The Bees in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

May 15, 2014 Kerry rated it really liked it

Shelves: fromthelibrary, iownthis, female-author, talking_animals

[Original review, 2014:]

So . . . this was really great, and I recommend it to everyone.

It's about life in a bee hive. It is (as far as I can tell, though what do I know about bees) (more than I used to!) basically realistic; like, they're not wearing tiny dresses or driving motor cars or anything. (Looking at you, Wind in the Willows !!) They're a colony of (almost entirely) female bees, of different castes, doing their respective jobs and communicating via scent and it's all quite fascinatin [Original review, 2014:]

So . . . this was really great, and I recommend it to everyone.

It's about life in a bee hive. It is (as far as I can tell, though what do I know about bees) (more than I used to!) basically realistic; like, they're not wearing tiny dresses or driving motor cars or anything. (Looking at you, Wind in the Willows !!) They're a colony of (almost entirely) female bees, of different castes, doing their respective jobs and communicating via scent and it's all quite fascinating.

So there are all these blurbs for this book floating around about how it's a "dystopia" and comparisons are made to The Handmaid's Tale, etc. I get what they're saying but . . . this is about bees. Not people. Bees NEED to work as a hive, they need to function as a unit in order to survive. So it's not like that's a BAD thing. I mean on the one hand it's sad when an individual bee dies -- especially if we just got to know her -- but on the other, the Queen is laying like a THOUSAND eggs at a time. You know? It's the survival of the hive that is important, not the life of any one bee.

So, yes! Bees! Crazy, violent bees who will rip you apart and laugh as their faces are splashed with your blood! I mean not YOURS, you're a person. But maybe some otherbee.

[Review 2020:]

So I read this book again, and I'll be in my third season of keeping bees this spring, so I know a bit more about bee biology and life cycles and whatnot. That context made me enjoy it in a slightly different way I think.

Of course it isn't completely realistic, and that's fine, it would be boring if it were -- for example they talk about big rooms and corridors and such, and it's hard to picture how that would work in a Langstrom hive (which I think this is). But that's okay. It works for the story. I did think it was odd that bees were often killing other bees with their venomous daggers, and then living to tell the tale. I mean it's one thing to know that only the queen can lay female bees (because when a worker bee lays an egg, it's unfertilized, so can only be a male), but the sting-once-and-then-yer-dead thing is pretty universally known, no? Not a big deal, just something I noticed.

Overall though it's a great description of a little less than a year in the life of the beehive. When I'm thinking about my own bees, it's helpful to me to remember this story, and what they're doing at a certain point of the year, where their energy is being spent, etc. And I wonder if I would have decided to keep bees if I hadn't've read this book? Maybe not? Because I sure did find them fascinating after reading this the first time. Especially what they do to the drones . . .

I still like this book and recommend it. Bees are great. And to reiterate what I only mentioned in my first review, almost all of the characters are female, because only one in a hundred bees is a male. So as always, it's nice to read a book that's mostly about women. Wobees. ...more

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Aug 04, 2017 Erin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: post-apocalypse-dystopia

No idea how I found this book, but I really enjoyed it. Flora 717 is born a worker bee, and in sanitation - the lowest of the low within the hive. But through a swirl of events, circumstance and help from others (I always hoped Flora was well aware of the sacrifice of others) we see all aspects of the hive, high to low and Flora experiences the full range of human? bee? universal? experiences and emotions throughout her wonderful, sometimes terrible life - for life in the hive is ordered (though ...more

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Aug 29, 2018 Wellington rated it really liked it

This was an amazing book. It follows a bee named Flora 717 through her life in her beehive. There is intrigue, love, family dynamics. The author had a wonderful way of portraying the bees and what life is like in a beehive. Flora is a great character. We are shown her life from when she is born and how she is set on her path through an interesting choice made by another bee. I hope this author writes another book as I would definitely check it out.

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