103. The Secret Life of Bees

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Pages: 302
Finished: June 6, 2008
First Published: 2002
Genre: southern fiction
Rating: 5/5

Reason for Reading: Southern Challenge

First sentence:

At night I would lie in bed and watch the show, how bees squeezed though the cracks of my bedroom wall and flew circles around the room, making that propeller sound, a high-pitched zzzzzz that hummed along my skin.

Comments: Lily's mother died tragically when she was 4 years old and she has lived the last 10 years with an abusive father and a black housekeeper. One day Lily has had enough and at 14 years old runs away, with the housekeeper, to find out about her mother. This is a beautiful story of a girl who searches for a mother she never knew and in the process finds how to fill that empty hole with faith and a mother figure.

This is a beautiful story. Set in 1960s South Carolina is deals with the racial relations of the times and the coming of the civil rights movement but these events are only a background for the story. It is within this backdrop that Lily, a white girl, comes to find a home and acceptance with a large black family of women. I loved this book, the characters, the setting, everything was just perfect. A wonderfully told story which really touched and uplifted my heart, having lost my own mother. Recommended.

Comments

  1. I loved this book too - when I read it the first time I just zipped through it because I couldn't put it down. A few months later I re-read it for a book group and was able to just slow down and savor the writing. Unfortunately I thought her next book (The Mermaid Chair) was awful.

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  2. Yes, I've been reading reviews on Mermaid Chair and it doesn't sound like anything I'd enjoy. I wish she'd write another like this one!

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  3. I loved this one, too. I have had The Mermaid Chair sitting on my shelf for a while, and I keep going back and forth whether or not to give it a try.

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  4. Forget Kidd wrote The Mermaid's Chair; otherwise, you will be comparing the whole way through and it is a totally different story.

    Yay, 2 down one to go! How does it feel knowing you are about to be through with the challenge? ;)

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  5. Maggie, kinda sad actually :( I just love Southern Fiction and never get around to it as much as I'd like.

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  6. I've heard such lovely things about this book - I'll have to read it. Thanks for the review.

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  7. I read this one a few years back but don't remember very much about it. I feel so sad over the many books I read before I started blogging. I remember them so much better when I have to write a review.

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  8. Natasha, I so agree! I can barely remember the plots of any book I read pre-blogging, just whether I liked it or not. Blogging sure helps the old memory!

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  9. I keep seeing this book but wasn't sure what it was about. Your review was very helpful to me in that way! Thanks for "bringing me up to speed."

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  10. Wonderful review. This was a book that helped me break away from the mystery rut that I had been in for several years. I realized that I was missing out on some great fiction.

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  11. Great review! I really loved this book and have read it twice. I haven't read Mermaid Chair, but from the comments, it looks as if I should pass.

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