The Secret Life of Bees

My book-club liked it more than I did, although I was the one who picked it out. It was a good book, I just don't think it will be that memorable to me in the long run.

Ms Kidd knows how to make a story live and develop characters outstandingly. This story of 14 year old Lily on a North Carolina peach farm and her adventures to get away from her abusive dad will tug at your heart strings. Thank you for this lovely book and believe it or not this great movie. But read the book first.

it took awhile for me get into it but after that i really like it! can't wait to see the movie! it was moving and i loved it!

It was cute, I'll give it that. And being a true southerner, I did enjoy some of the cultural references, but I have a really hard time believing this book was written for an adult audience. I think it would really appeal to a girl the same age as (or a little younger than) the first-person narrator, a girl of 15. But as a thirty-something-year-old woman, it left me intellectually and emotionally hungry. The style of writing is pleasant (reminiscent of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter) but the content is lacking. The ideas are there, but the execution is too juvenile to make it believable. If you're old enough to drive, skip the book and just see the movie and save yourself several hours. I wish I had.

The Secret Lives of Bees is easily my favorite. I read it quiet a while ago, and recently re-read it. I fell in love with May, June and August all over again. The chemisty between the characters is vivid. There is not many books out there that I can picture/imagine as I read it, except this one. Each sentence I read is like I am watching or I am actually there. The authors diction pulls the audience in and captures you. This is a fast read, which also makes it very enjoyable. From begining, middle, to end I was hooked all the way through. I also appreciated the potilical relevance to this particular time period as it takes place in the 1960's, the heart of civil rights movement. After reading the Secret Lives of Bees I tried picking up her Mermaid book but did not find it half as good as this one. I would recommend this book to anyone female of any age. I would especially recommend reading it before the movie comes out, which looks fantastic.