Rating: 
Summary: Honey for the soul
Review: If you liked Kaye Gibbon's "Ellen Foster" then Lily Owens will capture your heart. When her father, T. Ray, punished her by making her kneel on grits, I immediately knew that she was a survivor and he was a coward. May, June, and August Boatwright, the beekeeping sisters, and their Black Madonna honey were exquisite. May's tortured soul taught me about empathy gone awry. Sue Monk Kidd's strong southern storytelling skills are reminiscent of Reynolds Price and Harper Lee. In this her first novel, the writing isn't perfect but it tugged at my heart the way Barbara Kingsolver's "Pigs in Heaven" did. The characters, the time period and the small town setting made it similar to "To Kill a Mockingbird." This novel should be read by parents and teens together. I hope Kidd plans a sequel. I care so much about the characters that I yearn to know about their future lives.
Rating: 
Summary: YA reading disguised as an adult book
Review: This book is really a young adult novel which is being peddled as adult fare. And it follows the same tired formula that we've all read a thousand times. The main character is an outsider, unpopular, shunned by the popular crowd. She is very smart, in fact, smarter than most adults. She observes everyone around her with a sense of dry humor. And she wants to be a writer. Now, how many stories have followed this plotline?And Kidd doesn't seem to know where to take it. Her rendition of race relations in 1964 South Carolina is a jumbled mess of views--and not very realiztic in most cases. Imagine any black woman with an ounce of sense spitting snuff on the shoes on the 3 worst racists in town. Come on, Sue, what were you thinking? We also have the same tired plot lines of the lost mother, the abandoned child, the mean Southern father--and of course, there has to be the interracial relationship. And amazing at how all of the plot lines are neatly tied up at the end. Kidd has real writing talent, and perhaps she should concentrate on writing young adult fiction. Or non-fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: Just How Hard DO African Americans Have to Work?
Review: I found this book to be repugnant on so many levels it's difficult for me to begin. Giving new meaning to the term "magical Negro" the book follows the misdadventures of a motherless white girl as she meanders through the deep south of the 60's. She is rescued from her personal history of a depressed mom and abusive dad by the most stereotypical African American women this side of Gone with the Wind. I guess cleaning houses, getting denied decent jobs and dealing with virulent racism isn't enough of a challenge for these women in Kidd's eyes. They get to work overtime to harbor a teenage white girl as she searches for her "inner mother". This book left me wishing that MY inner mother had spoken up soon enough to save me a wasted $12.95.
Rating:
Summary: Filled with Emotional Breath
Review: Touching? Elegant? Inspirational? Enlightening? Any one of these words could be used to describe "Secret Life of Bees" and yet none of them alone would do it justice. It is a uniquely touching story that takes you on a journey. Like "My Fractured Life" and "Time Traveler's Wife" there is a perfectly executed emotional journey in the words of the story. The author allows us to feel for and with the characters. She breaths an emotional life into the story. The result is stunning.
Rating:
Summary: The Secret Life of Bees
Review: My book club, The Jane Does of Raleigh, NC, recommended "The Secret Life of Bees" for the GMA Read This Book club. The story is a hopeful one of family and sanctuary being defined by love, trust, bonding, and protection rather than by birth, race, or socioeconomics. I was particularly struck by the author's ability to people her novel with an array of black characters who were each shown to be individuals. From the regal August, to the sweet and simple May, to the bitter and distant June, Sue Monk Kidd showed with her first novel what most writers miss--- all black people are not alike, and do not think, act, look or live exactly the same lives. How refreshing and how hopeful it makes me that this author realizes and clearly demonstrates that people are just people who want all the same basic things, after all. This is a wonderful story and a journey that will spark meaningful and productive conversations in churches, book clubs, and families across America about race and family. I love southern authors because they are inclusive, because like the newspaper they are "black and white and read all over". I can't wait to see what Sue Monk Kidd has in store for readers in the future. She cetainly has a fan in me.
Rating:
Summary: Flu inspired reading ¿ but pretty cool!
Review: My sister and I have very different tastes in books. While I was visiting her for vacation, I got home bound with the flu for a few days and was going crazy trying to find something I liked in her collection of books. The two books that I found that I actually enjoyed were "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd and "My Fractured Life" by Rikki Lee Travolta. You don't have to be a girl to like these books. They're pretty cool.
Rating: 
Summary: A GREAT COMING OF AGE NOVEL
Review: This was a wonderful read. Made me cry! If you like FRIED GREEN TOMATOES you will like this. About a girl who runs away from home only to find the same place her mother ran away to long ago. A lovely book!!! READ IT WITH YOUR TEENAGE DAUGHTER TO SPARK WONDERFUL CONVERSATIONS.
Rating:
Summary: Not worth your time
Review: I just finished my first year of law school so I'm easily entertained however this book did not "entertain" me the least bit. It was completely predictable, lacked character development, lacked a storyline and was totally unbelievable! I'm not sure what the hype is? Perhaps this book is popular due to marketing ploys - but please do not be fooled. It took me only a couple of days to read but it was certainly a waste of time.
Rating:
Summary: Great Story
Review: A very imaginative story. Very well written. Has a hidden beauty like My Fractured Life and Life of Pi. A very good book.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully enlightening
Review: This book gives that part of humanity who doesn't know any other color person but their own a glimpse into the lives of a family of black women as seen through the eyes of an young and innocent white girl. It's a beautifully-written story of the loves and losses of these intelligent, independent women and their acceptance of an "outsider" as one of their own. What this little girl learns about life has nothing to do with the color of her or anyone's skin, which is actually the whole point of life and that's what makes this book so amazing.
| 
