Rating: 
Summary: A Spellbinding Tale of Spelling
Review: What we have here is the Story of Eliza Naumann and her family. Eliza has two very smart parents and a very smart older brother. Unfortunately, Eliza doesn't seem to have inherited her family's brains--she seems stuck in the shallow end of the gene pool. At school she has been put in the classes with the slow learners and she seems happily resigned to her scholastic shortcomings. The father is a cantor at temple and is grooming Eliza's older brother to become a rabbi. The mother, a lawyer, seems to have a slightly unhealthy obsession with order. Suddenly, against all odds, it is discovered that Eliza has a talent that exceeds all expectations. Eliza can spell. She can spell virtually anything. Bee Season is the chronicle of how this unexpected gift causes irrevocable change to each and evey member of Eliza's family, and how, to a certain extent, her gift is mirrored in the particular behavior and patterns of her parents' existence, as well as in the behavior of her brother. Myla Goldberg has written a fantastic first novel, full of insight and compassion for the family she has created and burdened with so much. I look forward to Ms. Goldberg's future efforts and recommend Bee Season to everyone--it is a truly entertaining read, with much serious stuff bubbling around beneath the surface. What a great book!
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: A couple years ago I flipped to ESPN and was fascinated by the National Spelling Bee and by Rebecca Sealfon. I, therefore, was excited to read this book. However, it didn't hold my interest and I found myself annoyed at all the oddities of the family. I didn't think the subplots were exciting and I couldn't wait to get to the last page.
Rating:
Summary: Intense and agonizing in many ways.
Review: The story of a family slowly falling apart, each person too caught up in the intensity of what they are feeling and trying to find for themselves to be able to really help or comfort each other. And it seems as if Eliza loses something so joyful. Her joy in words and letters becomes so caught up in what her father thinks that she should be trying to do with her talent, those words and letters no longer speak to her. Beautifully written story that draws you into the lives of the characters.
Rating:
Summary: An unusual, moving book
Review: I know that this will sound strange: when I finished this book, I knew that I loved it, but had to wait a few days to review it, because I wasn't sure what to say because it is so unusual. Eliza has been a disappointment to her studious father, a cantor, since, unlike her brother, she has not been deemed "gifted." She stuns everyone when she wins her school spelling bee, and then moves on up the levels of competition. This achievement becomes the catalyst for profound changes within her eccentric family, as her father shifts his attention to his daughter's gift. The now-ignored son proceeds on his own quest, the distant mother continues certain hidden activities, and Eliza plunges into hidden powers of letters and spelling. I don't want to say much more, because I don't want to ruin the story. As strange as the characters may seem, they become believable; each is well-developed. The story is very "different," in a disturbing but moving way.
Rating:
Summary: Does real better than reality...
Review: It's been quite a long time since I haven't been able to put down a novel like I did Bee Season. As opposed to the regular rationing of pages a day in order to get through a book, I found myself rationing Bee Season so that it would not end too quickly. The book manages to take a relatively inane subject and add in every depth and twist to character, plot, relationship, and just-plain-cool factor. Goldberg finds that magical complexity to the characters, always multi-faceted enough to keep your attention, and never typecast in anyway; they will constantly surprise you by their actions, though perfectly in character. Add to these four amazing individuals a constant sense of tension, a strong development personally and relationally, and a plot which incorporates religion, petty theft, spelling, family dynamics, magic in everyday life, and mysticism, then you have the revelation that is Myla Goldberg's FIRST novel.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully Engaging
Review: I loved Goldberg's punchily literate style, regularly melding humor with insightful metaphor. My interest in this novel never flagged. The way each family member pursued their own solution to mystery and sense of self was absorbing. Did the family disintegrate? I'm not sure, mainly because they were never integrated to begin with, so how do you lose what you never had? This hugely entertaining novel has suspense, laughs, surprises, and depth. I do hope Goldberg maintains the same stylistic tone in her next work, which I do look forward to.
Rating:
Summary: SUPER DEBUT!
Review: Wonderfully written and great to read, but it was agonizing to read of this family's disintegration with each turn of the page. I thought the reading was intense and kept you wanting to read more. I kept hoping this family could "get it together" but in the end ...well, you'll have to read the book to see how the book ends. Highly recommended reading - wouldn't be suprised this book wins a major literary award. Well done Ms. Goldberg!
Rating:
Summary: Words can not express...
Review: ...the utter joy and unbearable pain of this book. A deeply personal book that will affect each reader differently, _Bee Season_ is one of the most profound works of art that I have come across. This story is not about spelling, or being underestimated, being Jewish, or even about a family's disintegration. This book is about four people trying to define themselves. All of them are creating a vision of the divine, of home, of the order of the world that they -know- exists but keeps eluding them. And, just like the four of them, each vision is different, is wrong, is right, is beautifully portrayed by the author as uniquely comforting and yet distressing. The story is a desperate one; many times, I had to put the book down because it becomes so claustrophobic with no chapters, all present tense, no real way of marking time because the book's timeline unfolds like true realization. Realizations like those of the characters do not happen chronologically, all in order, step by step. They jump around, building from memory to memory, each Aha! helps to solve the puzzle. I was never lost at the flashbacks, because they were treated as importantly and as effectively as the current time storyline. "Surprise" details were delivered without pomp and circumstance, so I never felt that things were being withheld. The book does, however, lend itself to a reader that is, at least mildly, interested in religion. The funniest portions of the book are dedicated to hysterical details of temple services--the humour may be lost on readers who have no connection or interest with religious services. Further, this is a deeply spiritual book...anyone who is uncomfortable with frank discussions about religion, revelation, the more esoteric edges of spirituality-they may feel a certain detachment with those sections of the book. But I would encourage those readers to take the challenge of this book, to read with an open mind and an open heart. It's an easy read, entertaining, at a turn lighthearted and then devastating, its innocence and then aching wisdom is breathtaking. I loved it and look forward to more of Goldberg's work.
Rating: 
Summary: Bittersweet Symphony
Review: I came reading this book not knowing what to expect. The best thing about the novel, I came to find was in the increasing complexity of the novel. The novel is not merely about the Spelling Bee, nor is it a heartwarming tale of Eliza overcoming her problems to become a good speller. This book is about a dysfunctional family whose deep rooted problems, of which there are many, are explained during the course of the novel. I credit the author, Myla Goldberg, with a job very well done in her first attempt at a mainstream novel. I found the book dragging at times, and some aspects of the characters, especially Miriam, Eliza's mother, to be very contrived. But the book can be set down at anytime; there are no chapters in this novel, only segments that are no more than three pages in length, all in the present tense. I feel that this novel will be a stepping stone to better books for Mrs. Goldberg. Her lyrical- almost poetic- prose is in impressive style and attention to detail is articulate, especially for a new writer. I hope to see more novels from her in the future. I highly reccomend this novel, but, once again, do not expect a heartwarming tale, and only tackle this novel if you wish to feel the angst of its eccentric characters.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: I just finished reading Bee Season and loved it. It was insightful, humorous and touching. I could not put it down. The characters draw you into their lives and keep you there. I'm looking forward to the next Myla Goldberg book.
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