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)

The Best Book I've Read in a Long Time

I agree that this book is superb. The characters were richly drawn and deeply developed yet even the darkest of them one can have compassion for. The storyline is such a wonderful weaving of the events in the deep south during the early 60's, interlocking both the white and black point of view. I love that it is all from womens' point of view, which gives the book an empathy one would not find with major male characters. I really wanted a volume two of this book, I hated for it to end. I've been recommending it to everyone I know, especially if you grew up in the 50's or 60's, no matter where in the US you lived, civil rights affected you as did the events of that era and this book touches upon it all. If you grew up after that era and you only know of the Civil Rights Movement through historical study, reading this book is a great way to get a feel for what civil rights is all about.

Captivating

As a commuter I listen to a multitude of books, this one was by far the best book to listen too. Many have excellent story lines, and so so narration, or the other way around. This book was excellent in all ways. I looked forward to getting into the car just to turn the story on. Masterfull!

The movie left out plenty!! Worth a credit!!!

I listened to this book before I saw the movie! The movie couldn't cover it all....but they left out the more edgy and hilarious parts!!! Spend the credit...the reading is wonderful! I enjoyed this story!!

I hated when the book ended!

If you could sum up The Help in three words, what would they be?

Absolutely, completely WONDERFUL.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I absolutely wanted to continue listening to this book all of the time. I started listening to it while cooking and driving distances shorter than three minutes to continue listening.

Just straight up AMAZING

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Is this a rhetorical question?

Who was your favorite character and why?

Minne
Why? Do you really have to ask that? You haven't read the book have you?

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

The were amazing. The narration was just perfect.

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

Celia Foote

Any additional comments?

This book and the narration is just pure perfection.

the help review

Where does The Help rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

one of the best I loved how it had different people reading the different parts

Treat yourself to the start of Civil Rights!!

Where does The Help rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's my first one...but not my last...t'was a joy!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Hilly..showed real predijus

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

Octavia

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

couldn't stop listening...what would happen nest??

Any additional comments?

I've already recommended this book to several of my friends.

What a Five Star Performance

The writing is so descriptive you really feel that you are there. And you feel like you are in everyone's heart. The reading is truly a performance beyond compare, like a 40s radio show, but all done by the author??? Unbelievably entertaining. A work of art.

came to life in sound

this was a great listen. It explored the race relations in the 60's from both sides. I laughed at loud at some of Minnies antics and descriptions. For instance "it looked like a chicken coop on fire." and "she's so country corn is growing out of her shoes." Other revelations made you want to cry and are timeless such as the beatings Minnie just accepted from her spouse for so long and Miss Celia's repetitive miscarriages.
The different readers with their distinct voices and accents made each character really come alive for me.

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, listen multiple times!

I listen to A LOT of audiobooks traveling for work and this hands down is one of two favorites (The Lovely Bones is my other). I have listened to this book at least 5 times and am again hitting play on my ipod. Besides the fact that the story is wonderful the narrorators are what make this book so good. I grew up in the South and never had an appreciation for the accent, but when I heard these three ladies voices it made me remember the melody and calm that can come w/ the dialect.
I ABSOLUTLEY RECOMEND THIS BOOK TO ANYONE!!!