By: Sue Monk Kidd Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Penguin (Non-Classics) Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 336 Publication Date: January 28, 2003 Release Date: January 28, 2003
Product Description: Sue Monk Kidd's ravishing debut novel has stolen the hearts of reviewers and readers alike with its strong, assured voice. Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted "stand-in mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the town's fiercest racists, Lily decides they should both escape to Tiburon, South Carolina--a town that holds the secret to her mother's past. There they are taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters who introduce Lily to a mesmerizing world of bees, honey, and the Black Madonna who presides over their household. This is a remarkable story about divine female power and the transforming power of love--a story that women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come.
Amazon.com: In Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees, 14-year-old Lily Owen, neglected by her father and isolated on their Georgia peach farm, spends hours imagining a blissful infancy when she was loved and nurtured by her mother, Deborah, whom she barely remembers. These consoling fantasies are her heart's answer to the family story that as a child, in unclear circumstances, Lily accidentally shot and killed her mother. All Lily has left of Deborah is a strange image of a Black Madonna, with the words "Tiburon, South Carolina" scrawled on the back. The search for a mother, and the need to mother oneself, are crucial elements in this well-written coming-of-age story set in the early 1960s against a background of racial violence and unrest. When Lily's beloved nanny, Rosaleen, manages to insult a group of angry white men on her way to register to vote and has to skip town, Lily takes the opportunity to go with her, fleeing to the only place she can think of--Tiburon, South Carolina--determined to find out more about her dead mother. Although the plot threads are too neatly trimmed, The Secret Life of Bees is a carefully crafted novel with an inspired depiction of character. The legend of the Black Madonna and the brave, kind, peculiar women who perpetuate Lily's story dominate the second half of the book, placing Kidd's debut novel squarely in the honored tradition of the Southern Gothic. --Regina Marler
a pretty good read The book is more aimed at someone between the ages of 12-16, particularly female. Kidd portrays well the frailty of this girl, coupled with her insecurities and joys. Her relationships to the people around her are those I find unreal a little bit- saintly people who are completely forgiving. although the main character is real enough, the people around her settings seem fake, enough so that it makes it hard to relate. your call people!
Goes down easy, but it ain't exactly fluff After being decidedly unimpressed with the first Sue Monk Kidd book I read (The Mermaid Chair), I was afraid this one would be similarly the literary equivalent of a Lifetime movie. I was pleasantly surprised: while it has the same airy style that enables you to motor through the pages, it has substantially more weight.
The characters are engaging and believable (another reviewer questions why the protagonist doesn't act terribly mature, but she IS only a teenager after all!), and the plot includes historical and personal drama (African Americans gaining the right to vote and socially oppressed people's responses to racism).
This is also a rare novel in that while many would consider it to be in the genre of Beach Book, the women depicted are not superficial and do not seem like 2-dimensional "yay, girl power!" characters. They are strong, smart, conflicted women who are determined to make the world what they want it to be, whether questioning racism, letting newfound sexuality develop, or even creating a new religion.
Bee's I enjoyed this so much. It has a "To Kill A Mockingbird" feel to it. I couldn't put it down. I hope everyone enjoys this as much as I did.
Disappointing I'm still trying to figure out what all the rave is about. This book was a huge disappointment. It started out with potential, and then fizzled around discovery of the "pink house". It was the same mumbo over and over again. Also, the author should have done more research on African American lives in the 1960s, particularly in the South, and paid close attention to their religious views. I can see a cult-like religion amoung a group of women in Louisiana, but South Carolina--hardly! And Lily discusses all the racial tension and unrest that is happening in the town, yet she is always in a truck with Zach (a black teenager, with a very dark complexion), and no one notices this or says anything about it--what! I think had the story been written in a narrative voice, it would have been a lot better. The other characters would have been a lot stronger and it would have given more to the story. As it is, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, and I definately don't want to see the movie.
Bees AIN'T a Bust! I surveyed my class and 80% gave it two thumbs up: 5 stars. That's 28 out of 35 students. The rest of the class gave it an OK: 3 or 4 stars. So my giving it 5 stars has been backed by research into the general public's taste. ;=)
Now, I'm not much for spending time on fiction. I don't need entertainment, I need information. But as a story teller, occasional writing class instructor, I like to keep up with some of the new fiction.
Bees is pretty good. I don't get a sense of the forced or trite here like I do in a lot of fiction. In reading most fiction, I can almost hear the writer thinking. I guess it's because I write and my intimate knowledge of the craft allows me to see a lot before it comes. Kind of like an actor who you know is just acting. But Kidd's writing is like Will Smith in Ali or Jamie Fox in Ray. In Ali there is no Smith and in Ray there is no Fox. Art works best when it's done by the talented who tap into the moment so right, so purely it stops being art and becomes real. Bees is real.
Some readers on Goodreads and Amazon had trouble with such things as the bee quotes at the start of each chapter being a bit obvious, passage of time, Zach driving around with Lilly without being accosted, the religious theme (didn't state but I'm sure it has to do with the women eating cake as the body of Mary), the triteness of a coming of age story and some of the characterization (ie: stereotypical African / American women) and so forth, but these are minor or petty problems. In the overall scheme of analysis, these issues were superficial at best.
Every story has problems simply because ONE person wrote the book. Not millions. Not you. Just the individual with the ideas, courage, focus, and discipline to do so--the author. We all come from different experiences, upbringing, religions or lack of, cultures, ages, etc. If you think you're ever going to read a book that matches perfectly with your perceptions . . . stop reading. I'm tired of people nit-picking. And most have never written a book in their lives. I also have the same problem with people (90%) who don't have ANY IDEA WHATSOEVER what it's like to have a public life who are hypercritical. One of the secrets to the successful is an open mind. Too many closed one's out there. Sorry, tirade. Back to the book.
Bottom line, I was impressed and I've read a lot of stories and written many myself. I know the difficulties involved in making a story work, making is real, and connecting to readers. This book does all that and more. And that's where we focus as readers looking for something human, something humane to enliven and enlighten our lives.
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