Is it ever not going to be problematic to have a book about a young white girl finding nurturing black mother figures in the South? It's not the book itself, necessarily, just the part where this is practically a genre unto itself, and I haven't run into any books (certainly not with the stature of this one) about the young girl in the South who is black, and her experiences. Also the part where the black women are mostly there to mother the young white girl, and all of their differences tend to come down to eccentricities.

This is probably unduly harsh. The Secret Life of Bees is not a bad book - it's an easy read, it's a comfortable read, even in its portrayal of the impact of the Civil Rights movement on a small town that is interacting with it mostly through the media. It's just the overall impact of the stories authors are choosing to tell, that publishers are choosing to publish, and readers are choosing to read.

Does someone have something to recommend to me that breaks out of this mold?

Lily is the only daughter of an unloving white man. Her mother died when she was very little. She and Rosaleen, the black woman who raised her after her mother's death hit the road after an altercation between Rosaleen and the biggest racists in town. They find themselves in a small town in South Carolina, where they are both more or less adopted into the family of three black women, sisters, August, June, and May.

Lily struggles with how to tell the sisters who she really is and why she's there, as well as anger and guilt about her mother and father. Meanwhile, the sisters nurture. August takes care of the bees and takes Lily under her wing. June, a school teacher, refuses to marry the man she loves. May feels the horrors of the world far too sharply. Other black women come to their house for their own brand of syncretic worship, focusing around a statue of a Black Virgin Mary.

This book deals with some fairly difficult issues, so why do I categorize it as not particularly challenging? It deals with abuse, suicide, racism, and violence. None of those are easy topics. And yet, this book never reached out and grabbed me by the throat. It seemed to dance over these topics, not ignoring them, but not fully engaging with them either. It lacked anger, and some of these issues deserved some anger. (There were angry characters, but they were mediated by the nurturing aura of the book itself.)

I think part of the problem was that every time I picked it up, I kept pulling away from it, wondering why we so often seem to need this mediating figure of the young white woman in order to tell these stories. Wondering where the books about just August, and June, and May were. Or Rosaleen. Are they not being written? Or not published? Or am I just entirely oblivious to a bunch of books I should be reading?

Crossposted to Smorgasbook

I went into this book with no idea what it was about, I picked it up at the used bookstore ages ago because the title caught my attention and then it got shoved to the back of my shelf and forgotten. I’m so glad I finally read it because as soon as I opened this book I was instantly transported and felt like I fell into a magical realm. Now this isn’t a fantasy book at all but there’s no other way to describe it other than magical because that’s how it made me feel! It’s such a beautiful and touching story about one girls fierce sense of right and wrong and her quest to find out the truth about her mother and I couldn’t have loved it more. And then the incredibly interesting bits about beekeeping were just the icing on the cake!

I actually liked this book. I only read the reviews afterwards and noticed that a lot of people complain of the stereotyping, and embarrassingly - I was so in love with the characters that it didn't phase me, I'm ashamed. I did notice that the African Americans were all painted as stereotypes but I figured that the author was just using a voice that kept with the times - back then, that's how everything was seen. But now I feel a little conflicted because god damn, I hate stereotypes and I'm usually the first to jump up-and-down and shake my fist.

I loved Lily, I have been struggling to actually like a protagonist in a novel for a long while, so was pleased when I took to Lily immediately. I think that it was a real honest, true voice of a fourteen year old, you could feel the wide-eyed wonder, the naivity and the angst without it being irritating. I loved how she grew and learned; gained courage and wisdom; without the morals of the story beating you over the head. I absolutely loved August and Rosaleen. To be honest, I loved them all. I was even rooting for Zach and Lily to hook up - it made me feel like a teenage reader again, in parts.

I loved the feminist undertones, these women were strong, capable and gutsy. I love the part where August explains why she never married. I loved how the women's spirituality was dealt with an off-beat 'religion' and even though I'm atheist - I still thought that the way that these women had made sense of the world, was empowering and beautiful. It was rather pagan; peaceful yet powerful. I found most of the book to be highly original and kept reading not only because of Kidd's great use of words, but because I really have not ever read anything like this before! I love unique.

I loved the storyline, I loved the beautiful prose. I think too, that I was so fascinated by this book because it is so far removed from my life and what I know of the world. Being Australian, reading about the South (from Kidd's perspective anyway, taking on board the fact that she stereotypes) was a page-turner for me. Some of the passages in the book were really quite stunning. Here's my favourite paragraph.

Every human being on the face of the earth has a steel plate in his head, but if you lie down now and then and get still as you can, it will slide open like evelator doors, letting in all the secret thoughts that have been standing around so patiently, pushing the button for a ride to the top. The real troubles in life happen when those hidden doors stay closed for too long.

This is a great book and an enjoyable read. Lily, the main protagonist is a symbol of resilience, stamina and determination. It is a tragic story that still had me smiling at the end.

This was a really lovely book to read.
At times it felt like you were sitting in the corner of the parlour
watching it all take place.
Just great storytelling really.
I had started to watch the movie but quickly turned it off as i
knew this would be a great book to read.

Really glad I did it this way and now I will watch the movie and
enjoy the story again with great actors.

Highly recommend!

I hesitantly picked up this book based upon numerous recommendations; frankly, the back of the book blurb just didn't sound like my sort of thing. Historical coming of age drama type stuff is just not me.

That said, however, Sue Monk Kidd completely made me change my tune. While this book isn't perfect, I was completely enchanted by the writing, the pacing, and the careful observation. As a Virginian well-versed in humid Southern summers and Southern cooking, I thought Kidd did a fantastic job of evoking that feeling of sweat trickling slowly between your boobs.

Another point of interest is the way that feminism is worked into the novel. I'm not a huge fan of I-am-woman-hear-me-roar overt girlpower in film or literature, but this book is populated with female characters and about eight different kinds of love and strength and mystery. Throw in some very well done race issues, and I was willing to forgive the almost insanely inappropriately happy ending.

Do I have nitpicks with the book? Absolutely. Will I read it again? Absolutely. This is a book ripe for book group meetings.

***wondering why all my reviews are five stars? Because I'm only reviewing my favorite books -- not every book I read. Consider a novel's presence on my Goodreads bookshelf as a hearty endorsement. I can't believe I just said "hearty." It sounds like a stew.***

Another book I've heard about over and over.  It was great.  The story wasn't like anything else I'd ever read, and the focus on female spirituality was clear but not overpowering.  I love how the bee analogy carries throughout the story, and there are snippets of bee facts before every chapter.  The undercurrent of history (during the 60s in the south, where the black women surrounding Lily are allowed to register to vote for the first time) makes it even more interesting.

A number of friends loved the book, and I think I might’ve seen the movie years ago. I anticipated a better book. Young adult isn’t my favorite genre, and as popular at Sue Monk Kidd is among my frowns, I think I need to stop wanting to like her books as much as they do. I simply don’t. This one was ok, but it wasn’t exactly what moves my soul in any direction. I’m obviously the wrong audience. I hope lots of young adult readers find inspiration and learning about racism and what it looked like back then in the 1960s.

I will say that I appreciated Lily’s aha moment, realizing she’s had white entitlement her whole life when she overhears what one of the women she’s come to see as a maternal figure thinks of her being a white child in their home. I think this very pivotal moment is going to spur her adult self to fight as a Civil Rights activist in her later years, and who knows, maybe she and Zach end up best friends (and more) forever? That wold be nice.

When I met my husband he told me that he always wanted to have honey bees. Only problem is he is afraid of them, so I don't foresee him ever having honey bees. But I told him he lucked out when he met me, because Melissa in Greek means "honey bee". Just like the main character in the book, Lily Melissa Owens - her momma had reason for that middle name.

This is the story of Lily Owens, who really has a pretty rough childhood. Her mother died when she was young, her father is definitely not father of the year, and her one friend Rosaleen who has been looking after her most of her life. But 1964 South Carolina is not the most friendly place for a black woman and when Rosaleen decides she is going to register to vote, a whole landslide of events starts tumbling and lands Lily and Rosaleen in Tiburon, South Carolina, because of pictures Lily found in her mother's belongings. In Tiburon, Lily and Rosaleen end up at the honey farm of August, June, and May and learn the art of honey, Black Mary, the strength of women, and love knows no color.

I enjoyed this book very much. It had the turmoil of the civil rights in the 1960's in the South, the coming of age of a young girl who had no one to really rely on, and true friends really do matter. I would recommend this book and give it 4.5 stars.

This is also a book that I've read prior to joining GR and cannot write a review for it, before I reread it.

All I can remember is that it made a profound impression on me, and remain one of the books I remember as very good. Deeply moving.

I just need to add it to my list here. And I DO want to reread it!

Not an advertisement for grits. But joking aside, this is a beautiful book with astounding pros and an ending that will leave you feeling all warm inside. Five out of five

Set in South Carolina in the summer of 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, a fourteen-year-old poor white girl growing up with her cruel father, T. Ray. Early in the novel, we learn that when Lily was four, her mother was shot and killed in a gun accident. All her life, Lily has lived under a cloud of heavy guilt, yearning for her mother and blaming herself for her death. One day, Rosaleen, the Owens’s black domestic servant, goes downtown to register to vote, accompanied by Lily. She is harassed and attacked by three racists and ends up in jail where she is beaten again and then taken to hospital. Lily springs Rosaleen from the hospital and they escape to the town of Tiburon, the name of which appears on the back of a picture of a black Madonna that belonged to Lily’s mother.

In Tiburon, Lily and Rosaleen are taken in by three black sisters, August, May, and June Boatwright. They are members of a religious sect led by August called the “Daughters of Mary,” which involves worshipping a wooden statue of Mary that has been passed down since the time of slavery. Most of the novel takes place on the Boatwright’s large rural property, where Lily learns the art of beekeeping from August while also developing confidence in herself. On the Boatwright’s honey farm, Lily begins to see the beauty in life: “I realized it for the first time in my life: there is nothing but mystery in the world, how it hides behind the fabric of our poor, browbeat days, shining brightly, and we don’t even know it.” (p. 63)

I have mixed feelings about this novel. On one hand, it is well written and the characters are delightfully eccentric and sassy. The images of bees and honey as metaphors for the soul and healing work well. Reading this book is like being wrapped up in a big blanket of maternal love. On the other hand, I found it a bit saccharine and unrealistic: things are just too peaceful and idyllic at the honey farm. The story takes place the summer the Civil Rights Act was passed; this was a time of great upheaval and unrest. The honey farm seems to float in bubble outside the political and social reality of its time.

Furthermore, August fits the description of a “mammy.” One could even argue that there are multiple mammies in this novel! According to dictionary.com, a mammy is “a black woman engaged as a nurse to white children or as a servant to a white family.” In the usage notes, it adds, “At the time of the Civil War and into the 20th century, the Southern mammy was characterized as being strong, kind, and loyal. But her image was also that of an overweight, unattractive, and often illiterate household slave. This reinforced racial stereotypes of inferiority and servility.” The Secret Life of Bees continues this racist stereotype without ever problematizing it. August loves and nurtures Lily, just as she did Lily’s mother. In addition to providing Lily with a home, she constantly attends to Lily’s emotional and spiritual needs.

Despite these shortcomings, The Secret Life of Bees is a heartwarming tale of choosing one’s own family and recovering from childhood trauma. As the novel progresses, Lily learns to love and accept love from others, and this is the key to her healing.