The Help and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more



or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Start reading The Help on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Color:
Image not available

To view this video download Flash Player

 

The Help [Paperback]

Kathryn Stockett
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6,760 customer reviews)

List Price: $16.00
Price: $13.36 & FREE Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $2.64 (17%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Want it Tuesday, May 28? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition --  
Hardcover $17.23  
Paperback $12.08  
Paperback, June 28, 2011 $13.36  
Audio, CD, Audiobook, Unabridged $25.00  
Unknown Binding --  
Audible Audio Edition, Unabridged $19.95 or Free with Audible 30-day free trial
Summer Reading
Summer Reading
Browse the best books of summer including blockbusters, beach reads, and editors' picks in our Summer Reading Store.

Book Description

June 28, 2011
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 seventeenth 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. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t.

Frequently Bought Together

The Help + The Help
Price for both: $26.32

Buy the selected items together
  • The Help $12.96


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Four peerless actors render an array of sharply defined black and white characters in the nascent years of the civil rights movement. They each handle a variety of Southern accents with aplomb and draw out the daily humiliation and pain the maids are subject to, as well as their abiding affection for their white charges. The actors handle the narration and dialogue so well that no character is ever stereotyped, the humor is always delightful, and the listener is led through the multilayered stories of maids and mistresses. The novel is a superb intertwining of personal and political history in Jackson, Miss., in the early 1960s, but this reading gives it a deeper and fuller power. A Putnam hardcover (Reviews, Dec. 1). (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

From Bookmarks Magazine

In writing about such a troubled time in American history, Southern-born Stockett takes a big risk, one that paid off enormously. Critics praised Stockett's skillful depiction of the ironies and hypocrisies that defined an era, without resorting to depressing or controversial clich√©s. Rather, Stockett focuses on the fascinating and complex relationships between vastly different members of a household. Additionally, reviewers loved (and loathed) Stockett's three-dimensional characters—and cheered and hissed their favorites to the end. Several critics questioned Stockett's decision to use a heavy dialect solely for the black characters. Overall, however, The Help is a compassionate, original story, as well as an excellent choice for book groups. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 544 pages
  • Publisher: Berkley Trade; Mti Rei edition (June 28, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0425245136
  • ISBN-13: 978-0425245132
  • Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6,760 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,411 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kathryn Stockett was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. After graduating from the University of Alabama with a degree in English and Creative Writing, she moved to New York City, where she worked in magazine publishing and marketing for nine years. The Help is her first novel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2,930 of 3,099 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book in Years! An Instant Classic! January 28, 2009
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
The Help is about a young white woman in the early 1960s in Mississippi who becomes interested in the plight of the black ladies' maids that every family has working for them. She writes their stories about mistreatment, abuse and heartbreaks of working in white families' homes, all just before the Civil Rights revolution. That is the story in a nutshell - but it is so much more than just stories.

This is the best book I have read in years! I can't recommend it enough! It is fabulous and I think they will make a movie out of it. I would compare it to the writings of Carson McCullers, Harper Lee, Truman Capote and even Margaret Mitchell. The story grabs you and doesn't let you go. You can smell the melted tar on the Mississippi roads, the toil in the cotton fields, the grits burning on the stove. The theme is the indomitable will of human beings to survive against all odds - because of the color of their skin. It is a heart-wrenching account and you will never fondly remember the times of the Jim Crow laws (if you ever did). The pure, down and out bitchery of the white ladies who become dissatisfied with their maids and proceed to ruin their lives is portrayed vividly. The desperation of the maids' circumstances is truly touching. I have laughed and cried my way through this book and plan to re-read it. I highly recommend this book because it is going to be talked about as the best book of the year.
Was this review helpful to you?
1,381 of 1,459 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A New Classic for America March 1, 2009
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
A new classic has been born. Kathryn Sockett's "The Help" will live in hearts and minds, be taught in schools, be cherished by readers. The three women who form its core, idealistic Skeeter, loving Aibileen, and sarcastic, sassy Minny, narrate their chapters each in a voice that is distinctive as Minny's caramel cake no one else in Jackson, Mississippi, can duplicate.

These stories of the black maids working for white women in the state of Mississippi of the 60s have an insiders' view of child-rearing, Junior League benefits, town gossip, and race relations.

Hilly is the town's white Queen Bee with an antebellum attitude towards race. She hopes to lead her minions into the latter part of the century with the "enlightened" view of making sure every home in Jackson, Mississippi, has a separate toilet for the help. Her crusade is, she says, based on clear hygienic criteria, which will save both blacks and whites from heinous diseases.

Despite the fact that the maids prepare the food, care for the children, and clean every part of every home, privy to every secret, many of the white women look at their black maids as an alien race. There are more enlightened views, especially those of Skeeter, a white, single woman with a college degree, who aspires to more than earning her MRS. Skeeter begins collecting the maids' stories. And the maids themselves find the issue of race humiliating, infuriating, life-controlling. Race sows bitter seeds in the dignity of women who feel they have no choices except to follow their mamas into the white women's kitchens and laundries. Aibilene says, "I just want things to be better for the kids." Their hopes lie in education and improvement, change someday for their children.

There is real danger for the maids sharing their stories as well as danger for Skeeter herself. The death of Medgar Evers touches the women deeply, making them question their work and a decision to forge ahead, hoping their book can be published anonymously and yet not recognized by the very white women they know to the last deviled egg and crack in a dining room table.

The relationships between the maids and the white children, the maids and some kind employers, including "white trash" Cecilia Foot, illuminate the strange history of the South. The love Aibileen shows for Mae Mobley matches the love Skeeter felt as a white child from her maid-nanny Constantine.

There is never a dull moment in this long book. It is compulsively readable while teaching strong truths about the way the United States evolved from a shameful undercurrent of persistent racism to the hopes and dreams of Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. Ultimately, will the next generations children learn (and be taught) that skin color is nothing more than a wrapping for the person who lives within?
Was this review helpful to you?
725 of 787 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars a treasure of a book January 20, 2009
Format:Hardcover
I was lucky enough to come across an advanced reader copy of this book. Set in Mississippi during the civil rights movement, the story is narrated by the three principal characters...Minny and Aibileen, two black maids, and Miss Skeeter, a young, white woman newly graduated from college. The characters are wonderfully developed, as are the historical background and setting. As each character took her turn at narrating, she became my favorite character until the next one took over again.I was torn between not being able to put the book down and not wanting it to end.
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars I can relate
This book was so true to the facts. I can remember my mom working cleaning houses and she took me along with her on Saturdays because of child care issues. Read more
Published 3 hours ago by Frederica Mack
4.0 out of 5 stars A review from the help for The Help :)
I read this book a while after the movie, which is maybe why it took me a while to really sit down and get into it. However, this book was (like always) a million times better! Read more
Published 23 hours ago by Jillian Asher
5.0 out of 5 stars Real Steal
Fantastic. A book about humanity, morality. Contains surprising guidance for mothers on learning to treasure their children. Well written and engaging.
Published 1 day ago by Paula Zwierzynski
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing
I still haven't seen the movie, and I don't believe that I want to. This book could never be portrayed any better than it had played out in my head. Read more
Published 1 day ago by Cassandra Berns
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing
This book is something that I started reading in school but my teacher had us only reading some chapters but I knew I needed to read the whole book because it was just that... Read more
Published 2 days ago by Lindsay
5.0 out of 5 stars What an inspiring story!
Funny. Inspiring. Love reading about the attitudes and behavior of people in this era (even if I want to choke a lot of them!). I didn't want the book to end. Read more
Published 3 days ago by Julie Tillman
5.0 out of 5 stars Help.......yourself
Great story of struggle not only within but with exposure of those that use and abuse. Great read definitely recommend..... where's the cream filling lol
Published 4 days ago by Phillip M. Chandler
5.0 out of 5 stars The Help - Most fabulous movie I've seen in a while
OMG! What a fabulous movie!!!!!!!!! Having lived in the era as a child in the deep south I understood most of the undertones going on in the movie, but most of all any movie with... Read more
Published 4 days ago by Franklin Terrell Taylor
5.0 out of 5 stars such a great book
I've read it now 3 times. I read it twice before the movie came out and thought I'd revisit it after the movie. So good. I've never read a book that many times. Read more
Published 4 days ago by beautybybenz
5.0 out of 5 stars Great
I, like many others, loved this book. Quite a poignant story that was indeed movie worthy. Books are always better than movies.
Published 4 days ago by Lima
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Forums

Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions

Topic From this Discussion
Mobile app Item alert "information for this item is stored in files... Be the first to reply
Why does this product listing say "Movie Tie-in"?
It's the same book. They often change the cover to show the actors in the movie and re-release the book as "Movie Tie-In".
Aug 11, 2011 by BkSellr |  See all 8 posts
Can relate to the issues in the book Be the first to reply
Movie vs book
I loved the book and loved the movie. I thought the movie was true to the book and I haven't seen that too often.
Aug 17, 2011 by Dody |  See all 6 posts
Specific questions
Did Skeeter's mother know what??
Aug 21, 2011 by Linda Bay |  See all 4 posts
Why is Amazon pretending there are only four discussions?
I agree. The other discussions are under the hardback forum, as I've just discovered. Confusing!
Aug 19, 2011 by Catherine McCallum |  See all 3 posts
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 






Look for Similar Items by Category