by Kathryn Stockett, 2009, Amy Einhorn Books, published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York

This book is really a great read.  It’s basically about black maids in Jackson Mississippi back in the late 60’s and early 70’s and how it was working for white families.  The book captures these situations well and the characters are well developed.  The only negative I can think of regarding this book is the somewhat unsatisfying ending.

As I read the book I sometimes felt that the foremost racist “villian”, Hilly, was somewhat unbelievable.  Then I thought of some of the persons and situations I had observed when I was a kid during that time, and she became much more real.  Just recently I watched a PBS documentary regarding the civil rights movement in Mississippi.  I was struck by the faces of some of the whites throwing rocks and yelling at the blacks who were marching, participating in lunch counter sit-ins, or trying to enter all-white schools.  The sheer hatred evidenced in their contorted faces was a vivid reminder of the intensity of their racist feelings at that time.  Hilly instantly became much more real to me.  I wonder, however, if some of the younger generations can generate the same feelings and understanding that I was able to muster.

Maybe the less than satisfying ending provides the stage for a sequel?