false 251762 18 In Myla Goldberg's outstanding first novel, a family is shaken apart by a small but unexpected shift in the prospects of one of its members. When 9-year-old Eliza Naumann, an otherwise indifferent student, takes first prize in her school spelling bee, it is as if rays of light have begun to emanate from her head. Teachers regard her with a new fondness; the studious girls begin to save a place for her at lunch. Even Eliza can sense herself changing. She had "often felt that her outsides were too dull for her insides, that deep within her there was something better than what everyone else could see." <p> Eliza's father, Saul, a scholar and cantor, had long since given up expecting sparks of brilliance on her part. While her brother, Aaron, had taken pride in reciting his Bar Mitzvah prayers from memory, she had typically preferred television reruns to homework or reading. This belated evidence of a miraculous talent encourages Saul to reassess his daughter. And after she wins the statewide bee, he begins tutoring her for the national competition, devoting to Eliza the hours he once spent with Aaron. His daughter flowers under his care, eventually coming to look at life "in alphabetical terms." "Consonants are the camels of language," she realizes, "proudly carrying their lingual loads." <blockquote> Vowels, however, are a different species, the fish that flash and glisten in the watery depths. Vowels are elastic and inconstant, fickle and unfaithful.... Before the bee, Eliza had been a consonant, slow and unsurprising. With her bee success, she has entered vowelhood. </blockquote> When Saul sees the state of transcendence that she effortlessly achieves in competition, he encourages his daughter to explore the mystical states that have eluded him--the influx of God-knowledge (<I>shefa</I>) described by the Kabbalist Abraham Abulafia. Although Saul has little idea what he has set in motion, "even the sound of Abulafia's name sets off music in her head. A-bu-la-fi-a. It's magic, the open sesame that unblocked the path to her father and then to language itself." <p> Meanwhile, stunned by his father's defection, Aaron begins a troubling religious quest. Eliza's brainy, compulsive mother is also unmoored by her success. The spelling champion's newfound gift for concentration reminds Miriam of herself as a girl, and she feels a pang for not having seen her daughter more clearly before. But Eliza's clumsy response to Miriam's overtures convinces her mother that she has no real ties to her daughter. This final disappointment precipitates her departure into a stunning secret life. The reader is left wondering what would have happened if the Naumanns' spiritual thirsts had not been set in restless motion. A poignant and exceptionally well crafted tale, <i>Bee Season</i> has a slow beginning but a tour-de-force conclusion. <I>--Regina Marler</I> 2482870 15 5 2000 Bee Season total:6493|5:965|4:2276|3:2206|2:798|1:248| 6493 22391 7826 678 251762 0385498802 9780385498807 6105 622 3.45 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173149520m/251762.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251762.Bee_Season 2 2 false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Wed Jun 11 19:24:30 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 11 19:42:33 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1123087 1419358286 9781419358289 10 4 3.45 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1181179624m/1123087.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1123087.Bee_Season 3 1 false Wed Dec 24 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 31 15:21:16 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 31 15:30:19 -0800 2008
I won't put any spoilers here, so d...more...]]> 251762 0385498802 9780385498807 6105 622 3.45 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173149520m/251762.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251762.Bee_Season 2 1 false Tue Jul 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Feb 11 22:23:17 -0800 2008 Tue Jul 22 16:19:09 -0700 2008
I really was excited about this novel because I'm a sucker for any young-girl-coming-of-age novel, but this one left me flat at the end. I couldn't stop reading, but ...more...]]> 251762 0385498802 9780385498807 6105 622 3.45 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173149520m/251762.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251762.Bee_Season 2 2 true Fri Mar 28 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Feb 02 12:46:02 -0800 2008 Fri Mar 28 14:26:49 -0700 2008 more...]]> 251762 0385498802 9780385498807 6105 622 3.45 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173149520m/251762.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251762.Bee_Season 3 2 false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Fri Jun 22 19:46:09 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 22 20:20:16 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5040 0307276856 9780307276858 153 20 3.45 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165517375m/5040.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5040.Bee_Season 3 1 false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Apr 04 10:31:24 -0700 2007 Wed Apr 04 11:15:22 -0700 2007 more...]]> 251762 0385498802 9780385498807 6105 622 3.45 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173149520m/251762.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251762.Bee_Season 1 1 false Tue May 27 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Apr 20 13:43:34 -0700 2008 Tue May 27 13:35:48 -0700 2008
Baiscally this book is about a disfunctional jewish family. Eliza, who is at first mentally challenged, soon becomes a spelling bee champ. Saul, her father, drops guitar lessons with his s...more...]]> 251762 0385498802 9780385498807 6105 622 3.45 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173149520m/251762.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251762.Bee_Season 2 1 false Sun Mar 16 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Mar 02 01:13:10 -0800 2008 Sun Mar 02 01:13:10 -0800 2008 more...]]> 251762 0385498802 9780385498807 6105 622 3.45 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173149520m/251762.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251762.Bee_Season 4 1 false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sat Jun 23 09:41:40 -0700 2007 Sat Jun 23 09:45:32 -0700 2007
As an aside, there's an Indian boy whose par...more...]]> 251762 0385498802 9780385498807 6105 622 3.45 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173149520m/251762.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251762.Bee_Season 5 0 false Sun Jan 25 05:07:59 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 25 07:16:42 -0800 2009 more...]]> 251762 0385498802 9780385498807 6105 622 3.45 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173149520m/251762.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251762.Bee_Season 3 0 false Sun Oct 25 14:28:02 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 25 14:28:14 -0700 2009 Eliza a second grader is not your ...more...]]> 251762 0385498802 9780385498807 6105 622 3.45 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173149520m/251762.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251762.Bee_Season 5 2 false Mon May 04 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue May 05 08:38:46 -0700 2009 Tue May 05 09:12:50 -0700 2009 Bee Season exists at the baffling intersection of Spelling Bees, Jewish mysticism, Hare Krishna recruitment, and mental illness. Each family member has a sort of unconventional relationship with the others, although it's difficult to see how very strange things are until they start to fall apart. (O...more...]]> 251762 0385498802 9780385498807 6105 622 3.45 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173149520m/251762.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251762.Bee_Season 4 0 false Fri Dec 12 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 10 19:51:25 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 12 14:07:33 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5040 0307276856 9780307276858 153 20 3.45 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165517375m/5040.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5040.Bee_Season 2 1 false Sat Feb 02 18:37:11 -0800 2008 Wed Mar 07 18:37:55 -0800 2007 Wed Mar 07 18:40:23 -0800 2007 more...]]> 251762 0385498802 9780385498807 6105 622 3.45 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173149520m/251762.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251762.Bee_Season 4 0 false Fri Mar 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 15 17:34:10 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 21 14:01:14 -0700 2009 more...]]> 251762 0385498802 9780385498807 6105 622 3.45 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173149520m/251762.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251762.Bee_Season 0 0 false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jan 05 18:52:32 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 05 18:53:13 -0800 2009
Publisher’s note:
Eliza Naumann, a seemingly unremarkable 9-year-old, expects never to fit into her gifted family: her autodidact father, Saul, absorbed in his study of...more...]]> 5040 0307276856 9780307276858 153 20 3.45 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165517375m/5040.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5040.Bee_Season 2 1 false Fri Jun 01 15:38:01 -0700 2007 Thu Jun 07 13:27:17 -0700 2007
I get it! Young Jewish writers are conflicted about spirituality! And sex! And most of them feel like their parents did or didn't push them academically!

She f...more...]]> 251762 0385498802 9780385498807 6105 622 3.45 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173149520m/251762.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251762.Bee_Season 3 0 false Mon Mar 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 25 08:17:32 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 29 20:26:13 -0700 2009
I started on Bee Season not realising that I'd already seen the movie adaptation. A few times actually, when it did its' rounds on HBO; and enjoyed every screening. It was only a few pages into the book did I real...more...]]> 251762 0385498802 9780385498807 6105 622 3.45 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173149520m/251762.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251762.Bee_Season 4 0 false Sun May 31 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed May 13 18:52:49 -0700 2009 Sun May 31 07:46:27 -0700 2009
Still, the book, of course, was richer. Here's why: The book's fou...more...]]> 251762 0385498802 9780385498807 6105 622 3.45 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173149520m/251762.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251762.Bee_Season 4 0 false Thu Apr 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 15 08:45:55 -0700 2009 Sat May 02 22:25:57 -0700 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/1?book_id=7029325 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/3?book_id=7029325 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/2?book_id=7029325 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=7029325 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/4?book_id=7029325 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/5?book_id=7029325 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/6?book_id=7029325 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/7?book_id=7029325 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/9?book_id=7029325 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/10?book_id=7029325