The Help, Kathryn Stockett. Paperback.

Illuminating, sobering, moving.

In The Help, Stockett exposes rampant prejudice in the southern society of her youth by fully immersing the reader in it, warts and all. I enjoyed this novel as a work of fiction, but was greatly moved by the light it shed on race relations and gender roles in our country. Stockett exposes these skeletons while never letting the reader forget her characters are human: even the most loathsome (I’m looking at you, Hilly Holbrook) have some sympathetic moments.

The Help shows us hatred and ignorance parading around as proper manners, and serves as a reminder to always question restrictions arbitrarily placed on any one category of people. None of us choose the color of skin we are born with, but we choose the kind of people we want to be in the world. I greatly enjoyed experiencing Skeeter’s journey as she made the right choice.

Favorite Line: “Write about what disturbs you, particularly if it bothers no one else.”