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The Help  By  cover art

The Help

By: Kathryn Stockett
Narrated by: Jenna Lamia,Bahni Turpin,Octavia Spencer,Cassandra Campbell
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Publisher's summary

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

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 17th 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.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women—mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends—view one another.

This edition now includes the afterword "Too Little, Too Late—Kathryn Stockett in Her Own Words", as read by the author.

Bonus Audio: Hear an exclusive interview with Kathryn Stockett.
©2009 Kathryn Stockett, Cover Art: (c) 2011 DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC (P)2009 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“The two principal maid characters...leap off the page in all their warm, three dimensional glory...[A] winning novel.” (The New York Times)

“This could be one of the most important pieces of fiction since To Kill a Mockingbird…If you read only one book...let this be it.” (NPR.org)

“A beautiful portrait of a fragmenting world.” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Featured Article: 25+ Quotes About the Power of Kindness


Kindness is the quality of being considerate, compassionate, generous, gentle, and caring towards others without expecting anything in return. Often described as a virtue, kindness is also a strength—in fact, it may be one of humanity's greatest superpowers. Whenever you need a little encouragement or gentle reminder, turn to these quotes from authors who understand the power of kindness and express it quite remarkably.

What listeners say about The Help

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

what a pleasure! witty, heartfelt and moving. The hours I spent listening to this book flew by, i didn't want it to end.

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Slooow but ultimately rewarding

I am not sure what all the fuss is about this book. Having spent most of my childhood summers visiting my grandparents in rural Mississippi, I was very interested in this story and it rings true, for me, of the the south in the 60's. This story is very slow to develop, however, and it took great patience to stay with it until it ultimately became interesting at the end. Definitely not a page turner - but a thoughtful book that helped me to think more closely about what it meant to be black - and white - in 1960's Mississippi. Be patient while the story is developing. The narration is above average and helped to keep it interesting as the story switched between characters.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

You don't need me to tell you...

...how great this performance is, but I'm going to anyway. The Help is an essential listening experience because of Bahni Turpin. And Octavia Spencer. And Jenna Lamia. These three gifted performers elevate the art of narration to a new level with their impeccable Southern drawl and illuminating portrayals of maids and the white families they work for in 1960s Mississippi. It's no surprise that rave reviews from listeners have made The Help our highest-rated audiobook of all time, and propelled Octavia Spencer into an Academy Award winner for her portrayal of Minny.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Em
  • 09-18-09

LOVE LOVE LOVE

I feel somewhat redundant adding on to this list of glowing reviews. There's nothing I can say that hasn't been said somewhere in this pile of 126 pages. But you also can't listen to this and just not comment. It seems rude somehow. So I'll repeat: best audiobook of all time, you will fall in love with these characters and narrators. PLEASE listen to this book!

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

To Be Listened to 10,000 Times Because

"Jackson ain't no special place. They's 10,000 towns just like it."

This novel chronicles the beauty and exquisitely painful stupidity of human beings in the United States regarding race. I've read and listened to hundreds (thousands?) of novels in my lifetime, from Stephen King and Terry Pratchett and Stieg Larsson and Harper Lee and Dostoevsky and Bronte and Alcott, and Homer and more. I don't know that I will ever encounter a novel as moving, triumphant, poignant, and revealing as this one again.

Amazing. Simply amazing.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A Real Gem!

The Help is a story based around three characters. Minny, Aibilene, the two black maids, and Miss Skeeter a college educated white woman. You get a background about each of these woman and listen as their plights bring them together to institute a project that will not only change their lives, but the lives of women in the town of Jackson Mississippi in the 1960's.

Minny (my personal favorite) is a shoot from the hip, no-nonsense black maid who is shunned by most of the white families because of a nasty rumor until she meets her new employer Cecilia Foot.

Aibilene is a middle age maid who has raised many white children in her years. She is loving and truly adores the white children she has raised.

Eugenia Phelan (Skeeter) is the white young women who is not afraid to cross the line to help these black maids who are victimized by their white women employers.

This book actually has a voice. The narrators make it come alive and you feel like you are right there. It is enchanting, delightful and a sheer pleasure to listen to.

After reading about the author Kathryn Stockett, I realized this book is loosely based on her own experiences growing up. How sad I was when it was over. I have never felt this way about a book before, I could have listened and listened. I will definitely go back to hear this one again.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Tho worried that most reviews came from females...

...and that it was on my wife's book club list, I went ahead and listened. Guys you will like this, too. Great choice of three narrators. Moving and poignant without being "preachy". Fresh and enjoyable listen taking one believably right into the life of Jackson, Mississippi in the 60's.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

In my Heart Forever

This book tells an accurate and realistic story of these times in the south. Many may find it hard to believe that this all happened not so very long ago.
I lived this reality. I grew up in the south during the 50sand 60s. Our family had a black maid who helped raise me and was a favorite member of our family until her death at age 89. I so wish that she had lived to see our president sworn in.
Thank you Ms. Stockett for writing such a moving, beautiful and memorable book. This is one of my favorite books ever! I am listening again a second time already.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Excellent, entertaining reading of a naive story

This was a very entertaining "read" -- the acting for the different narrators was excellent, particularly for the Minnie character. The story itself seemed a bit naive to me, like a contemporary young woman's fantasy of what it would have been like to be the one white girl of privilege who stepped out of the mold to be an underground civil rights activist in the South of the 1960s. The central character is a young woman's ideal: bucking societal conventions by by being sympathetic to the down-trodden black underclass, not getting married right after college, and pursuing a career as a writer (all the while being courted by the incredibly handsome and wealthy son of a state senator). But the book's humor and entertainment value (full of "mysteries" that unfold as the book continues) go far to compensate for is lack of subtlety and sophistication.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Best book I've listen to so far

I really enjoyed this book! The characters are fully developed and the multiple readers brought them to life. I gobbled up this book, not being able to put down my ipod. I am eagerly awaiting Kathryn Stockett's next novel.

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9 people found this helpful