The Secret Life Of Bees was recommend to me by a very good friend of mine who said it was a brilliant book and one that I would really enjoy, and I must say that she was more than right. I have enjoyed reading this book so much that I want to read it again and again and again.
It is the story of a young white girl (Lily) and her Negro friend (Rosaleen) who end up an a spot of bother and end up running away from Lily's father, breaking out of jail and numerous other plights. The two are taken in by three Negro bee-keeping sisters who protect them and look after them while they are hiding from Lily's father and the law.
I cannot put my finger on one, single way this book made me feel. I laughed, I cried, I smiled, I got angry, I feared for the other characters, I even loved throughout the course of this book. This, I think, is the sign of an impeccably written book.
To be honest with you, the plot was nothing like I expected it to be, even after reading the blurb, but I cannot fault what has been woven into these pages. The Secret Life Of Bees is an enormously powerful book that represents brilliantly the struggle of coloured men and women in the 1960's and the hostility that they faced from white society. I think that the coming together of races and denominations is fantastic and something that should most definitely be encouraged by all.
My favourite character has to be August Boatwright. I feel like I know her now, I feel like she has taken me under her wing and been there for me through trial and struggle. Of course she is only a fictional character, but she has been so beautifully written that she could very well be real. I admire her bravery and her solidness that she shows throughout everything her and her family are forced to go through; including deaths. She takes everything in her stride and freely admits that everyone needs time to be alone and grieve for their own personal problems in their own way. The thing that I found came across strongest about August was her passionately, pastoral heart which leaked through the pages of the novel and seeped into the reader. The fact that she would rather do something like pain the house bright pink because it helped to keep her sister stable, rather than paint it blue because that was what she wanted and that her her favourite colour. I found there really was a lot to admire in August.
I really felt drawn into the complexity of Lily's character. There are so many layers to her that there is something that everybody can relate to in some form or another, the most difficult part for me, when Lily breaks down admitting her feelings of being unlovable.
I felt that throughout the story, Lily grew up and became a woman. At the beginning of the novel, she seemed no more than a child catching bees in a jam jar, but at the end she had grown and matured into a strong, independent woman who was able to stand up to her Father and tell him what he needed to hear, but still deep inside she still had that child-like longing for a Father who loved her. All the way through we see this battle within Lily, between the part of her that remain a child and be held by her mother, and the part of her that wants to grow up and leave her family behind her, making a fresh start for her adult self, and I think it is really interesting how we see this physically through her actions as well as her thoughts and her speech. The main evidence of this battle is when she's alone in the Honey House and on one occasion she begins throwing jars of honey and making the biggest mess she can, an another time she cannot sleep and so begins a mad, cleaning frenzy. Two completely different activities - One more likely to be done by a girl and the other by a woman.
Over all this really is an incredible book and one that I would definitely recommend. I would probably say that it is more suited to older teens and adults but that's not to say it wouldn't make a good read for anyone younger (however there are taboo terms used throughout). As I mentioned before, it is an incredibly powerful book and definitely a story to combat prejudice and racial discrimination.
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