The Help By Kathryn Stockett

 

 Suddenly it seems as if everyone is reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I avoided this book when it was at the top of the best selling lists and when the movie came out.  I was not able to see the movie either.  While everyone was raving about it, since it was marketed as being a "chick lit" book, I avoided it.  I do like chick lit but not a lot of it so I tend to be a bit picky about the books I choose in that genre.  

It's too bad that this book was marketed in that genre, because I truly felt that this book is not a "light and breezy girl story" and is a substantial literary work.  I was surprised at the depth of feeling it stirred in me.  In short, I absolutely loved this book and at one point I could not put it down.  The intensity of life in the south during segregation is so openly and clearly conveyed.  The idiocy and hypocrisy of segregation is captured well with a dose of humor and humaneness that gives all the characters dignity.

I got this copy for 50 cents at my library.  I will be giving it away to a friend who wants to read it.