The Help
Kathryn Stockett, 2009
★ 4.47 from 3.1m ratings on Goodreads
Three women in 1960s Mississippi quietly collect the stories white families never expected to be told. Warm, conversational voices carry you through 1960s Mississippi, balancing wit and defiance with a steady pull toward friendship and hope.
Feels like hope, defiance and tenderness. About friendship, power and love.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy immersive historical fiction built around uneasy friendships and quiet acts of defiance. Be aware that some readers find its racial stereotypes and white-savior framing troubling, and its portrayal of Black voices inauthentic.
Why read it
It offers a vivid sense of place and a story about whose stories get told, while leaving you room to weigh its limits as a portrait of that time.
A page from the book
The childhood warnings you still half believe, and the ones you ignore.
Two days later, I sit in my parent’s kitchen, waiting for dusk to fall. Igive in and light another cigarette even though last night the surgeongeneral came on the television set and shook his finger at everybody,trying to convince us that smoking will kill us. But Mother once toldme tongue kissing would turn me blind and I’m starting to think it’sall just a big plot between the surgeon general and Mother to make sureno one ever has any fun. What readers say
Readers are split: many found it moving, immersive, and emotionally powerful, laughing and crying with the characters; others were uncomfortable with racial stereotypes, a white-savior framing, and what they saw as an inauthentic portrayal.
Kathryn Stockett.Stockett grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, where her family employed a Black maid; she has said the novel began as a way to imagine that woman's inner life.
Books that feel like this
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925
A short, dazzling novel about a summer of parties on Long Island and the man who throws them for one reason. Every sentence is built to be reread, and the ending is hard to shake.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is The Help for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy immersive historical fiction built around uneasy friendships and quiet acts of defiance. Be aware that some readers find its racial stereotypes and white-savior framing troubling, and its portrayal of Black voices inauthentic.
- What is The Help like?
- Warm, conversational voices carry you through 1960s Mississippi, balancing wit and defiance with a steady pull toward friendship and hope. Feels like hope, defiance and tenderness. About friendship, power and love.
- What should I read after The Help?
- If you liked The Help, try The Book Thief (Markus Zusak), Fifty Shades of Grey (E. L. James) and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (Gabrielle Zevin).
A taste of the feed
The voice that will carry you away is more polite than you'd expect.
I could introduce myself properly, but it’s not really necessary. You will know me well enough and soon enough, depending on a diverse range of variables. It suffices to say that at some point in time, I will be standing over you, as genially as possible. Your soul will be in my arms. A color will be perched on my shoulder. I will carry you gently away.
The Book Thief · Markus Zusak
Desperation flickers across her face as she contemplates escape.
Olivia leaps up and retrieves my jacket, which Grey takes from her before she can hand it to me. He holds it up and, feeling ridiculously self-conscious, I shrug it on. Grey places his hands for a moment on my shoulders. I gasp at the contact. If he notices my reaction, he gives nothing away. His long index finger presses the button summoning the elevator, and we stand waiting—awkwardly on my part, coolly self-possessed on his. The doors open, and I hurry in, desperate to escape. I really need to get out of here.
Fifty Shades of Grey · E. L. James
What would you attempt if no defeat were final?
What is a game?“ Marx said. ”It’s tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. It’s the possibility of infinite rebirth, infinite redemption. The idea that if you keep playing, you could win. No loss is permanent, because nothing is permanent, ever.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow · Gabrielle Zevin
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