The Secret Life of Bees: A tale of what the true meaning of family is, and the unsuspecting places we find love. “Every little thing just wants to be loved. ” Love all around is the main idea of The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Mink Kidd published by the Penguin Group. The Secret Life of Bees has sold over 6 million copies, been recognized by New York Times, Good Morning America, and various other orginizations, and has been published in at least 35 countries.
Fried Green Tomatoes at The Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg can be compared to The Secret Life of Bees because they both take place in a time multiple decades ago, have African-American freedom rights as subject matter, and focus on a younger girl and a middle aged to elderly woman. I chose The Secret Life of Bees specifically because the main character in the book is aproximately my age, and therefore would be easier to relate to. Overall this book was very enjoyable, and made me personally care about the characters and their lives. Lily Owens is a fourteen year old white girl living in Sylvan, South Carolina.
She has black hair, but it is mostly a nest of cowlicks, to match her “Pentecostal” non-fashionable clothing. Lily is an intelligent girl that gets through many of her problems, such as being mentally and physically abused by her father, by having an absurd sense of humor. Throughout the story she is determined, takes action to fight for what she loves, and also fights against what she views as injustices. Lily is stuck in a home with an abusive widowed father, and an African American caretaker, Rosaleen, that knows even less of fashion than her out-ofthe-loop father, making her an outcast at school.
Lily doesn’t remember much of her mother, and is filled with a whole of what could have been. After an incident where Rosaleen is sent to jail, Lily is determined to break her out for fear Rosaleen would be beaten from a racist man with a grudge on her. After breaking Rosalyn out of jail Lily must stay on the run turning her whole life is she knew it into turmoil. Overtime Lily comes to realize that she doesn’t need her mother as she acquires more motherly figures then she thought possible. Lily matures a lot through her trials, and taking command of her own life. I think through the course of the story Lily matures into a nice young woman.
The Boatright sisters are who Lily runs to on a chase to find more about what little she knows about her mother. She finds out that somehow the Boatright sisters are connected to her mother and are determined to figure out how. Eventually Lily looks up to the Boatright sisters as something such as mother figures. Zach Taylor is an African American boy who is determined to be a lawyer in a world where only white men are accepted into law school. Zachs determination and love for what he desires rubs off on Lily and he is able to convince her to start writing. Zach falls in love with Lily and promises her that they will be together.
A world of longing and guilt for her late mother are on Lily Owens shoulders. Her abusive father blames Lily for the death of her mother, not that he seems to care much about it, just enough to point fingers. After an incident involving her AfricanAmerican care-taker forces Lily to run, she searches for any little traces of her mother she can possibly find. Her search brings her to the Boatright sisters, where she finds a home, answers, and more of motherly figures then she would have if her mother hadn’t died. The Secret Life of Bees is a coming of age fiction novel written by Sue Monk Kidd.
The story is set in the early to id 1960s where plaid mid thigh kilts and cashmere twinsets were in style, not that Lily Owens had ever been able to experience this fashion statement due to her fathers strict ways. Lily starts in Sylvan, South Carolina, but in her search for her mother she moves the story along to Tiburon, South Carolina. The books mood is serious, due to death, injury, and other hard circumstances. Lily fights through these rough circumstances making the mood of the book also inspirational. The main lesson learned is said by a character named August whom employs Lily “Most people don’t have any idea about all the complicated life going on inside hive.
Bees have a secret life we don’t know anything about. ” This goes along with the famous quote “don’t judge a book by its cover”, because you cant always see whats going on inside a persons hive. I think the authors style and craft of the story is splendid. She gave the book a feel of being inspirational in they way she used vocabulary. “This is the autumn of wonders” the way Kidd uses the word autumn and wonders gives the sentence a wistful feel. “glided past T. Ray’s room in silence, sliding my arms and legs like a skater on ice. ” Kidd uses a simile and many other literary devices to make her style and craft something to strive for.
The quality of her writing is good, but I would say it seems aimed for a younger audience in the way its worded. Which seems strange because some of the content doesn’t suggest its aimed for a younger audience. The pacing was efficient. It wasn’t anything to marvel over, because in the middle the pace was very slow and in some parts painful to keep reading during. The theme is very strong and is one of my favorite parts of the story. The theme is almost hidden inside a single quote said by a character, but if you are looking for it the theme is clear as day. I think Kidd did an amazing job with creating a flawless theme in her story.
I thought this book had an impeccably strong theme that is very impressive, and I truly enjoyed it. When the book wasn’t focusing on the main theme of the book it was slow and a little boring, which I did not enjoy. I would recommend this to a person who doesn’t get bored easily and is looking for a book with a great theme. This books seems to be a good book for preteens or young teens, because they could relate in age to the main character. I give this book a 3 out of 5 stars. That rating is due to the fact that the only really enjoyable part of the book to me was when the author was talking about theme.
