Rating: 
Summary: loved it
Review: Lovely coming-of-age story. Couldn't put it down. If you like, 'To Kill a Mockingbird' or 'A Tree Grows In Brooklyn', I think you'll like this one too. Wonderful imagery throughout the book.
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Summary: THE best book i have ever read
Review: I loved the secret life of bees, i couldn't put it down. I think this book changed my life and the way i look at things. It was so awesome, i felt like by the end of the book i was a part of their lives and i could relate to them very well. I would suggest this book to everyone. I can't wait to read sue monk kidd's other novels.
Rating: 
Summary: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Review: Truely a masterpiece! This book not only kept me wondering, but it also touched a place in my heart that I didn't know was able to be reached by literature. Sue Monk Kidd did a wonderful job writing this story as though she was the little girl doing everything possible just to find out what her mother was really like. Throughout the book the girl had to deal with an abusive father,the blurred death of her mother,running away from home, fighting racism, and growing up all at the same time. Along with is understandable storyline and amazing plot, the story was incredibly interesting. The book was extremely hard to put down. I would recommend this book to anything who has a sense of adventure or just simply has children. (perferably women.)
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Summary: A pocketful of wisdom.
Review: For a first novel, Sue Monk Kidd has quite outdone herself. A daughter, desperate to find the truth behind her late mother's shadowed past, ends up discovering so much more. The main character Lily struggles to uncover a mystery that is wholly linked to her childhood. With the gentle guidance of a wonderfully unusual family of women (and a showering of divine intervention), she becomes the woman her mother would have always wanted her to be. It is a tale about devotion, struggle, racism, the conditions of love, the wisdom of life, and most of all the unbreakable courage of sisterhood.
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Summary: a virtual treasure
Review: I picked this book up at an airport store and then got so absorbed that the plane could have gone down and I'd still be reading to find out what became of Lily and the incredible surrogate family she finds in the bee keepers house. I was worried that the bee keeping theme would become too cliched, but the author manages the metaphor perfectly without overdoing it at all. The portraits of the south are so vivid that the book does evoke such classics at To Kill a Mockingbird -- in fact, Lily is just as scrappy and recourcefull as Scout. Unlike TKAM, there are few male heroes -- this is a book about women and their mothering capability. The writing is lyric throughout and the portrayal of the south spot on. It's hard to believe this is Kidd's first novel as she writes with an aura of experience that is hard to fabricate. An excellent read.
Rating:
Summary: Sweet
Review: Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees is a sweet story an engaging little read that doesn't quite make it to greatness. The novel concerns Lily Owen a young teenage girl in a Southern town in 1964. Her mother died years ago under circumstances Lily barely remembers and her father is somewhat lacking in empathetic parenting skills. Lily and her black babysitter, Rosaleen, escape from their small town in search of the truth behind Lily's mother's life. They wind up in Tiburon, South Carolina, living with three black sisters who keep bees where Lily ultimately learns the truth about her mother. The novel is reminiscent, somewhat, of To Kill a Mockingbird, The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood, among others. There are no surprises here, nothing that makes it stand out. Still it is a pleasurable gentle read that I think most will enjoy.
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Summary: Just Like Honey, Sweet, Gooey and Good for the Soul
Review: This was a wonderful fiction debut for Sue Monk Kidd. The way she mixed all the issues that surround our world past and present; racism, death, family, prejudice, strength, weakness, courage and forgiveness had a profound effect on me. This book has wonderfully drawn out characters and more importantly an underlining message that any warm blooded person can learn from. I strongly recommend this book to people who are ready to look inside thier selves and come to serenity. ... Again A Wonderful Book. A sequel would be bittersweet, I would love to see how the characters are in ten years, however sequels usually tend to stray from their original messages. Regards, Chasity
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Summary: The Hot Zone
Review: Richard Preston's novel The Hot Zone looks at the inner workings of the government's CDC branch and military department. His plot line follows the history of the viruses Marburg, Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan, and HIV. Through out Preston's novel, he uses many creative techniques to educate ignorant humans of biology and chemo biology while entertaining them. Three devices Preston utilizes in his novel are imagery, metaphors, and allusions. Preston uses imagery to paint the walls of the jungle and monkey houses for his readers, so they can receive the full effect of the viruses' outbreaks. The second technique instrumental in Preston approach is his creative use of metaphors. His use of metaphors allows his audience to put into perspective the occurrences in the jungle and monkey houses. The final device utilized by Preston is allusion; he uses this device to enable ignorant readers to grasp some basic biological understandings. I found Preston's novel to be a high paced adventure, which entertains and educates his readers about the past and emerging viruses.
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Summary: Place a beehive on my grave
Review: I picked this book up on a whim and I am so glad for whim's. Reading this book was soothing to my soul. I have never been to the South, never been around beehives, nor do I know sisters as strong as the Boatwrights. Yet while reading this book I could feel the heat of the South, smell honey and feel soothed by the women in this book. I don't think I have been as touched by a book in awhile as I much as I was by this book. It was as if I went to my boxing corner "where somebody dabbed mercy on my beat up life." Thank you Sue Monk Kidd.
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Summary: How sweet it is...
Review: Sue Monk Kidd's novel was full of complex, tortured characters - each with his/her own emotional/psychological baggage. I thoroughly enjoyed the story - it was swift yet dense with detail. The male characters were a little flat, and at times the three sisters (May, June and August Boatwright) seemed a bit stereotypical (the quirky, supernatural black woman who has all the answers). But it was a good novel.
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