“The History of Bees” Discuss Everything *Spoilers*

[SFFBC, Ancillary Mod]

A few questions to get us started:


1. What did you think of the world?
2. What did you think of the characters?
3. What worked or didn't for you?
4. Overall thoughts?

[Nicol]

1. What did you think of the world?
I was expecting WAY more about bees. They were a minor character at best.
2. What did you think of the characters?
Honestly I hate 2 out of 3 MCs (George and William) and the 3rd I was a little indifferent to Tao, maybe not indifferent but I felt like she had no other characteristic except as a mother searching for her son, the character says I am his mother like a million times in parts. Lunde did a great job of inspiring absolute rage me towards those other two, lol.
3. What worked or didn't for you?
I wish this more climate change fiction and less the inner thoughts of narcissist men and one mother. I really wanted to learn more about bees. I wanted to see more of the consequences of the loss of bees. Instead it was in depth look at misogyny and terrible fathers.
4. Overall thoughts?
Lunde does a great job of portraying these horrible fathers but I wish she had turned her talent to looking at the way bees cultivate our planet and the cost of their loss. I really enjoyed her writing and wish I could read it in the original language. I think a History of Terrible Fathers fits better, and I saw a review that said a History of Stupid Men, and another from another SFFBC member A History of Narcissists. Its title just lends itself to renaming. 🤣 What title would others give it?

[Becky]

Yes, agree completely with everything Nicol said. I was the one who suggested a title revision to “A History of Narcissists”.

I completely failed to understand why this book so heavily focused on these terrible, narcissistic parents at the expense of the pollinator collapse storyline. The collapse just felt like an afterthought in this book, a plot device so that the author could write about these families for some reason. It was never explained - there were many theories and possible causes outlined in a Tao chapter (just the one), but no explanation or conclusion that felt definitive. So I was left feeling like the whole point of the story (the history of bees, as a concept, and “The History of Bees” the book within the book BOTH) were completely empty. I feel like climate crisis speculative fiction, and “human innovation = destroyers of worlds” speculative fiction should be more direct and focused on the warning and argument it is making.

That argument was completely lost for me in this book, because the story focused SO heavily on the terrible characters and father/child dynamics that it overshadowed any point the bee crisis could have made.

And then the theme of the two terrible fathers getting their “child follows in my footprints” wish fulfillment, while the mother who only wants her child to be able to follow any opportunity that may come up, that wants their child to be educated enough so that they are NOT forced into /limited to their parents’ life, she loses everything. Literally everything.

But it’s OK because the bees are back, and her son gets to be a martyr-symbol for their resurrection! Yay!

I hated EVERYTHING about this book.

And WHAT IS THE POINT of the bees coming back? We don’t know why they died off the first time, so it means literally nothing at all that they are back, other than a colony exists. There’s no evidence that this one won’t die off as well.

AND ANOTHER THING! The way that Lunde dragged out the search for and fate of Wei-Wen was maddening to me. It was exactly 100% obvious to me even as they pulled his little unresponsive body out of the forest that he had been stung by a bee and was having an anaphylactic reaction, which happened in like the 2nd or 3rd Tao POV chapter, so having this be figured out by Tao literally at the end of the book made me… stabby.

I still haven’t returned this book via Libby because I hope that the delay will make the people waiting on it change their mind and decide on something else.

I ran out of characters in my review ranting about this book. I hated it that much. Literally not one redeeming quality. >_<

[Joelle.P.S]

Nicol wrote: "...I still haven’t returned this book via Libby because I hope that the delay will make the people waiting on it change their mind and decide on something else...."

I love this tactic! Rescue potential readers! :-D

(I disliked this book in Jan2020. Thankfully, I can't remember details now.)

[Alistair]

Considering that Becky and I share our enthusiasm for the previous sci-fi BOtM, I'd say you're doing an excellent job of discouraging me from trying to squeeze the novel in my schedule (which would be quite impossible anyway, since I'm more than usually late!).
I lived in Sweden as an exchange student half a lifetime ago, and I try to keep an eye on the culture of the Northern countries; I was excited for this speculative fiction saga.

(On an off-topic tangent: if you want a hilarious, lighthearted but poignant take on disfunctional fathers in Scandinavia, I can warmly recommend Jävla karlar by Andrev Walden; although the English title Bloody Awful in Different Ways is self-describing. really...)

[Nicol]

Becky wrote: "I still haven’t returned this book via Libby because I hope that the delay will make the people waiting on it change their mind and decide on something els ..."

This made me laugh so hard 🤣🤣. Hopefully many readers are saved 🤣

[Kaa]

Ok, I hated the book for all of the reasons already mentioned, but also there was just no specificity in the settings. Everything felt so generic. Like the US recent-past storyline felt like it could have taken place anywhere in the rural US. There were none of the details that make a setting feel real. Plus I have read that narrative about parents and children who don't understand each other a thousand times and this book brought absolutely nothing new to that story, in my opinion.

[Ellen]

Agree with the reasons for not liking it. This was a reread for me. Disliked it as much as I did in 2024. The awful selfish parents, the long drawn out storyline. I even find the "we figured it out and now everything will be better now" ending annoying.

[aPriL does feral sometimes]

I agree with everybody. The book offers a lot to think about initially but it ends up diffusing most of the threads and instead becomes a novel about terrible fathers.

[Mahaila]

I agree too! I finished enough for a Quest Point, but you all confirmed how I feared the story would go and made me feel alright with my decision to DNF this one.