The Secret Life of Bees in Around the World in 80 Books

Aug 07, 2014 Bogdan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: new-world

I wasn't too sure what to expect from this novel, and I found an interesting read from the increasing popular genre young adult with a good setting but overall pretty average. As I had selected it based on popularity, I thought it would be one of those books that are destined to become a classic, but it is not so.

The premise is the idea that love and tolerance are important, if not crucial, attributes we need to master in order to have a good life. By learning these two human qualities, Lily is I wasn't too sure what to expect from this novel, and I found an interesting read from the increasing popular genre young adult with a good setting but overall pretty average. As I had selected it based on popularity, I thought it would be one of those books that are destined to become a classic, but it is not so.

The premise is the idea that love and tolerance are important, if not crucial, attributes we need to master in order to have a good life. By learning these two human qualities, Lily is able to find a true family and make peace with her past. The novel delivers the premise well, but I doubt that these are the only things needed. They are important but not enough and this is why I will rate it with a 2.

Regarding the form, the first person narration is having the amount of naivety you would expect from a 14 year old protagonist, but at times, it is obvious from the explanations added in some parts of the narration that it is written by a mature person. But I also liked very much the book background: 60s in US South in the midst of Civil Rights Movement. Putting all into balance, I will rate it with a 3 for form.

In terms of originality, as many other young adult novels, this one has a lot of cliches. The background and the center idea of tolerance are quite original. So I will give it a 3 for the level of originality.

The characters are not too brilliant. Many are cliches recycled from main stream literature of the genre. Still they are decent and the protagonist had evolved during the story. May is also an interesting character idea but not a veridical one. I'll thus rate it for this with 3.

Regarding the complexity and difficulty, the genre requires this kind of novels to be fairly accessible. Also the story line is pretty linear and after some point it becomes predictable. I will rate it then with a 2 for complexity and difficulty.

In terms of credibility, the story in itself it can happen. There were few unlikely events given the characters and the setting. Also some events seem to be carefully arranged by the narrator. I know that this is what they usually do, but it should be not visible to the reader. Therefor my rating for credibility is 2.

The last criteria is edition. I liked the edition graphical design and the fact that there were almost no proof reading errors. I will rate it with a 4, as I wished for a binding that allowed reading on flat surfaces or at least publishing it in a slightly bigger format.

To summarize, it was a nice reading, on a great setting but just average on the rest. All in all, my final rating for this novel is 2.57, which I will round it to a 3 on Goodreads system.


+--------------------------+-----------------+
| Criteria | Rating |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Premise | 2 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Form | 2 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Originality | 3 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Characters | 3 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Difficulty/Complexity | 2 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Credibility | 2 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Edition | 4 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Total | 2.57 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+

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Oct 02, 2016 David rated it it was amazing

I may have liked this so much because the narrator, Jenna Lamia, did an enchanting reading. Really brought this place and time in history and the characters to life.

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