The Secret Life of Bees

Rating:
Summary: Makes your heart feel good
Review: This is an excellent book and has a good message. The story starts off with a home life of sorrow--completely lack in love. Young Lily is haunted over the tragic death of her mother when she was just four years old. The hurt and anger that lead up to her mother's death, have destroyed her father turning him into a bitter and hateful man. Lily is a troubled child and the only love she has ever known is from her nanny Rosaleen. It's set in 1964, in South Carolina, and during the civil rights movement. When Rosaleen is beaten up and her life is in further jeopardy once she leaves the hospital, Lily decides to smuggle her out of the hospital and take her with her on the hunt for her mother's mysterious past. She uses the only clue she has, a small picture of a black Madonna and the name of a city written on the back. When they reach the outskirts of the city and enter a grocery, Lily is shocked to see a shelf with many bottles of honey, each sporting the same picture of the black Madonna which she had cherished for so long. After learning that the honey cames from a local bee keeper, she sets off to find the bee keeper who uses the same picture that she has held so sacred. That's easy to believe.
Once she finds the bee keeper August she is set on a path to find out the story of her mother and the ultimate blessing of forgives for her mother's leaving and most importantly her self-hatred for the death of her mother.
One of the most heart warming part of the book is the discovering that deep deep down she finds that the man who never loved her, really did in his heart, which he proved when he let her stay. This book is warm and loving. Read it without bitterness and you'll be rewarded.


Rating:
Summary: A sensational read
Review: have made it a point of reading inspirational books which can help me have a positive outlook to life. Though it reads like a non-fictional memoir, "The Secret Life of Bees" even though it is fictitious, has been tremendously helpful to me as an inspirational book. It is brilliantly written with amazing details and beautiful settings. It showed the unique creativity of the author. This hard to put down book, is sure to capture your heart with its imagery.

Sue Monk Kidd does a brilliant job of laying out a storyline that is not only believable, but is interesting as well. I could not put this book down. Lily Owens will capture your heart. Despite the abuse from the hands of her father T. Ray, she turned out to be a survivor. Sharing her destiny with the beekeeping sisters, and their Black Madonna honey, she finally attains some emotional security in her life. May, one of the sisters is someone who inspires. This is a novel for young adults and adults, because at 14, Lily fights with the hazy memory of her dead mother whom she misses and longs for in rural South Carolina of 1964, where racial violence is inescapable. She finds solace in her surrogate mother - the family's black servant, Rosaleen, who later becomes a victim of racial hatred. It moved on to the escape of Lily and Rosaleen, the search for the identity of Lily's mother's identity and the quest for a sense of belonging in her life This journey led Lily and Rosaleen into the lives of three strange but alluring beekeepers who set Lily who helped Lily to grow up and be at peace with her family and its history.

The story is told through Lily's eyes, mouth, mind and heart, and as such it is deep, hilarious and inspiring. When we read about the beehive and honey-making, we get the sense that Lily has a deep desire for nurturance, owing to the absence of a mother in her life. The Secret Life of Bees will certainly strike a chord with any family.

I recommend : THE USURPER by Janvier Tisi, NIGHTMARES ECHO, THE JOY OF MOTHERHOOD, DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE

Rating:
Summary: cute read
Review: Interesting book, good for a quick enjoyable read. Don't expect to be blown away.

Rating:
Summary: Quick, satisfying read
Review: Read the story of Lily, a young girl trapped in the difficult situation of having a rough father and no mother in the turbulant Civil Rights era. When Lily's sole friend and housekeeper gets in trouble as she demostrates her newfound right to vote, she decides to run away and find a new life in Tiburon, South Carolina where she suspects she will find out more about her deceased mother.

The characters are somewhat different than convention but nonetheless interesting and endearing, and Lily's coming of age and the place in the world that she finally finds for herself is a quick, satisfying read.

Rating:
Summary: Do You See Color?
Review: Sue Monk Kidd is a highly respected author who has successfully illustrated her views to her readers.She clearly attempts to make a powerful statement about how a person's surroundings cannot define their beliefs. Here is a young girl, barely an adolescent, who is surrounded by prejudice and hatred, yet essentially does not see color. Lily discounts the opinions of those who place race and ethnicity as a priority in deciding who a person is. She, instead, believes that who you are lies within and cannot be defined by the color of your skin.
This, in itself, is a remarkable feat considering that I, in this day and age, cannot honestly say that I know anyone who does not see color. It's as simple as seeing someone on the street and acknowledging them as "a black man" or a "white woman". We all acknowledge race, ethnicity, and gender and associate it with stereotypes which we have been programmed to believe. Considering how far we have come in terms of technological and scientific advances since the time that this novel was written in 1964, this fact is unfortunate. We have, as a people, yet to conquer one of the few barriers which still stand. Sue Monk Kidd succeeds in reminding us that the problem and solution lie within ourselves.
Sue Monk Kidd accomplished her goal in producing a genuinely "good piece of literature". She made me put down her book and question not only the morality of society's standards, but also my own beliefs. She left me with the same question that I will leave with you: Do you see color?


Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: An amazing reading experience. "Secret Life of Bees" is one of the best books in the last 5 years. A joy to read.

Rating:
Summary: The tapestry of life
Review: Enjoy southern books and southern writers? I sure do. That's why I eventually found my way to SECRET LIFE OF BEES. I had been reading any and everything I could get my hands on-everything from Lee's TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD to the ubiquitous and charming CHILDREN'S CORNER of Jackson McCrae. BEES is such a good book. It encourages the reader to make lemonade out of the lemons they have been handed in life. It is a guide to living. Although it can be a fast read, I recommend that it is read slowly, so the reader can soak up the lessons that we all need to learn, but may be having a hard time doing so because we have so many fears in life. So many of us are afraid of letting down our protective shields that we just let life's lessons bounce right off of us. The author helps us realize that a person's skin color is just that--we are all just people no matter what color our skin may be. It takes us beyond color into acceptance, appreciation and love. It allows us to see people for who and what they are instead of just color, or lack of color.

Rating:
Summary: Captivating
Review: This book is so wonderful! I could not put it down. The story is engrossing and wonderfully written. If you like this book also try, A Northern Light By Jennifer Connelly.