Secret_Life_of_Bees_Review

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd Anger is rushing through her body as if it is adrenaline; Lily quickly seizes the honey jars and hurls them at the wall and shattered glass spews everywhere. This specific scene is when Lily, the protagonist, finally releases all of her regret and anger, in the novel The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. Tiburon and Sylvan, South Carolina in 1964 is when this story takes place. The genre of this genuinely written story is bildungsroman, which is about the maturing, education, and development of the main character. It is three hundred two pages. A person who doesn’t really know who they are or where they are going would love to read this because that is the whole moral of the book, or someone who likes a little romance, a bit of tragedy, drama, and even action. The main character, Lily Owens, is a fourteen year old girl who is loving, intelligent, hard working, and loves to write. She loses her mother when she is four, and her only memory of her is the day she had died. Lily is left to live with her cruel, harsh father, T. Ray. She eventually gets a nanny, Rosaleen. Before, Rosaleen was working in T. Ray’s peach farm. One day, Lily and Rosaleen leave Sylvan and T. Ray. They travel to Tiburon, South Carolina in hope of finding out about her mother’s past. They stay at the Boatwright sisters’ house. The sisters once knew Deborah Fontanel, Lily’s mother. August Boatwright used to be Deborah’s nanny. She’s able to fill in Lily about everything she has wanted to know and some pieces of information that makes her hate, love, pity, and admire her mother all at once. Throughout the course of Lily’s life she has experienced multiple events and feelings. Of course, the biggest event that’s happened to her is her mom dying, while trailing behind nothing but one heartbreaking memory. Also, she hates her own father; he makes her kneel on grits, sell peaches in the blazing sun and hurts her if she tries reading while doing it, slaps her, curses, yells, tells dreadful lies for a punishment, and has her get him his food and perform other work like she’s a slave. Moreover, Lily experiences love with Zachary Taylor, all the Boatwright sisters, Rosaleen, and practically everyone she meets while in Tiburon. This book deserves a ten out of ten. Reading this story is definitely worthwhile. It captures the reader’s interest immediately with the complicated life and relationships Lily Owens has. The dialogue holds the reader’s attention as well because of dialect; some of the words they say are from south and are not said as much in other places. The ending is completely surprising because of an unbelievable decision that’s made by someone unexpectedly. Overall, The Secret Life of Bees is a captivating, heartwarming, ingratiating, and romantic novel that can blow anyone away with its brilliant topic.