Book Review–The Secret Life of Bees

The Secret Life of Bees is a phenomenal story about finding love and a family in unexpected places. Sue Monk Kidd is my idol. I aspire to write on her level someday.

Here’s my annotated version of the Barnes and Noble overview:

“Lily Owens’ life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily’s fierce-hearted “stand-in mother,” Rosaleen, insults three of the town’s fiercest racists (in 1964 South Carolina), Lily decides they should both escape to Tiburon—a town that holds the secret to her mother’s past. There they are taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters who introduce Lily to a mesmerizing world of bees, honey, and the Black Madonna who presides over their household.”

I was entranced by the writing.

I fell in love with every single character so much so that I wanted to know what happened to them after the book ended. As if I didn’t quite believe they lived only inside the pages of this novel.

Though this is a character driven novel, the plot is strong and kept me wondering what would happen next.

Here are some of my favorite lines from the book…

“But you can’t talk yourself out of anger. Either you are angry or you’re not.”

“Sometimes things of magnitude settle over you with excruciating slowness.”

If I had to describe this book in one word?

Life-changing.