Thursday, May 03, 2007

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

(yeah that is the authors real name)

"Honeybees depend not only on physical contact with the colony but also require its social companionship and support. Isolate a honeybee from her sisters and she will soon die."
-The Queen Must Die And Other Affairs Of The Bees And Men

This was a great book! This is a book about a girl that finds a new family or sisterhood somewhere unexpected and goes on a journey of healing. The book also introduces a new thing to me...a Black Madonna. hmmm!

A young girl accidentally kills her mother when she was 4 yrs. old and then has to live with her really mean father. Of course she runs away and finds a new "mom". The story unravels so nicely and throughout the book life is compared to a beehive. The girl is so lonely but she finds love from so many people, all are black which she doesn't seem to mind although all around her people think that is strange. She also starts to understand about the world around her and sees it in a new way. The story takes place right around the time the Civil Rights Act is passed and Black and White families are mixed in society, going to the same theaters and sitting next to each other, registering to vote and attending the same schools, no more segregation. South Carolina is a hard place to be during this time. Many people are still living in the past and can't get over prejudices. Even the police are sometimes bad.

The Story mainly focused on mothers and the women who become our true mothers. Love is so remarkable. The girl finds herself and learns to live again. This was such a great Healing book. I would read it again someday and probably get a bunch more out of it that I missed this time. I think Bees are really amazing creatures and we could learn a lot from them.

1 comment:

bug girl said...

Cindy and the girls gave me this book when I graduated. I really enjoyed it. I should re-read it, it's been long enough and I can only sort of remember the story.