The Secret Life of Bees

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Summary: An all time favorite!
Review: An absolutely beautiful and well written novel! Truly a favorite of mine ... best book I read in 2003!

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Summary: WOW !!!!!!!!!! WHAT A GREAT BOOK
Review: I have to say this is one of the best books i have read in a long time . The details she gives makes you feel like your there in the story.The book is well worth what ever you pay for it.

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Summary: Inspiring and thought provoking
Review: One of the best books I've ever read. This is a story of learning to find our inner strength and overcoming even the worst of odds. The beauty of the women's friendships and sisterhood is very touching as is the strength and support they gain from one an another. For those who believe in destiny (and even those who don't) this book will make you realize that sometimes we truly do end up where we were always meant to be. A hard to put down book. The characters are well developed, The kind you feel attached to and want to read more about. I'm hoping to see a sequel. Hard to believe this is her first novel!

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Summary: lovely
Review: This is the must lovely book i have ever read. It's also so tuchy, i even cried reading it.

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Summary: I simply loved it...
Review: This was a wonderful story.
When she filled her Mother's gloves with cotton and held her Mother's hands... touched me to my very soul.

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Summary: A book to share
Review: The Secret Life of Bees is an amazing little book. Well written and full of hope, it buzzed along almost too quickly. The characters are interesting, the symbolism is easy to grasp and the story tugs at your heart. I've reread this book several times and have also purchased it for my friends and family. Truly one of the best books I read in 2003.

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Summary: The sweetness of the honey still lingers...
Review: I read "The Secret Life of Bees" this past July. It is one of those books that I know I will eventually read again, the way I am reading "Catcher in the Rye" and "To Kill A Mockingbird" again, and enjoying the classics. Kidd has a beautiful story to tell of the coming of age of a fourteen year old, motherless girl, Lily Owens. When Lily sees the words "Tiburon, South Carolina" on the back of a picture of the black Madonna - the only tangible thing her mother has left her - she embarks on a journey there. Lily was too young to remember anything about her mother's death, and in Lily's mind her mother is like a saint - for Lily believes in her mother and ponders the good she lost in her life.
Lily and her stand-in mother, Rosaleen, settle down with three black sisters: May, June and August - the calendar sisters. The southern town is shocked and filled with wonder why the white girl is staying with three beekeeping sisters - who are black. Racism was at a high, yet what the people don't know is similar to what Lily doesn't realize about her mother. The town's ignorance, at the time, is in a way comparable to Lily's lack of knowledge about her mother. For just as the people of Tiburon don't think that white and black people belong together, Lily doesn't understand that it doesn't matter if the color of her mother's skin matches her own, and that biology doesn't necessarily define motherhood. Nor does it's affect on one's skin color affect the way a person is in life. It is the environments that we grow up in that shape who we are and the things we aspire and follow through in doing in our lives. Lily learns much faster than the south about racial issues. Lily grows to learn that it is not nature which controls people; rather it is people who define the nature of their environment. As Lily continues to help by working under August's instruction in beekeeping, she learns to move on even when life sends you the worst of stings.

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Summary: Sweeter than Honey
Review: There has been several books lately that I have read that have given me insight into my own past and the turmoil that I dealt with. SECRET LIFE OF BEES, NIGHTMARES ECHO, and I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS. Each tells the story of a hard childhood, but a child filled with determination and courage to go on through the struggles to the other side. I am applauding these insightful authors on there work. SECRET LIFE OF BEES is emotional,sweet,understanding and very well written. Little Lily captures your heart.

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Summary: slow at times
Review: This book has good values and a story, but it was slow at times.

Rating:
Summary: Sorry :(
Review: well I am glad so many people enjoyed The Secret Life of Bees enough to give it 5 stars. Unfortunately for me, I got very bored with it and had to force myself to finish. It is a bit too cutesy for me at this point but I probably would have enjoyed it immensely when I was in middle school and would recommend it to girls of that age (11-14).