The Secret Life of Bees
By Sue Monk Kidd
This book was recommended to me. At that time, I thought bees? Really? A whole book about bees? Bees are interesting, I give you that. Pretty, too, as long as they keep their stingers to themselves. They are productive, organized, and contribute to the world. See? I know a little about bees already. But a whole book about them? A paragraph, maybe two, would be okay, not a whole book. So I passed this one by.
EnPictured: Book cover
Well, it came up again from a second source at a time I was desperate for a book to settle in with, so I tried it. Surprise, surprise! I got sucked in immediately. Yes, I learned a lot about bees. Yes, I even learned from the bees. But the bees did not keep me hooked on this book. Rather it was the characters that kept my attention. It was Lily what’s-her-name, and the calendar sisters, and Rosaleen, and Zach, and the Daughters of Mary.
And I don’t like books about religion. I am not looking for inspiration or devotion, not from a novel anyway. But there was lots of religion, religion that miraculously (if I may use that term) didn’t turn me off but kept me going. It was a different kind of religion, a kind they adopted and adapted and made strictly their own. And it was beautiful.
In brief: A young white girl in a small southern town in 1964 runs away from an abusive home and is taken in by colored folks.
Great characters, great storyline, great adventure.
Keep the faith!
As I See It 