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My fourth-grade teacher was a beekeeper. I remember one day that he actually brought in his honey gear to show us: a box of bees (although there might not have been bees in it at the time), honeycomb (which smelled DELICIOUS; I will never forget that smell), a smoker, a wax cutter, and his beekeeper outfit. He showed us how he would handle the bees, harvest the honey, etc. It was a magical day. There's a passage in this book, when Lily is first shown around the bee farm by August, that reminded
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At first this novel seemed to me to be like a female "Huck Finn" with the white girl and the black woman travelling around in what seems to be a random fashion, the mother gone and father abusive. But it turned into Lily's search for a mother, and although she found her mother in August and in Mary, she also found bits of her mother inside of herself.
I actually was hoping that somehow Lily's father would change at the end--there seemed to be a moment where maybe he would go back to being the man ...more
I actually was hoping that somehow Lily's father would change at the end--there seemed to be a moment where maybe he would go back to being the man ...more
Here's the best line from the whole book: "...that's the only purpose grand enough for a human life. Not just to love--but to persist in love."
I read this book when I was staying at the Unicorn House. I needed something to read, so with Laura's permission, I borrowed this from her shelf.
My biggest complaint with the book was how neatly everything is tied up at the end. Lily's dad (a man who has been portrayed as terribly mean and irrational throughout the book) comes to fetch her, she throws a b ...more
I read this book when I was staying at the Unicorn House. I needed something to read, so with Laura's permission, I borrowed this from her shelf.
My biggest complaint with the book was how neatly everything is tied up at the end. Lily's dad (a man who has been portrayed as terribly mean and irrational throughout the book) comes to fetch her, she throws a b ...more
So, this book was a lot different than I was expecting, and just a lot different than anything I've ever read before. It takes place in the South in the 1960s. It's about a 14-year-old white girl, and not SO much that she ends up staying with a black family for much of the book, but it's more about how she grows and learns to cope with her problems. There are, of course, black/white issues, but that wasn't the focus. And there were a lot of bees and honey in the book--the title isn't just random
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This was a pretty enjoyable read, and it had some good lines. But the whole thing was a giant web of cliches--the good old South! desegregation! racial turmoil! earth mother! abuse! building a family!--that never transcended the formulaic.
A beautifully descriptive book.
A surprisingly straightforward and enjoyable read for such a literary book that makes such lovely use of language.
The plot moves slowly and smoothly like the honey that plays such a vital part. There are some wonderful characters both colourful and real.
However my emotional attachment to them wasn't strong enough to justify 5 stars.
Definitely a recommended read, for a relaxed warm summery feeling.
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A surprisingly straightforward and enjoyable read for such a literary book that makes such lovely use of language.
The plot moves slowly and smoothly like the honey that plays such a vital part. There are some wonderful characters both colourful and real.
However my emotional attachment to them wasn't strong enough to justify 5 stars.
Definitely a recommended read, for a relaxed warm summery feeling.
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Not so interesting. Constantly had to reread sentences because the structure is sometimes odd. Boring. Life's too short to read mediocre books. Just like life's too short to drink crappy wine.
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I loved this book. A great summer reading book. Warm characters.
Mar 05, 2011
Kelly
marked it as to-read
Feb 14, 2019
Lisa
marked it as to-read
Apr 13, 2019
Lidia K
marked it as to-read
