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Summary: Secret Life of Bee's
Review: Sue Monk Kidd's, The Secret Life of Bees is set in 1964 South Carolina, during the middle of the civil rights movement. Fourteen year old African American Lily Owens is the main character in the story. Lily is forced to live on a peach farm with her angry and abusive father, T. Ray. Lily spends much of her time remembering her deceased mother. She enjoys looking through all of her mother's old things and belongings. You are told that Lily's mother was killed in some kind of accident when Lily was four years old, but you are never told exactly what happened. T. Ray is constantly telling Lily that she is responsible for her own mother's death. Since Lily's father is so neglectful Lily is raised by her black nanny Rosaleen. Rosaleen is very proud and outspoken but also extremely stubborn. One day Rosaleen and Lily are verbally harassed by three racist white males in town. Rosaleen being the proud woman she is decides to stand up for herself and Lily. Rosaleen confronts the three men and purposely spits on their shoes. The angry men call the police and Rosaleen is sent to jail. Lily becomes determined to get Rosaleen out of jail, and to better her own life as well. She decides to free Rosaleen from jail and run away.
After freeing Rosaleen from prison, Lily and Rosaleen set course for Tiburon South Carolina. Lily chooses Tiburon because of a picture she found in her mothers things. It is a picture of the black Madonna, on the back of the picture it says, 'Tiburon, South Carolina'. Upon arriving in Tiburon Lily and Rosaleen meet three black bee keeping sisters whom live together, August, May and June. The three sisters take Lily and Rosaleen into their home and Lily is finally able to begin a new life for herself. The sisters all worship the black Madonna as well as house bees. Lily learns many life lessons while living with the sisters and although she has lost her own mother, she can now face her past and go on with her new life. Lily is shown the real meaning of love and unity by the sisters. You must read the book to discover how Lily confronts T. Ray and to decide for yourself what really happened to Lily's mother.
The novel itself is full of symbolism. The story uses the black Madonna, bees and honey to symbolize many things throughout the story. In my opinion the black Madonna is the most important symbol used in the story. I feel that since Lily does no longer had a mother in the book, that the black Madonna helps fill that void. The black Madonna represents a 'spiritual mother' to her and others in a much higher respect.
At the beginning of each chapter there are quotations from many different sources. All of the quotations or 'facts' have to do with bees. This is the quotation at the beginning of chapter 1,
'The queen, for her part, is the unifying force in the community; if she is removed from the hive, the workers very quickly sense her absence. After a few hours, or even less, they show unmistakable signs of queenlessness'.
All of these passages are used effectively to foreshadow or hint to the reader what is next to come in the chapter. In this passage, I feel that the queen directly represents Lily's mother. The hive is the rest of Lily's family, more notably Lily. Without her mother, Lily feels lost and shows her own signs of queenlessness. Read the entire story to find out how Lily finds a 'hive' of new mothers and tastes the 'sweet honey' sensation of beginning a new life.
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Summary: you know they're going to turn this into a movie
Review: I really enjoyed the secret life of bees. It was quick, light reading that meant something to me emotionally. It's a great coming of age story set in the South during the Civil Rights Movement.
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Summary: Bees
Review: This book now makes me look at bees differently. I can see why it is a top seller. I finished it in one week. Girls from ages 12 and up should take a glance and see the world of Lily Owens.
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Summary: Has alot of similiarities to Gone with The Wind
Review: It's just plain alot of good southern charm and great story telling with a fine moral and great plot. I felt good after reading this. Another "feel good" book I would recommend is called, The Little Guide To Happiness. Another great read.
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Summary: Perfect Mother's Day Gift
Review: I am a History major with a minor in psychology which is perhaps my way of indicating that my usual reading interests are snobbish. This book came to me with the highest of recommendations from a friend who knows full well how much of a snob I can be. I could not put it down once I really got into the whole story line, and today I passed my copy along to my boss for her to read because I know she too will enjoy. I truly recommend it to all readers
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Summary: What? Bees?
Review: We hate bees they like to sting us and take away our flowers. There is too many bees in the world big or small. They still hurt. I was stung by a bee yesterday because of your book. If I wasn't reading that book outside I wouldn't have gotten stung. Its all your fault!!
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Summary: The Secret LIfe of Bees
Review: "The queen, for her part, is the unifying force of the community; if she is removed from the hive, the workers very quickly sense her absence. After a few hours, or even less, they show unmistakable signs of queenlessness."The Secret Life of Bees is a wonderful story that brings hope and strength to those that are in the midst of a journey through life. The author, Sue Monk Kidd, does an excellent job of drawing the reader into the story. By the end of the novel, the reader has developed a relationship with the main character, Lily Owens, and leaves you wondering what else lies ahead in Lily's life. The story begins during the summer of 1964 in South Carolina. We are immediately drawn into Lily's struggle with a vague memory of the death of her mother. Her mother was shot and killed in a freak accident when she was only four years old. Throughout Lily's journey we discover more and more about her mother and her death.
Lily's journey begins when she goes into town with her African American housekeeper, Rosaleen. The Civil Rights Act has just been passed and Rosaleen is going into town to register to vote. On their way into town Rosaleen gets into a fight with three of the most racist men in town and ends up getting both Lily and herself thrown in jail. Lily's abusive father, T. Ray, bails her out but on their way back they get into an argument about Lily's mother. ''Not funny?' he yelled. 'Not funny? Why, it's the funniest goddamn thing I ever heard: you think your mother is your guardian angel.' He laughed again. 'The woman could have cared less about you.'' This was absolutely devastating for Lily to hear. She knew she could not stay with T. Ray and live with his physical and emotional abuse. She also knew she needed to find the truth about what happened to her mother.
She decides to break Rosaleen out of jail and travel to Tiburon, South Carolina. It is here where she meets the calendar sisters, May, June and August. While living with them Lily becomes engulfed in a completely different lifestyle from which she came from. She becomes an incredible beekeeper and develops strong relationships with the sisters. Throughout her stay with the sisters she begins to learn more about the truth of her mother's life and the mystery of her death.
Kidd does a remarkable job of drawing parallels between the life of bees and the life that Lily is leading. Each chapter begins with a quote about bees that directly relates to what happens to Lily in that chapter. The struggle that Lily went through when her mother was killed is like the struggle a hive goes through when they lose their queen. 'A queenless colony is a pitiful and melancholy community; there may be a mournful wail or lament from within'.Without intervention, the colony will die. But introduce a new queen and the most extravagant change takes place.'
While there is no real replacement for a lost love one, Lily finds an almost motherly comfort within the calendar sisters. Their relationships grow stronger until Lily begins to feel as if she is a member of the family. 'It was how Sugar-Girl said what she did, like I was truly one of them. ['] They didn't even think of me being different.' As Lily begins to gain the trust of the sisters she tells them the entire story about her mother, and her leaving T. Ray, and discovers more about her mother than she could have ever imagined.
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Summary: A book I will give to my women friends...
Review: This is a lovely book. I don't give that praise easily...and by giving it, I mean that the novel is well crafted with expressive prose and finely drawn characters. It has a depth of meaning not only in its action, but in the allegorical depth suggested through the imagery which forms an intricate substructure. "The secret life" speaks of motherhood, womanhood, love, discovery, and personal strength. It provides wisdom to women, and pride, and beauty. And, it's a compelling story. I will give it as a gift to the people I care about.
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Summary: Great Book Club selection
Review: This was just a beautifully written novel with all sorts of wisdom about family and relationships. It has good topics to discuss in a book club as well. I highly recommend it!
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Summary: Excellent book
Review: This is a book filled with beautiful prose and powerful images and icons, as the narrator comes of age in a confusing world -- where her true friends are those she's been taught to despise, and her supposed role models are the source of menace and hate. Much of the book revolves around race -- the pervasive discrimination in the South in the 1960's, and how a good person should react to it. At one point, the narrator says, "Up until then I'd thought that white people and colored people getting along was the big aim, but after that I decided everybody being colorless together was a better plan."
As powerful as this book is, it's a fairly quick read. The ending is a bit too neat, and as others have noted, some of the plot is improbable. This would be a good book to pick up at the library if you can find it -- at my local library, there are fifty-five people on the waiting list for this book!
The fact that the author has an extensive web page, complete with book discussion, is a nice plus (the author's name . com).
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