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What Members Thought
A slow read, but hauntingly beautiful at the same time. The writing is very lyrical.
The opening scene of the first chapter chronicles the birth of a worker bee in a hive, Flora 717. The rest of the book follows her through her life span, from sanitation worker to forager to much more. Through a face-off with multiple wasps and spiders to fending off the interests of a few drones to the desperate hunt for decay and pollen and the desire for the Queen's loving scent, I developed an appreciation for the challenging world of a bee hive. Although I'm certain that much of Flora's lif
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Honestly, I'm not even sure what I just listened to. Or why I liked it. Or what this story was supposed to tell/teach me. I have no idea what I think of this, but I did enjoy it.
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POPSUGAR prompt 12 (book from an animal's POV)
Flora 717 is born a sanitation worker bee but is soon discovered to have an intellectual gift that Sister Sage, the priestess finds intriguing. Flora 717 begins to find her place in the hive while facing dangers both within the hive and outside the hive. My dad was an amateur beekeeper, so I've always had a fascination with bees. Laline Paull gives the colony such a rich history that I found myself engrossed and engaged in her text. The Bees is a dys ...more
Flora 717 is born a sanitation worker bee but is soon discovered to have an intellectual gift that Sister Sage, the priestess finds intriguing. Flora 717 begins to find her place in the hive while facing dangers both within the hive and outside the hive. My dad was an amateur beekeeper, so I've always had a fascination with bees. Laline Paull gives the colony such a rich history that I found myself engrossed and engaged in her text. The Bees is a dys ...more
I tried to like this book as I had heard so many good things about it - and truly, some of the writing is beautiful - but I just couldn't get into it. It has been compared to Watership Down but I disagree. In that book you got to know and feel for the characters but in The Bees, the characters are not given voices - other than randomly when a point needs to be made. Lots of care and knowledge went into this book but I just couldn't like it.
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Very imaginative and well-written. I admired it, but had trouble staying focused on it.
May 14, 2014
Crystal
marked it as to-read
Jul 27, 2014
Evie
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Mar 11, 2015
Collin
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May 30, 2015
Kelly
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Jul 29, 2015
Tonya
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Dec 04, 2016
Karen Pirrung
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Jun 19, 2019
Lee Kimball
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Jun 25, 2021
shannon
marked it as to-read
Mar 18, 2023
Ketutar Jensen
marked it as to-read
