The Help (Audiobook)

Author: Kathryn Stockett
Genre: Historical Fiction (US Civil Rights)
Type: e-audiobook
Source: Audible.ca
Narrators: Jenna Lamia, Bahni Turpin, Octavia Spencer
Publisher: Penguin Audio
First Published in Print: 2009
Opening Lines: Mae Mobley was born on a early Sunday morning in August 1960. A church baby we like to call it."

Book Description from GoodReads: 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.

My Rating: 5 stars +++

My Review: I first read The Help in 2009 when it was initially published. Its engrossing story, well-developed characters and the issues it raised, solidified this book as one of my all-time favourite books evah. I still think about it ten years later. It's that good.

When I heard that Octavia Spencer (who played Minnie in the 2011 movie) would be reprising her role in the audiobook version, buying this e-audiobook was a no-brainer. Spencer is joined by two narrators who are equally gifted in bringing the characters and the story about civil rights in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi to life for the listener. Through the eyes of three main characters, Minnie, Aibileen and Skeeter, each with vastly different POVs, listeners become privy to their relationships and feelings about intolerance, racism, hardships and the limitations they face as women.

Stockett's writing is top-notch and the characters are imperfectly perfect and so richly developed, that you can't help but connect with them. The story focuses around an unlikely alliance between two Black domestic workers and a young white socialite/would-be author who risk much to tell the story of what life is really like for Black help working in white homes as maids and nannies, raising the white children of these families who gradually become more ingrained in a system that sets strict boundaries based on race. 

This is a well-written story that shows the fortitude and resilience of a group of women who have lived through overwhelming intolerance and ignorance. Their struggle to be heard and to break through the racism that has been perpetuated by the old school 'it's always been done this way' mentality (and the irrational and false scientific claims that maintained the status quo) is told with a perfect blend of humour and heart. 

Admittedly, this is a totally gushy, swoon-fest of a review but this is a must-read story that I highly recommend in paper, digital and especially, in audiobook format. This is an insightful read that is the perfect book club pick since it encourages readers to examine their own prejudices and assumptions and would instigate great discussion.

Favourite Quotes: 

'We are just two people. Not that much separates us. 

Not nearly as much as I'd thought'

“You is kind. You is smart. You is important.”