The Secret Life of Bees
Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted black "stand-in mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily decides to spring them both free. They escape to Tiburon, South Carolina--a town that holds the secret to her mother's past. Taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sister, Lily is introduced to their mesmerizing world of bees and honey, and the Black Madonna. This is a remarkable novel about divine female power, a story that women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come.
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Readers say *The Secret Life of Bees* is beautifully written with compelling storytelling and vivid characters, especially praising its emotional dept...
Definitely an important read. This is beautifully written and unfortunately my reading visualization was dictated by the movie with Dakota fanning but that wasnt so terrible. I really enjoyed this read
I started reading the work of Sue Monk Kidd two years ago, and my thought process has changed dramatically in that time. I was exploring paganism when I read The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, and it helped me explore new thought processes about interacting with my gender and spirituality, though I have since left paganism behind for plain atheism. If I could sit down with her and have a chat about white women writing about race and racism, I think she would agree with what bothered me about this book. Her more recent The Invention of Wings, published 11 years later, is far more self-aware in its tone, but then again, racism was far more explicit in the 1800s when slavery was still legal. I get the sense that Kidd does her very best to be aware, but her privilege and status have kept her from seeing certain aspects in her work.
That said, I found this book first of all problematic in three specific examples: one, the main character's black nanny (which Kidd says in a back-of-the-book interview vaguely reminded her of her own nanny) is referred to several times as slow, dumb, and antagonistic. It's possible she was trying to narrate from the perspective of a white girl in the 60s who had internalized racism in how she described the woman who'd raised her. Though this nanny also did the majority of the raising, she never receives any notice as a motherly role for the main character, which I found rather odd, considering that the whole book is an exploration of the mother archetype and a story about a girl seeking out her mother's background.
The second and third instances involved black people antagonizing their way into trouble, as if cops have ever needed a justification for brutality. In the first scene where this happens, the nanny pours her spit-out chewing tobacco jar over the shoes of several white men, and is summarily arrested and beaten. I think the story would have been just fine without the black woman "starting it." In the second scene where this happens, an unnamed black boy throws an empty bottle at a policeman, and the whole group gets arrested. Again, this is an unlikely event (the boys antagonizing the cops, not the cops arresting them) that makes it sound like black people invite violence against themselves, doing things to aggravate situations and get themselves into trouble. This bothered me, but I don't think I would have even noticed this detail if I'd read this book a couple of years ago.
Overall, the story was intriguing, the writing was superb, the research was thorough, the ending was everything that a satisfying ending should be. I very much enjoyed the three books I've read from her, but due to their problematic elements, this is probably the last book of hers I'll read for some time.
That said, I found this book first of all problematic in three specific examples: one, the main character's black nanny (which Kidd says in a back-of-the-book interview vaguely reminded her of her own nanny) is referred to several times as slow, dumb, and antagonistic. It's possible she was trying to narrate from the perspective of a white girl in the 60s who had internalized racism in how she described the woman who'd raised her. Though this nanny also did the majority of the raising, she never receives any notice as a motherly role for the main character, which I found rather odd, considering that the whole book is an exploration of the mother archetype and a story about a girl seeking out her mother's background.
The second and third instances involved black people antagonizing their way into trouble, as if cops have ever needed a justification for brutality. In the first scene where this happens, the nanny pours her spit-out chewing tobacco jar over the shoes of several white men, and is summarily arrested and beaten. I think the story would have been just fine without the black woman "starting it." In the second scene where this happens, an unnamed black boy throws an empty bottle at a policeman, and the whole group gets arrested. Again, this is an unlikely event (the boys antagonizing the cops, not the cops arresting them) that makes it sound like black people invite violence against themselves, doing things to aggravate situations and get themselves into trouble. This bothered me, but I don't think I would have even noticed this detail if I'd read this book a couple of years ago.
Overall, the story was intriguing, the writing was superb, the research was thorough, the ending was everything that a satisfying ending should be. I very much enjoyed the three books I've read from her, but due to their problematic elements, this is probably the last book of hers I'll read for some time.
A masterpiece in storytelling, Sue Monk Kidd captures her audience with the clear and compelling voice of her young main character. I could picture the characters and the scenes perfectly. I especially loved the descriptive language and how the author brought you into the most tender of moments. A book which can move me emotionally always gets a high rating from me. Without getting into spoilers, I would highly recommend this book.
December Adult Pick: Banned because some religious groups found it problematic, for LGBTQIA+ content, and sexual content.
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