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The Secret Life of Bees
By Sue Monk Kidd
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Customer Reviews

Bees AIN’T a Bust!
I surveyed my class and 80% gave it two thumbs up: 5 stars. That’s 28 out of 35 students. The rest of the class gave it an OK: 3 or 4 stars. So my giving it 5 stars has been backed by research into the general public’s taste. ;=)

Now, I’m not much for spending time on fiction. I don’t need entertainment, I need information. But as a story teller, occasional writing class instructor, I like to keep up with some of the new fiction.

Bees is pretty good. I don’t get a sense of the forced or trite here like I do in a lot of fiction. In reading most fiction, I can almost hear the writer thinking. I guess it’s because I write and my intimate knowledge of the craft allows me to see a lot before it comes. Kind of like an actor who you know is just acting. But Kidd’s writing is like Will Smith in Ali or Jamie Fox in Ray. In Ali there is no Smith and in Ray there is no Fox. Art works best when it’s done by the talented who tap into the moment so right, so purely it stops being art and becomes real. Bees is real.

Some readers on Goodreads and Amazon had trouble with such things as the bee quotes at the start of each chapter being a bit obvious, passage of time, Zach driving around with Lilly without being accosted, the religious theme (didn’t state but I’m sure it has to do with the women eating cake as the body of Mary), the triteness of a coming of age story and some of the characterization (ie: stereotypical African / American women) and so forth, but these are minor or petty problems. In the overall scheme of analysis, these issues were superficial at best.

Every story has problems simply because ONE person wrote the book. Not millions. Not you. Just the individual with the ideas, courage, focus, and discipline to do so–the author. We all come from different experiences, upbringing, religions or lack of, cultures, ages, etc. If you think you’re ever going to read a book that matches perfectly with your perceptions . . . stop reading. I’m tired of people nit-picking. And most have never written a book in their lives. I also have the same problem with people (90%) who don’t have ANY IDEA WHATSOEVER what it’s like to have a public life who are hypercritical. One of the secrets to the successful is an open mind. Too many closed one’s out there. Sorry, tirade. Back to the book.

Bottom line, I was impressed and I’ve read a lot of stories and written many myself. I know the difficulties involved in making a story work, making is real, and connecting to readers. This book does all that and more. And that’s where we focus as readers looking for something human, something humane to enliven and enlighten our lives.

Highly recommended.

Wonderful Story!
This is a wonderful book. It’s a quick and easy read, but a heartwarming story. It made its way onto my favorite book list.

Great summer reading
This is a well told slice of life story set in the 1960’s that deals with the racial tensions of the time and warmly portrays some very eccentric characters. Fourteen year old Lily tragically lost her mother when she was just a toddler and that moment has haunted her throughout her young life. She has been raised by her mean to the core father and a black woman named Rosaleen whom her father plucked from the peach farm to become her stand in mother. Strong willed Rosaleen causes a stir when she attempts to register to vote and ends up getting herself thrown in jail. Lily, desperate to save her, concocts a plan to spring her from jail. They escape their town and end up in Tiburon where Lily believes the truth about her mother will be found because left among her mother’s things was a picture of the Black Madonna with only “Tiburon” written on the backside. They are taken in by a kindly trio of quirky sisters who raise bees and whose logo happens to be the Black Madonna. There Lily finds a home, acceptance, forgiveness and love.