The #1 New York Times bestselling novel and basis for the Academy Award-winning film—a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t—nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read.
Aibileen is a black maid in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, who’s always taken orders quietly, but lately she’s unable to hold her bitterness back. Her friend Minny has never held her tongue but now must somehow keep secrets about her employer that leave her speechless. White socialite Skeeter just graduated college. She’s full of ambition, but without a husband, she’s considered a failure.
Together, these seemingly different women join together to write a tell-all book about work as a black maid in the South, that could forever alter their destinies and the life of a small town...
This book is every bit as good as everyone says it is. It’s been a while since I’ve zipped through a book so quickly (just a few days, over Christmas). Who knows how accurate it is — accuracy isn’t the point. If I wanted 100% accuracy, I’d read non-fiction. What’s important is that we’re given an intriguing story from three distinct points of view. There’s more to this book than a look at race relations in 1960s Mississippi. It’s also about class separation, relationships between parents and children, the limited options available to young woman, and the ways we let other people, whether they be family, friends, employers, or perfect strangers, control our lives.
Each main character gives us something different as each grows. Skeeter finally finds the answers she’s looking for. They’re not the answers she wants, but they give her the courage to define her path and declare her intentions. Aibileen finds new value in herself, and powers she never knew she had. Minny learns that a smart mouth and strong attitude aren’t enough to survive on. I almost wish we had a couple more points of view — I would have loved to know what was in Elizabeth’s or Celia’s minds.
The likelihood of something similar to this storyline actually happening is relatively slim, but that’s the nature of fiction. Authors push a situation to its most extreme, and that’s what keeps us reading.
