"The Secret Life of Bees"

[DebraBaker]

I just finished that book, what a wonderful read!!

Anyone want to discuss it?

db

[Miss Kitty]

This is my new favorite book. I read it last Spring and thought it was absolutely wonderful.
I love the relationship between the girl and her nanny. The mutual protection they provided was touching.

[DebraBaker]

I loved how Lily was able to find her mothers, to learn to forgive.

I am imagining how her life unfolded and how that compared with what would have been had she stayed in her neglectful home.

.....I also think she might have heard the bees in her room and simply *dreamed* the story to escape from her horrible life.

Sorry, I do that sometimes.

DB

[rachelle-a-tron]

This was a fabulous book. I think Lilys mother left clues for her to find the sisters.

[TranscendentalMom]

I loved this book. My favorite part was at the end where August explains to Lily that we have to love ourselves where our mothers fell short and that we all have the Virgin Mother inside us. That was so beautiful.

I can't believe it was her first novel. It was such smooth reading!

[siddie]

I thought it was beautiful. I love the way Lily spoke in the book, she kept her sense of humor. I love the way the author wove the many themes together - the metaphors using the bees at the beginning of each chapter, the history of the civil rights, how black women were treated, Lily went searching for her mother's past and found many mothers, you can take parts of religion and use what works for you, depend upon yourself, carry Mary in your heart, skin color doesn't matter it is what is in your heart. Everyone suffers in life but not everyone lets their heart become hard (like T-Ray's). I think the names the author chose were quite clever Lily (white) and the calendar sisters. Did anyone else catch the part about Mary, carrying a secret? I remember feeling as if I had a huge secret when I was pg and also a littly holy and truly blessed...

[annakiss]

I loved it too! I like that even T-Ray was allowed moments of humanity.

The whole thing made me wish for a culture like that - some world full of riches of the mundane, with a history full of life and death, a world of secrets and of salvation...

On a side note, my mother keeps bees and I kept thinking of her boxes. They truly are not as magical as August presents hers to be. I guess it's a matter of what sort of esteem you hold them in, at what light of day you view them arriving and departing on the quest for nectar...

[LadyMarmalade]

I think the names the author chose were quite clever Lily (white) and the calendar sisters.

Also, Lily's middle name (Melissa) means 'honeybee' in Greek.

Sorry to bump this up - I just finished reading it and enjoyed it, so did a search to see what others thought.

[jlazx2]

I'm on hold for it at the library so I'm glad you . Cant wait to read it.

[applejuice]

I have read the Secret Life Of Plants, The Secret Life of the Soil.

Is it the same?

[DebraBaker]

Applejuice,

Guten Tag!!

The bees are a metaphor of the hidden complexities of women's lives, particularly the women in the book. Most particularly women of color.

This is a wonderful book. I would recommend it on many levels.

But, sorry, if you're interested in botany or insects, you will get a short blurb in the beginning of every chapter.

Debra Baker

[Danelle78]

A review:

Editorial Reviews
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 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.


I read this ages ago and loved it. It's a great portrait of the rural south in the 60's and a touching story.

[Verity]

Originally Posted by caloli

Also, Lily's middle name (Melissa) means 'honeybee' in Greek.

I wondered if anyone else caught that! (Melissa is my niece's middle name, so I just happened to have looked up its meaning long ago.)

As you might guess by reading my signature line, I adore this book. Reading it was truly life-changing for me. I had it lying around the house for months, and didn't read it because I'd heard it was sort of a downer. Yes, there are tragic elements to the story, but it is ultimately life- and spirit-affirming. Reading it made me realize that there is more strength in me than I ever admitted, and that I gave too much of myself away in looking for affirmation from other people.

I am also a huge Sue Monk Kidd fan. My senior title came from the title of one of her nonfiction books.

[Wolfmeis]

Originally Posted by Verity

I wondered if anyone else caught that! (Melissa is my niece's middle name, so I just happened to have looked up its meaning long ago.)

.

No I never did! Awesome! I did not know that!

[ErikaDP]

This is a great book! I really enjoyed reading it and I think that I will re-read it again soon.

Take Care,
Erika :
"Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail..."
"Knowledge without compassion is useless"-SCW
"I am learning all the time, the tombstone will be my diploma"- Eartha Kitt

[bayberry*moon]

It is such a good book and reading everyone's comments really brought it back. I may just need to pick it up again! Did anyone read her follow-up book - I think it was called The Mermaid's Chair?