I give this 2 stars.
This is NOT the style of writing I loved in Brown's Robert Langdon series. And way too long (17.5 hours)
Brown's descriptions of women got old. An unattractive women gets described in some awful ways (eg, "hideous'). Superficial much?
There were constant cliffhangers. Many too unbelievable to get past.
I cannot recommend.
We really liked this one. I had read it before, and was happy to read it again, especially to have the chance to discuss it with "L." She had watched the movie version quite a while back. She said it was good that she couldn't remember the movie too much. This made reading the book more enjoyable.
There are many topics this book deals with.
- Women helping women. There's Lily and the housekeeper-slash-nanny Rosaleen. And August, June, and May (not months, these were women). And all the rest of the women-dominated group that surrounds the Boatwright household, including the Daughters of Mary.
- Depression. Lily herself deals with some of it. Her mother did as well. No spoilers, but it feels helpful to see how various people in various situations rise to the occasion - how they develop resilience in the face of hard times.
- Discrimination. Set in 1964 when race relations were not good, especially in the south (in this story, it's South Carolina).
- Slavery and how that horrible chapter sprouted a deep belief in God and Heaven-sent messages/symbolism.
For good measure, there are of course some love stories mixed into this beautiful tale.
As for the title of the book, here's a quote from page 148: " August said, 'Most people don't have any idea about all the complicated life going on inside a hive. Bees have a secret life we don't know anything about.'" August is a beekeeper. And yes, she's speaking about actual beehives. But we can extrapolate this one quote to encompass life...homes/households...families...mothers, daughters, friendships...all of it. Life.
Another good quote: (this is Lily speaking) "I'd heard August say more than once, 'If you need something from somebody, always give that person a way to hand it to you.'" ---No spoilers here, but it had to do with T-Ray.
A quote about being from a small town (because I'm from one too): (Lily is speaking) "Where do you come from? he asked me. This is the number one most-asked question in all of South Carolina. We want t know if you are one of us, if your cousin knows our cousin, if your little sister went to school withour big brother, if you go to the same church as our ex-boss. We are looking for ways our stories fit together...." (this was page 105).
And for the writer in me, there's this quote (from the author's note, so this is Sue Monk Kidd speaking): "I thought I would go on writing only nonfiction the rest of my life. Ah, but never underestimate the power of a dismissed dream. I there must be a place inside of us where dreams go and wait their turn....my old dream of writing fiction resurfaced. To be honest, initially, I was both compelled and repelled by its return. Compelled because it was a genuine impulse from deep within...repelled because I was, to put it bluntly, afraid I couldn't do it." --- And later in the Author's Notes section, Sue Monk Kidd writes about "August coming to me in a dream...complaining about my idea for the end (of the book)." That's downright fascinating!!
