Skeeter Phelan just graduated college and is trying to go about her day to day living, like a good white Southern woman should. She is a active member in the Junior league, she plays Bridge with her friends, and even goes out on a date that her best friend Hilly set her up with. Her over bearing mother wants nothing more for her daughter than to marry, live in a nice house, and have a black maid. So what’ s wrong with her? Why isn’t this enough?
Skeeter has her own aspirations and dreams big, for a southern white woman. She wants to actually make use of her college degree and become a writer. She sends her resume to Harper and Row in New York City. Amazingly she actually hears back from the editor. Not with a job but with some sound advice. Skeeter quietly follows it.
On her path to becoming a writer, Skeeter starts to question the norms of the southern society she lives in. This is when she forges an unlikely friendship with two black maids. The book is narrated in turn by Skeeter and the two maids, Aibileen and Minny.
This is an amazing book about race relations in the south during the Civil Rights era. Reading this book was like Kathryn Stockett put me in a rocket and transported me back in time to the 1960’s south! I lost hours of sleep and had a hard time prying the book out of my hands.
The character and plot development were stellar, that of a seasoned writer. Imagine my surprise when I learned that this is Stockett’s first novel! I rarely read a book more than once because there are so many that I want to read however, this book is worth a return visit! I see quite a promising writing career ahead for Kathryn Stockett and cannot recommend this book highly enough!
5/5
Thanks so much to Bronwyn Kienapple of Penguin Group (Canada) for answering my plea to read and review this book!
Also reviewed by (please let me know if I missed anybody):
Devourer of Books
Under a Blood Red Sky
Lesley’s Book Nook
At Home With Books
Book Room Reviews
Shhh I’m Reading..
The Bluestocking Society
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