-terrible-movie-to-watch-about-racism-2020-6
Now, on to the book itself:
Plot
Honestly, I don't have a lot of opinion about the plot. Sometimes it's boring, sometimes it's quite good.
Characters
Skeeter is the protagonist, which is problematic in its own right (for more info, see the article linked above). But also, she's the literally the only character in the book with a character arc. All the Black characters are stagnant, while this white woman gets a character arc. Not to say that the Black characters are uninteresting; Minny and Aibleen are way more interesting than Skeeter is, and they're both good characters. Aibleen and her relationship with Mae Mobley is especially emotional and well-developed.
Writing
Like the plot, I don't have much opinion about the writing. It was pretty good, but not anything particularly memorable.
Other
This section will be about The Weird Bathroom Obsession, and I'll start this section with some quotes:
Sometimes changing a diaper is like opening a treasure
(to be fair, that quote was about a kid putting coins and stuff in his diaper, but it's still weird)
Our book is setting in five thousand houses on they bookshelves, next to they night tables, behind they toilets?
I didn't know that people commonly put books behind their toilets, but okay.
There's also multiple plot events that have to do with bathrooms and. . . things that are related to bathrooms, but I'm not going to go into detail because of spoilers and because some of it is pretty nasty.
Do I recommend it? Not really.