Rating: 
Summary: Can't stop thinking about it
Review: I've read at least five books since finishing The Secret Life of Bees and my thoughts continue returning to it. I loved this book for its tenderness and insightfulness, its strong yet believable characters, and its plot that is not forced into great action yet retains interest throughout. I highly recommend this book to all.
Rating:
Summary: The narrator on the audio cassette made this novel!!
Review: This book is written from the point of view of a 14 yr old girl. The narrator on the audio cassette had such a wonderful voice that I felt transported back to this time and traveled with the characters. A much recomended audio book!! It's nice to read such an uplifting story from time to time.
Rating:
Summary: Too heartwarming to dismiss as fantasy
Review: Lily Owens is a 14-year-old girl, living with a neglectful (abusive) father and a black woman, Rosaleen, who has raised her since her mother died when Lily was four year old. She barely remembers her mother, and clings to dim memories of her mother's love.Secret Life of Bee's is a heartwarming, feel-good story set in the 1960's when racial tensions and violence were at an all time high. After a jailbreak arranged by Lily (after a violent encounter Rosaleen had with racists during an insane attempt to exercise some of her newly granted freedoms) these two embark on a road trip to Tiburon, based on a clue from Lily's Mother's past. There they meet a wonderful family of women beekeepers and enjoy an unlikely merger into the truest kind of family. Lily keeps the truth to herself regarding their arrival and in her experiences with Rosaleen, May, June, and August she seeks the truth about her mother and is able to discern that a mother is more than just a biological bond. Each of these women is a teacher and guide to Lily. You will travel with Lily as she experiences life with each of the four remarkable women even if it means looking to someone other than the woman who gave us initial life. It is a lovely story of Mothers. I read this book based on an Amazon review by a dear friend. Thank you so much PLFBB.
Rating:
Summary: 10 Gold Stars!
Review: This book was one of the best books of fiction I've read in a long time. It is a book about the inner strengh of one's self. You will reflect on every woman (mother, aunt, sister friend) who showed you their inner strenght to help you grow. It allows you to refelct on you life, love, family and leasons learned. It is a wonderful story with marvelous characters that capture your heart and soul. I've bought this book for my three neices and also given a copy to my two sister in laws. Our book group will be doing this book next month and I can't wait for the discussion. What a treasure!
Rating: 
Summary: Sweet, but not believable
Review: Secret Life of Bees got lots of good reviews, but I didn't feel it lived up to its promise.
The characters were wonderful, and the dialogue was beautifully rendered. But the entire premise read more like a fairy tale.
I wish I'd borrowed it from the library instead of purchased it in hardback.
Rating:
Summary: Comforting and inspiring
Review: I loved this book. It was beautifully written. The story is wonderful. The characters are entirely believable and lovable. I read it in one day; I couldn't put it down. I didn't want to. It is a book I will read again.
Rating:
Summary: Proof that simple is beautiful
Review: Sue Monk Kidd is, first and foremost, a tremendously gifted writer. She tells Lily's heartbreaking story in the most rational, credible way imaginable. Her characters instantly become people the reader would like to bring home for tea . . . for honey cake. There are so many aspects of this book that left me in awe, it's hard to know where to begin, what to include here. Kidd has remarkable insight into the lives of Lily, a hardscrabble 14-year-old from rural South Carolina, her sweet and bumbling nanny Rosaleen, seasoned sage August, cooly aloof June, and the overly compassionate and responsive May. Their unlikely meeting and merger into the truest kind of family is unlikely (especially in early 1960s Carolina) but Kidd makes it believable nonetheless. It's just too heartwarming to dismiss as fantasy. As if to defend the novel's somewhat unlikely plot, the narrator Lily tells readers at the end: "Look at me. I dived into one absurd thing after the other, and here I am . . . I wake up to wonder every day". The theme of motherly love is thick in this novel. If nothing else, Kidd illustrates that maternal influence is not one of the dispensible facets of our lives--even if it means looking to someone other than the woman who gave us initial life. In a retreat back to her roots in religious studies, Kidd entwines a fascinating worship of Mary into Lily's life. Mary, mother of thousands, is one Lily looks to most during her darkest hours. The inclusion of a Christian yet beautifully feminine worship is the rock solid core of this lovely novel. Though a compact 300 pages, this novel is full of heartache, joy, laughter, and realizations. It isn't to be taken lightly. Everything--the rural Carolina setting, the social upheavel of the Civil Rights Movement (also a major factor in plot development), and the beatiful coming-of-age story--is exquisitely developed by Kidd. It's not to be missed!
Rating:
Summary: Don't Keep This Book a Secret!
Review: Incredible! The Secret Life of Bees is an exquisite coming of age novel, set in South Carolina in the mid 1960s. Lily Owens is a 14 year old girl, living with a father who neglects her, and an African-American woman, Rosaleen, who has raised her since her mother died when Lily was four year old. Lily barely remembers her mother, and clings to fading memories of her mother's love. Her father won't talk about Deborah, Lily's mother, and she is desperate to find out more about her. After angering the biggest bigots in town and getting thrown into jail, Lily and Rosaleen leave town. Going only on an old picture of her mother's, a picture of a Black Madonna with Tiburon, SC written on the back, Lily decides that that is where they need to go. When she walks into the general store in Tiburon, she sees a shelf full of honey jars with the same picture on their labels. She finds out the makers of the honey live just down the road, so Lily and Rosaleen head for the bee keepers, Lily very determined to find out more about her mother. Keeping the truth a secret, Lily and Rosaleen find themselves embraced by the Calendar Sisters, August, May, and June, the women who keep the bees. Frightened to tell the truth, but desperate to find the connection between the Sisters and her mother, Lily discovers what it is like to feel part of a family for the first time in her life. When she is finally able to open up to August, she at last discovers the truth about her mother, and about herself.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't Assume About This One
Review: When I began reading this novel, I immediately assumed that it would be just another story about a teen girl in a bad situation who remarkably has an extraordinary hidden talent, and that talent saves her. Well, I proved once again that assumptions are generally wrong as I continued to read "The Secret Life of Bees." The story was actually really interesting, not because of the main character Lily, but rather, the beekeeping sisters and feisty Rosaleen. Perhaps it's a bad thing to have supporting characters draw more interest than the main, but how could anyone expect that the sisters wouldn't steal the show? I personally was drawn in to the world of May, June, and August, especially as I found out more about their struggle and their courage. I liked the fact that although the sisters faced much racial discrimination, they had a successful business, a spiritual core, and a close circle of endearing friends. August was at times an unbelievable character, with all her wisdom and strange knowledge, yet I think we all want a hero like August in our lives, so the doubt about August's character doesn't faze readers. T.Ray was a pathetic character, a foil to August, being the epitome of the worst father ever. I really did feel sorry for him after a while, because he was stuck, frozen in time, unable to change. What was refreshing though, was that his daughter Lily could and did change, eventually having the strength to face her own fears, and keep living afterwards. Lily's journey was definitely worth reading about.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book!!! Excellent writing!!!
Review: I bought this book after attending a book signing and hearing Sue Monk Kidd read a chapter.
This author took a lot of her time to chat with everyone. Ms. Kidd is a wonderful person and after hearing the chapter she read, I was captivated!!
I learned a lot from this book of fiction. The turmoil of the Civil Rights movement was brought to life in a personal kind of way, because I felt like I knew Lily and the Boatright sisters.
I didn't live in the Charleston, SC area until 1979, and now that I read this book, I understand so much more about the people here and the challenges everyone faced.
Lily is a survivor.
Her mother passed away when Lily was a very young girl. Lily hung onto a tiny handful of memories, which lead her to her "adopted" family and knowledge of her mother's personality and relationship to Lily's tough, crude father.
This is a story with bits of surprises woven through the story. It's also a story of friendship, love, understanding, and forgiveness.
A wonderful book by a terrific author! I highly recommend reading this book.
I personally think it would be a great education piece for high schools because the story brings the Southern 1960s to life in a very interesting, relatable way!
|
