The Help Audiobook – Unabridged

People could argue for hours about what makes a novel "good" or "bad." I am partial to novels that build rich, complex, deep, believable characters. "The Help," by Kathryn Stockett, accomplished this quite aptly. I thought to myself, towards the beginning of the book, that the characters described were simply too real not to be real. I just knew that the author was writing about people she really knows. As I read/listened, I found myself comparing some of the southern women I know with some of the characters in this book. My friend Rebecca's (name changed to protect me from getting a shoe thrown at me) relationship with her mother very closely mirrors Skeeter's relationship with her mother. And her hair.... well I know a southern girl with hair just like Skeeter's. I know girls who are very much involved with small town social institutions like "The Junior League." I could go on... but my point is that the authenticity of these characters allowed me to identify them and see, in them, people I know. I'll genuinely miss the characters from this book. I kind of hope the author writes a sequel someday.

I read a little of this novel but, for the most part, I listened to the audiobook version. It's worth every penny to pay for the narration. They went all out in producing this audiobook. Usually, you only get one narrator in an audiobook. But this book had four narrators. So there were a plethora of voices to help distinguish between the characters so that the reader/listener knows who is speaking.

And the book was FUNNY. It's not a comedy... it's a drama. But I love funny books and the author threw in just the perfect amount of laughs in this piece. Come to think of it, though, if chocolate pie is your favorite pie, maybe you'd better not read this book.... I may never eat chocolate pie again. But it was worth it to have read/listened to this book.

I originally read the audio book edition of "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett and later read it on my Kindle for book club. The Help is most definitely on my short list for all time favorite books. I am not sure which was better the audio book or the Kindle read. This is the first novel by this author and I do not know how she will ever top herself. The book is about the relationship between White women living in the deep South in the early 1960's and their Negro domestic help. It shows a time, not all that long ago, when there was no such thing as political correctness, when Whites, especially in the South, had no problems showing their Negro help who was boss. At that time in Jackson, Mississippi, a Black woman was allowed in a White grocery store only if she was wearing her white maid's uniform. The grocery stores in the Negro section of town were not well lit, not too clean and not very well stocked. For a maid to speak out of turn was reason enough for immediate firing, if not putting herself and her family in physical danger. To characterize the racial condition of the American South in 1963 as American Apartheid, would not be an exaggeration. But, this is only the backdrop of the story. The real story is about the relationship that develops between one White woman, Skeeter and the Black maids, Abilene and Minny, she eventually writes a book about. Skeeter recently graduated from college with a degree in Journalism, which was all well and good, except all anyone, especially, in this case, Skeeter's mother, really expected from women who attended college in that time was to get their MRS.degree; anything less was all but useless. Skeeter, was an exception to the rule. She was determined to be a writer and unlike her close friends, with whom she played bridge on a weekly basis and was a member of the local women's organizations, Skeeter had a sense that all was not well regarding race relations in the South. In her attempts to find something worthwhile to write about, she decides on exploring what it is like for the "colored maids" to work for the white women of Jackson, Mississippi, from the maid's point of view. And so begins the relationship that develops between Skeeter and Abilene and Minny, who work for her friends. The author, who is White, takes on the task of giving voices to the Negro maids who are interviewed for her book and those voices are believable and pitch perfect. This was the first book I have read in many years, perhaps decades, in which I felt a kinship with these main characters to the extent that I already miss them, as if they had been guests staying at my home and have now left, leaving me with a sad void. I hope that Kathryn Stockett sees fit to write a sequel to"The Help", so that her readers can know what happens to her characters in the years to come. If you are an avid reader or if you only read a few books a year, you will want to read "The Help".