Rating: 
Summary: Don't miss this book!!!
Review: Just a quickie to balance the recent negative reviews: I'd about like to shout from the rooftops about this book! One of the best "feel good" books I've read. It is incredibly wise, highly intriguing and filled with the best kind of motherly love. Having been "taken in" (so to speak) by colorful black women while growing up, I didn't have a problem with the likelihood of Lily (especially alongside her black friend) being taken in by these black women. Besides, it's a book! where wonderful and beautiful things can happen - and that's kind of the point. This book is about acceptance, the awesome and powerful bond of women and of women's amazing wisdom and capacity to love and nurture. Period. Some of it's a bit quirky but just go for the ride, look out for a couple of potholes but don't let that stop you from enjoying the scenery! I don't think (the majority of) you will be at all disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Skip this one!
Review: Totally agree with 22snappy's review. The novel is contrived and, once you get past the (admittedly interesting) beginning, doesn't have an original thought. The religious and racial fetishism is overdone and unbelievable. Lily is ultimately a character it's hard to care about, and her black 'mothers' do not ring true at all. This book was read by our mother-daughter book club (girls are aged 11-14) and trounced on by all. Too bad it doesn't live up to its fabulous hype!
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: I'm going to keep this short. LOVED IT! I couldn't put it down...I grew up in the South and could relate to just about everything in this book. It made me feel warm and fuzzy inside, bringing back good and bad memories of life in those times.
Rating: 
Summary: Civil Rights Era
Review: It was kind of refreshing to read about interracial circumstances. Although a fairly short read, the charcters were interesting enough to keep it entertaining. Some of it was a bit cheesy in my opinion, but that's all it is, my opinion. Overall I enjoyed it.
Rating:
Summary: OceanLover
Review: I was leant this book by a friend and found myself absorbed by the story. The writing is so gentle and beautiful that it truly moved me. I highly recommend the book and even suggested for my book group for this month.
Rating: 
Summary: A pleasant read
Review: This book grew on me, though the initial racial incident which sets the plot in motion struck me (and several other members of my book group) as absurdly improbable. The beekeeping metaphor is intriguing but at times a bit forced. The characters are quirky and endearing, but not terribly believable. The evil father of the protagonist, in particular, is more a cartoon than a character. I have read much better treatments of the civil rights era, the parallels between humans and the insect world, and the solidarity of women. I have read books in which the characters were infinitely more complex and interesting. The part of the book that I found convincing was the intense longing of the central character for her mother, whose untimely death leaves her with only a handful of memories and objects around which to reconstruct the past. Her nostalgia for a parent she hardly knew was palpable and deeply moving, and made me appreciate the gift of having known one's parents.
Rating:
Summary: Not far from true life
Review: The Secret Lives of Bees is a page turner. Lovely story set in the South. Some reviews mention that black women are portrayed unrealistically. But I disagree. For that time period, and with racism, lack of education for black women, it was very sad but true to life. Rosaleen was an example of a poorer black labor worker on a peach farm. I don't feel the author tried to portray her as a "mammy" character. It would have been totally unrealistic if Rosaleen were portrayed tha way some reviewers would have liked.
I felt some parts of the book were a little drawn out. The honey ritual with Mary for instance.
Rating:
Summary: The only book that I may like better than Harry Potter
Review: "The Secret Life Of Bees" is comprised of beautiful imagery, similies, and metaphors. It tells the story of a motherless girl who lives with her highly abusive father and nanny, named Lily. A little bit into the book, Lily decides to run away and brings her nanny Rosaleen with her. She's headed for Tiburon, South Carolina: the city that may hold the key to her mother's mysterious past. Lily and Rosaleen end up in the home of three black bee-keeping sisters. August is the wisest, June is the most uptight (until later, when she lightens up), and May is the most...eccentric. Several whites in the town are surprised that this white girl is living with a bunch of coloreds, and don't really like it. Things also kinda fall out of hand when Lily finds herself falling in love with the young male beekeeper, Zach Taylor. This book showed me how to respect my life, and how I shouldn't take small things for granted. Every time I see a bee now, instead of flailing my arms and running in the complete opposite direction like a maniac, I feel calm and truly know that it's not out to murder me. While reading some of this reviews, I noticed that several people are offended by the language used in this book. Let me tell you something: this has almost the LEAST amount of cursing I have ever read in a recent book (any of you ever read Of Mice And Men? Every other word is a curse, almost). But Back to the point: this book has really helped me shape my life. As I got further and further into the book and more and more attatched to the characters, I felt the need to keep reading get stronger and stronger. Once I woke up at 2:30 in the morning and started to read (I spent about ten minutes trying to find a flash-light). I seriously recommend this book to any living person.
Rating:
Summary: Suspend your disbelief and enjoy the writing
Review: Sue Monk Kidd has a wonderful command of the English language and her descriptions of South Carolina make me want to pack up and go there this instant. I enjoyed the descriptions of the countryside, the bees and the quirky pink house and wailing wall. I also appreciated the time in which this novel was set; it gave a nice feel for the Civil Rights Act and the moon landing, and all the excitement and unease that these events inspired in Americans. But part of me wanted to just say "Yeah, right" and "Come on" while I read this book. A white girl living with these four black women--the best-known entrepreneurs in the county, mind you--and no one notices or questions it? If there was enough racial unrest that Rosaleen gets beaten up by the bigots on her way to register to vote--and I do not doubt that there was--how is no one going to find out or object to her living with these women? This required a huge suspension of disbelief at the very beginning that was very difficult for me to get past. My other primary objection to this tale is the lack of characterization. Lily and August are both well-developed and complex, but that is the extent of it. Rosaleen, May, T Ray and even June to an extent all seem more like caricatures than characters. Black women aren't always "colorful" and all southern white men in 1964 were not hopeless bigots. These are big objections, and the reason that I cannot give this book more than three stars. However, if you are able to get past these problems, you may find yourself enjoying this book. The story and symbolism is creative and compelling, and as I have already mentioned, Sue Monk Kidd is an artist with words. If you can make it through the first 1/3 of the story, you will enjoy the rest of the ride.
Rating:
Summary: Very Entertaining
Review: Sue Monk Kidd did a fabulous job of submerging me into the life of her charecters! Excellent read.
| 
