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The Secret Life of Bees | 
| Author: Sue Monk Kidd
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy Used: $0.76
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Rating:  1384 reviews
Sales Rank: 402
Media: Paperback
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 0.6
ISBN: 0142001740
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780142001745
ASIN: 0142001740
Publication Date: January 28, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
In Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees, 14-year-old Lily Owen, neglected by her father and isolated on their Georgia peach farm, spends hours imagining a blissful infancy when she was loved and nurtured by her mother, Deborah, whom she barely remembers. These consoling fantasies are her heart's answer to the family story that as a child, in unclear circumstances, Lily accidentally shot and killed her mother. All Lily has left of Deborah is a strange image of a Black Madonna, with the words "Tiburon, South Carolina" scrawled on the back. The search for a mother, and the need to mother oneself, are crucial elements in this well-written coming-of-age story set in the early 1960s against a background of racial violence and unrest. When Lily's beloved nanny, Rosaleen, manages to insult a group of angry white men on her way to register to vote and has to skip town, Lily takes the opportunity to go with her, fleeing to the only place she can think of--Tiburon, South Carolina--determined to find out more about her dead mother. Although the plot threads are too neatly trimmed, The Secret Life of Bees is a carefully crafted novel with an inspired depiction of character. The legend of the Black Madonna and the brave, kind, peculiar women who perpetuate Lily's story dominate the second half of the book, placing Kidd's debut novel squarely in the honored tradition of the Southern Gothic. --Regina Marler
Product Description
Sue Monk Kidd's ravishing debut novel has stolen the hearts of reviewers and readers alike with its strong, assured voice. Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose 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, Lily decides they should both escape to Tiburon, South Carolina--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. This is a remarkable story about divine female power and the transforming power of love--a story that women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 45 more reviews...
 Amazing August 22, 2008
Kim Means
this is a truly inspiring book, Kidd is an incredible author. Gives readers a view into what life was like back in the 60's for black people. Inspiring tale of self journey, and family
 a pretty good read August 21, 2008
S. Johnson (Stockton, CA, USA)
The book is more aimed at someone between the ages of 12-16, particularly female. Kidd portrays well the frailty of this girl, coupled with her insecurities and joys. Her relationships to the people around her are those I find unreal a little bit- saintly people who are completely forgiving. although the main character is real enough, the people around her settings seem fake, enough so that it makes it hard to relate. your call people!
Goes down easy, but it ain't exactly fluff August 15, 2008
Kaitlin Allen (America's High Five)
After being decidedly unimpressed with the first Sue Monk Kidd book I read (The Mermaid Chair), I was afraid this one would be similarly the literary equivalent of a Lifetime movie. I was pleasantly surprised: while it has the same airy style that enables you to motor through the pages, it has substantially more weight.
The characters are engaging and believable (another reviewer questions why the protagonist doesn't act terribly mature, but she IS only a teenager after all!), and the plot includes historical and personal drama (African Americans gaining the right to vote and socially oppressed people's responses to racism).
This is also a rare novel in that while many would consider it to be in the genre of Beach Book, the women depicted are not superficial and do not seem like 2-dimensional "yay, girl power!" characters. They are strong, smart, conflicted women who are determined to make the world what they want it to be, whether questioning racism, letting newfound sexuality develop, or even creating a new religion.
Bee's August 14, 2008
Jennifer S. Camp (Long Beach CA)
I enjoyed this so much. It has a "To Kill A Mockingbird" feel to it. I couldn't put it down. I hope everyone enjoys this as much as I did.
 Disappointing August 11, 2008
M. Garrett (Houston, TX USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm still trying to figure out what all the rave is about. This book was a huge disappointment. It started out with potential, and then fizzled around discovery of the "pink house". It was the same mumbo over and over again. Also, the author should have done more research on African American lives in the 1960s, particularly in the South, and paid close attention to their religious views. I can see a cult-like religion amoung a group of women in Louisiana, but South Carolina--hardly! And Lily discusses all the racial tension and unrest that is happening in the town, yet she is always in a truck with Zach (a black teenager, with a very dark complexion), and no one notices this or says anything about it--what! I think had the story been written in a narrative voice, it would have been a lot better. The other characters would have been a lot stronger and it would have given more to the story. As it is, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, and I definately don't want to see the movie.
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