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The Secret Life of Bees
by Sue Monk Kidd

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37435.The_Secret_Life_of_Bees?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The Secret Life of Bees" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1168915404m/37435.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37435.The_Secret_Life_of_Bees?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">The Secret Life of Bees</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4711.Sue_Monk_Kidd">Sue Monk Kidd</a><br/><br/>
  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8634495?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
  rating: 5 of 5 stars<br/>This book is set in the south in 1964. Lily, a 14-year-old white girl is heading to town on the Fourth of July, her birthday. The Civil Rights Amendment has just passed. Rosaleen, the black woman who has raised her since her mother’s death when she was four years old, is heading into town to register to vote. Some red-neck white boys start to give them a bad time and for whatever reason, Rosaleen decides to empty her snuff jug on top of their shoes. They immediately start to beat up on her and she ends up in jail. In the meantime, Lily’s abusive father picks her up, takes her home and tells her to wait there while he deals with his orchard workers, that he will deal with her when he gets back. Lily packs a bag of clothes along with a photograph of her mother and a picture of her mother’s of a black Madonna with ‘Tiburon, SC’ written on the back. She heads into town to see Rosaleen and finds out she’s in the hospital because the sheriff let the white boys who beat her into her cell so she could apologize. Lily springs Rosaleen from the hospital and they hitchhike to Tiburon. 
<br/>	When Lily goes into a store to get them something to eat she sees jars of honey with the same black Madonna on them as her picture. She asks where the honey came from and is directed to a bright pink house outside of town. There are three sisters living there. August is the beekeeper, June is the school teacher and May takes care of the house. When they tell the women they have no place to stay, they let them stay in the bee shed out back. 
<br/>	The women have many women friends and they all collect around the pink house. This is the first time in Lily’s life that she has ever felt like she belonged. It’s kind of like a beehive. I think the Queen could be the ‘Mary’ that used to be on a ship’s masthead because everyone cares for it and celebrates around it. The figure has one hand on her heart and the other in a fist lifted in defiance – kind of symbolizing the black woman’s spirit (like Rosaleen dumping her snuff jar and then not apologizing). They all have their jobs to do to keep the ‘hive’ going. 
<br/>	I loved this book.
  <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/564223?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Kathaileen's review
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bookshelves: novels

** spoiler alert ** This book is set in the south in 1964. Lily, a 14-year-old white girl is heading to town on the Fourth of July, her birthday. The Civil Rights Amendment has just passed. Rosaleen, the black woman who has raised her since her mother’s death when she was four years old, is heading into town to register to vote. Some red-neck white boys start to give them a bad time and for whatever reason, Rosaleen decides to empty her snuff jug on top of their shoes. They immediately start to beat up on her and she ends up in jail. In the meantime, Lily’s abusive father picks her up, takes her home and tells her to wait there while he deals with his orchard workers, that he will deal with her when he gets back. Lily packs a bag of clothes along with a photograph of her mother and a picture of her mother’s of a black Madonna with ‘Tiburon, SC’ written on the back. She heads into town to see Rosaleen and finds out she’s in the hospital because the sheriff let the white boys who beat her into h...more This book is set in the south in 1964. Lily, a 14-year-old white girl is heading to town on the Fourth of July, her birthday. The Civil Rights Amendment has just passed. Rosaleen, the black woman who has raised her since her mother’s death when she was four years old, is heading into town to register to vote. Some red-neck white boys start to give them a bad time and for whatever reason, Rosaleen decides to empty her snuff jug on top of their shoes. They immediately start to beat up on her and she ends up in jail. In the meantime, Lily’s abusive father picks her up, takes her home and tells her to wait there while he deals with his orchard workers, that he will deal with her when he gets back. Lily packs a bag of clothes along with a photograph of her mother and a picture of her mother’s of a black Madonna with ‘Tiburon, SC’ written on the back. She heads into town to see Rosaleen and finds out she’s in the hospital because the sheriff let the white boys who beat her into her cell so she could apologize. Lily springs Rosaleen from the hospital and they hitchhike to Tiburon.
When Lily goes into a store to get them something to eat she sees jars of honey with the same black Madonna on them as her picture. She asks where the honey came from and is directed to a bright pink house outside of town. There are three sisters living there. August is the beekeeper, June is the school teacher and May takes care of the house. When they tell the women they have no place to stay, they let them stay in the bee shed out back.
The women have many women friends and they all collect around the pink house. This is the first time in Lily’s life that she has ever felt like she belonged. It’s kind of like a beehive. I think the Queen could be the ‘Mary’ that used to be on a ship’s masthead because everyone cares for it and celebrates around it. The figure has one hand on her heart and the other in a fist lifted in defiance – kind of symbolizing the black woman’s spirit (like Rosaleen dumping her snuff jar and then not apologizing). They all have their jobs to do to keep the ‘hive’ going.
I loved this book....less

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