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A review of The Secret Life of Bees

by Sue Monk Kidd

Beautiful coming of age story about a young girl, Lily, who is not getting the love she needs from her aggressive father.

Reviewed by: Ashley E. Underell
About Ashley E. Underell

The Secret Life of Bees The Secret Life of Bees is a beautifully depicted coming of age story set in the 1960’s on a Georgia peach farm. Treading through adolescents, Lily Owens dreams of having her father love her, and her mother alive. In a terrible accident Lily’s mother gets shot by Lily when Lily is only four years old. With guilt and yearning to know who her mother was Lily sets on an adventure with her nanny/maid Rosaleen, who has just been tossed In jail and beaten for spitting on the shoes of white men on her way to register to vote. Lily is quick in escaping Rosaleen and the two of them set out to Tiburon, South Carolina in search of clues of Lily’s mothers life before it was tragically taken by Lily herself.

This story is so well painted that the colors leap from the page, and the reader is every part of the story. It is a tale of finding out who one really is through other people, places and things. The last thing Lily had of her belongings as a black Madonna, that had Tiburon, South Carolina etched on the backside. Tiburon, South Carolina Rosaleen and Lily headed. Along the way, Lily and Rosaleen come in contact with strong, sensitive and displaced sister who bring them into their home and adopt them as family in Tiburon, where Lily is sure to find clues of her mother.

The characters of the three black sisters illuminate the story and give life to the pages. August and her sisters May, and June. The three sisters take a maternal role over Lily and even Rosaleen, and life in the house begins to work like a clean engine. Lily learns the trade of beekeeping on long hot afternoons with August. Rosaleen finds a dear friend in May, and June feels left out and a little jealous of the pull and affect young Lily has on the women soon to be her family.

Through the story Lily learns of love, a real love, one she could not scrape up at home in Georgia. Lily learns about her own guilt of the accident and how much it truly affects her everyday life. Through a web of love, forgiveness of self, and with the beauty of time, Lily grows to learn of her young strength and needs, because she is given love and tools to help guide her though her days.

The Secret Life of Bees is so colorful and woven together so thoughtfully it will make your heart hungry for more. It is beautifully pieced together and the characters are so big it is like a wild dance across each page. This is a novel you would give to all the amazing and wonderful women in your life, to say, I am thinking of you, and I love you.

Click here to buy this book, or read more about it at Amazon.com: The Secret Life of Bees

Copyright © by Ashley E. Underell, 2002

Reviewed by Ashley E. Underell:
-- The Secret Life of Bees - by Sue Monk Kidd
-- Cowboys Are My Weakness - by Pam Houston
-- Talk Before Sleep - by Elizabeth Berg
-- House of Sand and Fog - by Andre Dubios III









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