Kidd, Sue Monk. The Secret Life of Bees. New York: Penguin Books, 2005.
The Secret Life of Bees takes place in South Carolina in 1964. Lily Owens is a young, white girl whose only recollection of her mother is the day she was killed by an accidental gun shot which Lily believes to be her fault. Her mother’s death leaves Lily living with her abusive father T. Ray and her black servant, Rosaleen. Lily desperately wants to know more about her mother and the only clue she has is an old picture of a black Virgin Mary with the town Tiburon written on the back. Lily hopes that there she will find more answers about her mother. Lily decides to run away with Rosaleen to Tiburon. There she meets the Boatwright sisters who also use the picture Lily’s mother had. They allow Lily and Rosaleen to stay but do not know they are runaways. Now Lily needs to take the opportunity to learn about her mother while worrying that T. Ray and the police do not find her and that August and her other sisters do not figure out that Lily is lying and send her away.
Sue Monk Kidd does a wonderful job combining many small subplots into one large story that all comes together. Her vocabulary is very easy to read but the subject matter is very mature. The shirt quotes about bees at the beginning of each chapter foreshadow what is to come and keeps the reader glued to the pages. Kidd’s story The Secret Life of Bees is a suspenseful tale about love, understanding and self realization I would recommend to almost anyone.
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3 comments:
I have heard a lot about this book, and have always been interested in reading it. This book seems to focus a lot on the characters and their relationships which I love. I'm also curious as to why Lily blames herself for her mother's death.
You would love tis book and the main character.
This book seems really good. I have heard from a lot of people that read it that they really liked it. It seems like a girl book and thats the type I usually read.
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