I recently read The Help by Kathryn Stockett. It was really hard to put down. It's about a group of white women in Jackson, Mississippi and the African American housekeepers ("the help") who work for them just as the Civil Rights movement is beginning to grow. Stockett's fictional account of the relationships between these women is fascinating. On the one hand, the women who are the paid help know more about their employers than anyone else does--including their husbands, in some cases. However, they are not treated as peers but rather as a lower form of human life. Even with this heavy subject matter, the book manages to be really funny (and also really sad) in places. It's one of the best books I have read in a long time.

Add your comments here.