the secret life of bees
-sue monk kidd
penguin books
you know that feeling you get when someone you care about is hurting...where you've been almost exactly where they are and you actually, truly know how they feel and want nothing more than to be able to take their hurt away? that's how i felt with almost every page of this book. the story of 14-year-old lily owens is, above all, loving & tender. lily is growing up in south carolina in the year of the civil rights act. other than her early childhood memories, she has very few facts surrounding the death of her mother. she's grown up enduring her volatile father, t. ray, a hard-working peach farmer who offers more affection to his dog than his daughter. but the family housekeeper, rosaleen, offers lily a soft place to land when the trials of t. ray and adolescence weigh too heavily on her shoulders.
when rosaleen's attempt to register to vote goes awry, lily & the housekeeper find themselves fleeing the police and t. ray. lily decides to lead them to tiburon, south carolina, a town she is drawn to on account of one of her mother's belongings. the two find themselves living and working with the calendar sisters--three black women who live in pepto bismol pink house. lily explores the world of beekeeping, honey and an unbreakable sisterhood and ends up with more answers to the mystery of her mother than she could have imagined.
i bought this book for $3 last summer after reading another novel by the author. halfway through the story i found myself thinking, 'meh, i think i liked the mermaid chair better.' tonight i finished the book and all i can say now is that i loved them both. i thought i could make it through the secret life of bees without crying. and i nearly did! but i am not kidding you it was the last paragraph (the LAST paragraph!) that got me misty. for those of you jump-aheaders, don't bother reading just the last paragraph, i promise you it won't mean much without the full story.
as to be expected, the movie version of this story was released last year. i have not yet seen the film. and while i think the chosen cast will be good, i am a bit apprehensive that paul bettany is playing t. ray. i have no doubt he'll be fantastic, but i have a soft spot in my heart for bettany's performance as geoffrey chaucer in 'a knight's tale'....to see him angry & violent might break my heart!
so, one book down, forty five to go! next on the list is.....
.....sark's creative companion!
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queen substance.
15 January 2009
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WOO HOO!!! Sounds good - I'll have to look for it next time i'm out :)