The Bees

Product Information

Another point of interest is the way that feminism is worked into the novel. I'm not a huge fan of I-am-woman-hear-me-roar overt girlpower in film or literature, but this book is populated with female characters and about eight different kinds of love and strength and mystery. Throw in some very well done race issues, and I was willing to forgive the almost insanely inappropriately happy ending.

The History of Bees by Maja Lunde | Waterstones The History of Bees by Maja Lunde | Waterstones

Jones, Gwyneth (21 May 2014). "The Bees by Laline Paull review – a fantasy with a sting in its tail | Books". The Guardian . Retrieved 21 April 2016. Riddle for the Ages: The caste that Flora 717 belongs to are more intelligent than other bees seem to believe, eventually regaining the ability to speak during the winter Cluster. What caused them to become the way they are at the start of the book is never revealed. There are some implications that it was a conspiracy by the Sage caste, but if this is actually the case then the reader never gets to know for certain. The battle between conformity and rebellion rages in this ambitious, bittersweet debut in which the central characters are bees, striving to survive in their orchard hive. Allegorical in the tradition of Animal Farm and Watership Down, this dystopian novel begins with the birth of a bee, Flora 717, and her “violent struggle to hatch” as she is born into the lowliest sanitation worker class in a caste system ruled by the queen bee and priestesses.The book opens with Lily's discovery of bees in her bedroom. Then, after Rosaleen is arrested for pouring her bottle of "snuff juice" on three white men, Lily breaks her out of the hospital and they decide to leave town. But the book does have some saving graces. First, the writing is incredible. Voice, pacing, transition, and word choice are all stellar. On a micro level, Ms Kidd is magnificent. For instance, despite the predictability of telling such a tale from the young girl's point of view, I thought the decision worked here. Lily herself is absolutely charming. She is completely honest with the reader, often to her own detriment. If the story had been written from anyone else's point of view, Lily would have been pathetic: abused motherless little girl who harbors way too much guilt and angst. This book could have gone off the deep end real easy. But Lily is a survivor and an optimist, and her naive faith drives this book. Laline Paull was born in London, UK. She is the daughter of Indian immigrants. She won a scholarship to the University of Oxford. [9] Humans Are Cthulhu: The dreaded Visitation, a disaster bees can scarcely comprehend, is the gathering of honey from the hive.

The Bees by Laline Paull | Waterstones

Flora 717 is a sanitation worker, a member of the lowest caste in her orchard hive where work and sacrifice are the highest virtues and worship of the beloved Queen the only religion. But Flora is not like other bees. With circumstances threatening the hive's survival, her curiosity is regarded as a dangerous flaw but her courage and strength are an asset. She is allowed to feed the newborns in the royal nursery and then to become a forager, flying alone and free to collect pollen. She also finds her way into the Queen's inner sanctum, where she discovers mysteries about the hive that are both profound and ominous. Hive Caste System: We have Sanitary workers, nurse-maids, fanners (those that look after the honey), foragers, guards, police, the Queen's hand-maidens, Priestesses and, of course, the Queen.Laser-Guided Amnesia: Flora's mind is wiped after she fails her second test, reducing her to the level of her kin on the surface. But something of herself lingers under the surface and her mind is restored after hearing the hive mind. Heroic Sacrifice: In the end, Sir Linden volunteers to mate with Flora's princess daughter to allow her to ascend to the Queen status, knowing it would end in his death. It's in drones' nature, after all.

Tell It to the Bees by Fiona Shaw | Goodreads Tell It to the Bees by Fiona Shaw | Goodreads

The structure of a honeybee hive is both fascinating and highly complex — a pod of thousands of female worker bees, a few hundred male drones in the summer and, at the epicentre, the queen.Floral Theme Naming: Bees of a certain kin, or type, all share the same name. The priestesses are all Sage, the landing board guards are all Thistle, etc. The sanitation workers, being the lowest type of kin, don't get a specific flower name, but are all called the generic Flora. Drones are named after trees.

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd | Goodreads The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd | Goodreads

SUE MONK KIDD was raised in the small town of Sylvester, Georgia. She graduated from Texas Christian University in 1970 and later took creative writing courses at Emory University, as well as studying at Sewanee, Bread Loaf, and other writers’ conferences. In her forties, Kidd turned her attention to writing fiction, winning the South Carolina Fellowship in Literature and the 1996 Poets & Writers Exchange Program in Fiction.We started walking. If you think the country is quiet, you've never lived in it. Tree frogs alone make you wish for earplugs." Each chapter starts off with some facts about bees. Did you know that in certain areas bees produce purple honey?