Rating: 
Summary: Are you kidding me?
Review: I couldn't even bring myself to finish this book. I read EVERYTHING and make it a point to finish everything I start, even if I feel disappointed early on, in case the story or the writing improves. This book is one of maybe 5 in my lifetime that didn't even deserve that courtesy.
The writing is cloyingly sweet and the characters totally unlikeable.
Rating: 
Summary: rich and golden reading
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed reading this! It had enough twists and turns and surprises and quirks to keep me entertained throughout. This is a book with substance, wit and drama. It has a well thought-out plot and colorful characters. I had read the book Watermelon preceding this one, and they were light years apart in intelligence. I highly recommend this book and am looking forward to more from this author.
Rating:
Summary: DELICIOUS!
Review: What a superb book! Not many novels keep me reading for hours at a time. This wonderful surprise did, with characters just eccentric (and normal) enough to pique my imagination. I related to Lily not because of my home life, which was nothing like hers, but because I, too, was 14 in 1964 and vividly remember the changes that were happening all over the country - and the great resistance by those afraid of change. The calendar sisters were amusing and intriguing. T. Ray was a bully with an occasionally creative streak. The surrounding characters, good, bad and indifferent, helped to make what could have been an implausible tale plausible. Would a grown black woman go off with a young white girl? Who can say what someone would have done in a time of turmoil? Kudos to Sue Monk Kidd for creating a memorable cast of characters, for helping us remember that the civil rights movement affected everyone, for giving us a lesson in bee keeping, and for her exquisite descriptions of everything from the agony of punishment by grits to the incredible feel of pond water on a hot summer's night. Ms Kidd gave us a charming and thought-provoking story rooted in the 1960's South, complete with all its glory and misery.
Rating: 
Summary: knees' of bees
Review: Although I enjoyed the fanciful prose and metaphors, I felt like the author was holding back on many of the issues of abandoment,abuse,and racism that were introduced into the story early on and certainly could have been explored within the prose. I say "cut loose, Sue", write the story you are wanting to tell and you will elevate above the knees', perhaps even allowing more heart.
Rating:
Summary: Audiobook Review (unabridged version)
Review: This is one of the most enjoyable audiobooks I have ever encountered. The reader's voice is so like a young girl's, the accent and intonation is so perfect for the content that I could hardly stand to turn off my "walkman" at the end of my daily walk! It is really a "woman's" story - somewhat trite and predictable, but I can vouch for the great entertainment value in this format.
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad, not great
Review: If 3.5 had been an available rating, that would have been my choice for this book. While it had interesting characters (especially the "calendar" sisters)and I learned a lot about beekeeping,it also was based on a very far-fetched premise, one that I could not manage to get a handle on.The premise that a black woman, sprung from jail by a 13 year old white girl, would run away with that child and take refuge someplace with no questions asked.....yikes, just plain unrealistic! I thought this author also tried to deal with too many "issues" : racism, romance, child neglect, feminism, religion, mysticism, and so on. It was just too much for one book and in places the book really dragged for me. These negatives were a shame because I think that the author has a beautiful grasp of language and the character development was very good. Like another reviewer, I would have liked to know more about the sisters and their pasts.
Rating:
Summary: A Memorable Read
Review: I read this book months ago, yet the images still play in my mind. In particular, a gun in a child's hands, the wailing wall, the political/racial tension of the 1960's, the Black Madonna. Reading it again, Sue Monk Kidd's characters remain true and their stories compelling. I hear echoes of Scout (To Kill a Mockingbird) in Lily, both deftly portrayed young southern girls coming of age. Truly a wonderful book!
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, not bad at all
Review: Very likeable book. I saw it was an 'Oprah' selection and groaned after the fact, but it turned out to be a well flowing tale as seen through the eyes of a naive white teenage girl living amongst many well-developed black characters. The family dynamics between the three 'bee' sisters was well done. Given the backdrop of civil rights, it never got preachy - the book let the reader make their own conclusions and opinions. I listened to the Unabridged audio version and loved the narractor's voice - she was right-on with capturing the tone of Lily. I recommend this - nothing too complicated but worth a look.
Rating: 
Summary: Something Missing
Review: I purchased this book with much anticipation, particularly because of the author's use of the Black Madonna. I had read many reviews that were all favorable, including most of the reviews here. I also went to the author's website and read of her interest in spirituality and mysticism. For me, however, the language of the book was dry and lacking in originality. I could not connect with any of the characters, especially Lily, the main character. Although I finished the book, it was a real challenge. I was expecting something with more depth and a much richer grounding in spirituality. I plan to look into the author's autobiographical writings on her spiritual journey. I hope to find something on a deeper scale there. I will still give the novel 3 stars for incorporating the Black Madonna, an aspect of the Virgin Mary not found enough in literary works, into the story. This element does provide a unique aspect to the work, although the characters and language are missing something.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Engrossing Novel-Loved the Characters!
Review: This was a very good novel and my heart went out to Lily many times. Living on a peach farm in South Carolina with her tyrannical father, Lily Owens has shaped her entire life around one devastating memory of when her mother was killed. Lily was four years old then. Her companion was the housekeeper, Rosaleen, who was black. She acted as Lily's 'stand-in,' mom. One day when Rosaleen insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily knows it's time to spring them both free. They take off in the only direction Lily can think of, toward a town called Tiburon, South Carolina-a name she found on the back of a picture amid the few possessions left by her mother. An eccentric trio of black sisters named May, June, and August take the two in. Lily calls them the calendar sisters, and enters their mesmerizing secret world of bees and honey. This book is hard to put down, and I read it almost straight through.
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