Ciska's Book Chest

Kathryn Stockett was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. After graduating from the University of Alabama with a degree in English and creative writing, she moved to New York City, where she worked in magazine publishing for nine years. She currently lives in Atlanta with her husband and daughter. She is working on her second novel . For more information visit http://www.kathrynstockett.com/Be prepared to meet three unforgettable women:Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.I am not really sure what to think about this book. I kind of have the feeling the hype around this story has damaged it more than did it good. The book tells a story about a town in Mississippi in the early 60ies. Slavery has been forbidden but secretly still exists. The character descriptions are very good. You manage to sympathize with the good people, feel sorry for the not so smart ones and get angry at the ones that are not nice. The part of the book that actually most impressed me was the situation between Minny and Miss Celia. Miss Celia was clearly from a white trash neighborhood, only one step better than the black maid who was serving her now she was married to a rich white man. She needed a friend or at least someone who would listen and take her seriously but Minny could not be that woman cause she did feel that line between them. On the other hand Minny was angry cause that line existed. That was the situation that most intrigued me.The story is good, it gives a clear view on the situation. It gives you the feeling you can do something about it by reading this book and give a voice to the maids. If you are really interested in the book you should read it, if you just pick it up because of the hype it might disappoint you.