Rating: 
Summary: Romance novel appeal
Review: I had a nagging feeling during this book of reading a fairy tale or a romance novel. I guess superficiality best describes it. Even though it was given historical parameters, the one-dimensional characters were very out of sync with the times: Rosaleen's behaviour with the white men, the black boy who threw the bottle, and Lily and Zach's uncommented-upon public appearances. Rosaleen, as a woman of color without a community until she met August, et al, really disturbed me. My nagging feeling was explained with the author's response to an interviewer: "I conjured most of the novel straight out of my imagination, inventing from scratch...".
Rating: 
Summary: Sweet and Buzzing with Southern Tones
Review: A sweet book beautifully accented by illuminations to the life of bees and the order of their world. Reading this book, you just start to think, I hope they don't ruin this one, because boy it could be one beautiful movie. Lily is a thoughtful, sensitive, loving child who must learn how to mother herself from a very young age. The book is really all about how it may just be a biological phenomenon that we all crave love from our natural mother but real love and nurturing can come from many sources.
Written from the timeframe that it was, it also reminded me of the complexities of race from the recent movie "Far from Heaven." The book was about bravery, love, how we all live from our history and the vows we take in life.
Rating: 
Summary: fulfilling.
Review: This richly written novel follows narrator Lily Owen through heartbreak, yearning, love, and eventually, the discovery of a place she can call home. Lily's mother died when she was very young and she is being raised by her uncaring, brute father whom she calls T.Ray as the book opens. Set in the south during the civil rights movement, the book contains many African-American characters including Lily's housekeeper Rosaleen, as well as the women whose honey farm the two of them escape to after Lily breaks Rosaleen out of jail (the honey farm is Lily's only connection to her mother, having found a card with the name of the town and a mysterious Black Madonna). Lily is an extremely brave but still believable character, and the book moved me so much that at times I had to put it down and let the feelings wash through me before continuing. The book is about family wherever you may find it, the acceptance of the self, and spirituality as a force that brings everything together. An excellent book.
Rating:
Summary: Empathy for Lily
Review: Anyone who has ever yearned for the acceptance of a parent, or mourned the loss of one, can surely identify with Lily. With an uncaring, cruel father, and yearning for the mother who died when she was four, Lily's hurt tugs at the heart, while her daring, bold actions make you cheer.
Painting an authentic picture of the social and political atmosphere of the sixties (I know, I grew up then, too), you feel the pain and outrage of the black characters, like Rosaleen and Zach, while appreciating the warm atmosphere Lily finds living with the Boatwright sisters. Her desire to find out the truth about the mother she barely knew, coupled with the fear of what she may discover, rings true, and makes Lily a character easily related to. What I like most about this book though, is that it shows that family isn't necessarily blood kin. For Lily, the only blood relation she has is her father, who, it is apparent, doesn't really want her. But with Rosaleen and the Boatwright sisters, Lily comes to realize she does have a family.........even if that family is of a different race. Family can be what you make it. The love she finds with them, even in the midst of the unrest of the Civil Rights movement, is a beacon of hope to all who truly believe that it is the heart, and not the color of skin, that matters the most when choosing who we love. I hope we will hear more from Lily, Rosaleen, and the Boatwright sisters. They are memorable characters, and ones I truly came to care about.
Rating:
Summary: Coming of Age
Review: I thought that this was a wonderfully written coming of age story. It describes how a 14 year old girl finds inner strength with the help of strong, capable, nurturing women. Lisa's need to know if her now deceased mother loved and nurtured her dominates her life, preventing her from feelings of self worth. Her father constantly diminishes her self esteem, exacerbating her feeling that she in unloved and unlovable. With the help of her nanny and the Calendar Sisters, she finds out about her past and comes to terms with her mother's death. Setting the book in the south of the '60's, in the midst of the struggle for civil rights, adds to the coming of age context. I think it is a terrific book for teen-age girls, as well as adults. I am not certain that it is a man's book.
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!
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