So Vixie reminded me that i'm supposed to be reviewing 101 books - and i've been pretty crap at that having read loads of them.
I'm going to keep it fairly short and sweet - this book is fantastic.
It evolves around two main social groups based in Mississippi when there was still a lot of racial segregation - the two groups are a group of young white women who have graduated from university and have varying points of view about the status of their help (who are black) and the Help (and the women's children) who are initially not politically active and are far more aligned in their own private, religious and family lives, they have their own community, their own values and their own interests.
The juxtapositioning of the narratives in the book is done really well - my favourite character by far is Minnie, she seems far less self-righteous than the other characters. It's quite a "no punches pulled" book and I like the combination of tones and viewpoints that it seems to represent.
Most of all I like the end note by the Author where she mentions that she hopes she has done justice to the accounts in the book but that she understands that she can't possibly hope to speak for black people in that place and at that time. I also love her viewpoints on other people's reactions when she tells them that she's from Mississippi.
It's a page turner with heart and I hope other people will enjoy it as much as I did.
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