The Secret Life of Bees

I read The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd years ago and was just thinking about it the other day and decided to re-read it. It is the story of Lily Owens in the 1960s in South Carolina. Lily, whose mother died in an accident when she was young, lives with her cruel father and her housekeeper Rosaleen. When Rosaleen gets in trouble with the law, Lily takes her chance to get away, and the two escape. Following the only clue Lily has about her mother's past, Lily and Rosaleen head to Tiburon, South Carolina and meet the Boatwright sisters. As Lily learns the ways of beekeeping with the Boatwrights, she slowly opens up and finds ways to let her heart heal.

This is a beautiful book. The only downside is that it has quite a bit of bad language in it. But the story made me smile, made me cry. The author's writing is so beautiful and powerful that you feel a part of the story and that you know the characters personally. The book also helps you see the serious racial tensions of the 1960s from the characters' perspectives. I loved Lily in this book, but I also loved August (one of the Boatwright sisters). Her life of compassion, wisdom, and love inspires me to just be more caring and thoughtful.

Rating: * * * (3/3 = Loved it)



The quote from this book that I remembered from last time I read it, which recently came to my mind and encouraged me to re-read the book. A conversation between August and Lily:

   "You know, some things don't matter that much, Lily. Like the color of a house. How big is that in the overall scheme of life? But lifting a person's heart--now that matters. The whole problem with people is--"
   "They don't know what matters and what doesn't," I said, filling in her sentence and feeling proud of myself for doing so.
   "I was gonna say, The problem is they know what matters, but they don't choose it. You know how hdd that is, Lily? The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters."