The Help

By: Kathryn Stockett

Narrated by: Jenna Lamia, Bahni Turpin, Octavia Spencer, Cassandra Campbell

Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins

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)

Couldn't have enjoyed The Help more

Brilliant book, brilliantly told and brilliantly narraated. I write for a living and scrutinize books pretty harshly, and I couldn't find so much as a syllable out of place in this text. I loved it and recommend it highly.

Beautifully Written

It's shocking to see the life people used to live in Jackson Mississippi. As a woman in my early twenties I extremely enjoyed seeing how the white women in their early twenties acted in this novel. I enjoyed the irony that women raised by a colored maid ended up to be just like their racist mothers. I'm glad that Ms. Skeeter was brave enough to be someone different. Something that was very dangerous in Jackson.

spellbinding

I have to say that this is so far one of my favorite audio books. The characters really had depth and substance and by the end, I felt as though I were a part of that society. A great read - the narration was exceptional - very engaging. Highly recommended!

Great Book

Very entertaning and written with great insite to the southern way of life. Great character development.

A Perfomance

Great, Great, writing, information, character and story development! The perfomance of the narrators was superb. They will pull you into this story, keep you engaged, and dissappoint you with your own knowing that at some point the story must end.

One of my favorite audiobooks!

though other reviewers have said what I wanted to say, I still wanted to add to the kudos. One of the best audiobooks I've listened to. I was sad when it was done! In fact, my mind still keeps wondering to the characters. The narration was wonderful and amazingly consistant. I'll need to find other books by this author and narration by these narrators. Thanks for a great read.

All the Meanings of Help

The title The Help can be taken a lot of ways and when referencing this book they are all good. I grew up in the safety of the northwest during the 60's so when I remember the civil rights movement it is from newspapers and television. I met my first African American person when I went to college out of state. I intellectually understood the movement and was emotionally impacted by the injustice of segregation. I have thought of myself as a well informed and empathetic white person toward the cause of racial equality. But I knew almost nothing about segregation. The Help provided me a window into the fear the "help" had in letting their employers know their feelings, their potential, and their knowledge. For eighteen hours I got to experience being constantly on guard for how someone might misread a glance or take offence at one's presents in any random public place. I got to listen to Aibileen "help" a little girl gain the foundation to become a self-confident woman in spite of being raised by a mother who didn't have the strength or awareness to do it for her daughter. I listened as Skeeter slowly unlocked the shackles of prejudices of her home and her community. And I most related to Minny. Her rage and her toughness made me love her and ultimately her understanding of human nature made her my hero. The real meaning of the title is how this book "helped" me.

Amazing insight

The dramatization of these three southern women was extraordinary, and I really felt myself being pulled in to their lives and got to love all three of them.
Though the subject and the times are alien to me,I feel I now can speek about the racism in Missisippi in the sixties with authority.
Beautifully written and wonderfully performed.

Who would've thought?

When you find yourself responding audibly to a book (gasps, talking back, laughter, and crying) you know its good. Being a Northern male, I don't think reading this book would have had nearly the impact as it did with the wonderful readers in the audo production. The accents, dialogue and vocal subtleties were wonderful. Listening to this book has been the highlight of my Audible experience so far!

Loved it!

This is one of the best audiobooks I have listened to in years. The depth of characters are amazing. I hated to have the story end. This is a keeper that I will listen to again!