Secret Life of Bees

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book
Review: I couldn't put this one down. I even saved a honey bee that was in the house, instead of killing it!!

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Wonderful
Review: This story took me by surprise. I wasn't prepared for it to be as delightful as it was. It is filled with strong and amazing women struggling to find beauty and meaning in a life that is filled with ugliness.

This book would be excellent for young people. It tells the story of 14 year old Lily who runs away from her hostile and abusive father to try to find out the truth about her mother and the day she died. Everyone has told Lily that she accidently killed her mother at the age of four. Lily's father told her that the day her mother was killed she had come back for her things and had run out on Lily.

While trying to find the truth about her mother, Lily finds the truth about racism, hate, and violence. She finds the truth about love, faith and kindness.

Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: The Secret Life of Bees is a heartwarming story about Lily's need to feel validated and loved while enduring physical and emotional abuse as a child. The racial bigotry of that time adds to the raw hurt which each character lives with in their own separate circumstances. Additionally, each character grows and learns about the power of believing in a better life through their spiritual beliefs. The bees themselves represent the simplistic order and beauty that life can offer and also the power that they have. I strongly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Utterly forgettable
Review: OK, we get it already. Honey is a metaphor for love. This book was both lame and laborious. Most of the book has August (and us) waiting for Lily to tell her story, so that August can fill in the blanks for her. It reads as though the author was trying to figure out what to do with all of her characters (for whom she obviously cares a gread deal), rather than tell us a good Southern Lit coming of age story. I got so sick of the sticky honey imagery and Lily's poor-me attitude. So her father is an unkind and unapproachable racist? I'd like to give Lily (and Kidd) a copy of Bastard out of Carolina. Now there's a young girl who deserves a jar of honey and a new family! In the end, everything turns out all right for Lily. Now that you know, you can find a better book.

Rating:
Summary: WOW! I couldn't put it down!!
Review: This was really a great book. Made me laugh out loud in spots and wipe tears away in others. The author writes with such description, but not in a long, drawn-out way. You are right in the story. The big message at the end of the book is inspiring. I simply loved this. Off to look for more Sue Monk Kidd books!! What a story!

Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Tale Of Sisterhood
Review: I loved this book on so many levels. As a woman- the bonding of these characters is a wonder to behold. They break the barriers of race and age to find that love has no color. The white girl learns early on that there are many things that the world doesn't appreciate about black people- black women in particular. She points out all the wonderful qualities that go unnoticed- even today. I loved hearing about the volatile 60's from her perspective- so young and objective. I don't have the words to explain how interesting this book was. There was mystery, romance, tragedy, and love. READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Sweet is the voice of Lily
Review: This first novel is a fast read with the sweet voice of Lily as the child who dreams of being loved and being with her mother. However, life is not sweet for Lily and the hive of bees to which she briefly escapes gives her the sweet taste of acceptance and love. A good read and delightful experience.

Rating:
Summary: GREAT!
Review: I gave this book 4 stars because the first half is pretty slow and not greatly written. But I am sooooo glad I perservered - the second half of this book is a treasure trove of insights, great similes and metaphors, and fantastic writing. I finished this book last night, and today I am planning on going through the second half and underlining all the great passages that I never want to forget.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Wonderful!
Review: This is a wonderful and absolutely charming book. This book is so unique and heartwarming that it's difficult to write a review. The book draws the reader in slowly and deliberately and encourages the reader to view the world from a different perspective. A must read for anyone who appreciates the compassion of others and the unexpected subtleties of life. This book is destined to be a classic!

Rating:
Summary: Multi-sensory read
Review: As the editorials give an excellent synopsis of this book, I will not outline the plot. However, I do suggest that “The Secret Life of Bees” be read more as an allegory than as a straight-out novel. For this reason, I would differ with a previous reviewer; the plot is simple but strong. What is more, I doubt that the story line was intended to be the primary feature of the book. There is an illusion to the feminine perspective of the divine, something that anyone who has read Sue Monk Kidd’s autobiographical “Dance of the Dissident Daughter” will readily appreciate.

This then is not a book to be read in one great gulp. So resist this temptation if you can. The book, in my view, is meant to be experienced in slow motion - in order to get the subtle nuances of characterisation, clues to which are to be found largely hidden in monologue and dialogue. This, of course, is the hallmark of a good storyteller â€" to show, not to tell. But such subtleties require perceptivity on the part of the reader. If the narrative sounds ingenuous at times, it is meant to be; this is a story seen entirely through the eyes of a child. And Sue Monk Kidd, unlike most writers, has been successful in giving this approach authenticity; Lily’s comments on the grown-ups’ prejudices display a naivety and innocent irony that have far more impact than any adult observations.

Sue Monk Kidd uses metaphor powerfully and sensuously, and so a leisurely reading of this book also allows the reader to taste the words, to “suck the marrow” out of them the way Lily did the river stone. There are passages that will hurt like taking a breath with a broken rib; others will melt into your bones like honey. But a perfunctory read will miss all this. In fact, passages of the book beg to be read aloud, even if only to yourself.

A warning though: the book questions attitudes of racial prejudice in a way that may not sit well with some readers. I have read, but not experienced, American history, so I must therefore ask myself what my reaction to this book would be if it were set in my own country. We too have had, and are having, racial disharmonies. The challenge is to walk in someone else’s moccasins, something we are often very reluctant to do. This is not an “escapist" book, not simply a good yarn you can put down and forget. It is an unexpectedly vivid and multi-sensory read that, at the same time, may challenge your existing point of view.