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)

LOVED The Help Audiobook

The narrators were great! I love that Octavia Spencer narrated the Minnie character, like she acted her in the movie. I was one of many that absolutely loved the movie and read the book afterward. There is such a depth to Katherine Stockett's writing that you can't get even with a great film. Definitely give this one a chance.

Best of the hundreds of books I've listened to

I have listened to literally hundreds of audiobooks over the course of a misspent life, in all genres. This one is in a class by itself. First, the book is just wonderful: funny, heartbreaking, maddening, ultimately triumphant. But what is there to say about the narration? Except: perfect. You are pulled into the lives of the characters and you don't want to leave. Wait! Wait! I wanted to call. Don't leave! I want to know what happens next! I was hooked from the first 10 minutes, and I listened and listened until it was over. If you have wondered if this book really is as good as it's cracked up to be: the answer is yes.

Wow. Great surprise!

I bought this book with reservation as it isn't my normal type of read, but I had to give it a shot due to the reviews. I sure wasn't disappointed. Not only is the story wonderful, but the narrarators are outstanding! There should be some sort of award show just for people like these four. I was definately sad that the story came to an end. I could have kept reading and reading and reading...or should I say listening and listening and listening...

Made it the next book club book!

This book was wonderful. The characters were rich and so multifacited that I felt they were people in my life like I had met them at the end of the book. Each personality comes out strong and you feel the struggles. I wish it would have done a "in the future" type ending so we knew where eveyone ended up but besides that it was great!

Awesome

This was a wonderful book.. I laughed and cried. One of the best book I have read in a very long time. Really had a hard time putting it down... We are on our way to see the movie now.. I can't wait!

The Help

The story shows the bravery of those that were willing to struggle for the change that was so slow in coming. The characters were very real and visible as I listened.

Outstanding book and read

I loved every minute of this book. The book, itself, is wonderful. The reading of it perfect. It was like watching a long, beautiful movie in your head.

Very Nice Read

Any additional comments?

I thought this was a wonderful book! The performance by all the narrators was beyond exceptional! I like it when I listen to or read a book there is a movie of it playing in my head. This book hit that mark! Very detailed and I loved for Abileen, Skeeter, and Minnie there were 3 different ladies talking.

Enjoyed the story and the narration was excellent

What made the experience of listening to The Help the most enjoyable?

The full cast narration makes the story easy to follow since it is told from many points of view. I enjoyed the story and appreciated the treatment of a pretty sensitve topic, even 50 years later. For the generation that came right as the civil right movement was happening, this can be an interesting point of view into the very turbulent time we were born. It is also this great tale of Mother and Daughter and the struggles we have to exert our independence and break free from expectations that are a generation too old.

What other book might you compare The Help to and why?

My Hollywood by Mona Simpson. They are similar stories told from many points of view about the raising of children and white women's dependence on now immigrant labor to help balance the demands of life with child rearing.

Which scene was your favorite?

I laughed out loud at the scene where the Minny takes on the naked man in Celia's front yard and I shed a few tears of happiness at the scene where Ablieen's church gives her a copy of the book and gives her one for Skeeter too.

If you could take any character from The Help out to dinner, who would it be and why?

I loved Minny, she was fearless and strong and outgoing and opinionated. Would love to have a few beers with her. But I think I'd like to have dinner with Skeeter, get her thoughts on what it takes to be both a Southernly woman, but also a strong and independent one.

Excellent Listen

I am a new book "listener" - and this book was fantastic. I tend to listen the most while driving and I found myself sitting in my car just so I could listen longer... The narrating was top shelf, the story riveting, the characters interesting and it was easy to get invested in them.