The Secret Life of Bees
I just got done reading The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. It was one of the most fascinating books I’ve read in a long time. An atypical book as to what I normally read since I’m a big epic historical fiction novel fan but I was really impressed with the quality of writing and the story was unique. I’ve been wanting to see the movie under the title which stars Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, and Alicia Keyes ever since I saw the cast on Oprah promoting their film. My protocol before watching a movie, if it is made into a film, is to read the book first if I haven’t already read the book. I did this when I wanted to see Memoirs of a Geisha and I have to say that the book was much better than the film in that instance although I still enjoyed the film. I hope that when I see The Secret LIfe of Bees movie I will like it since the book is really moving.
One of the things most fascinating about the book to me was that one of the main figures in the book was a black Madonna figure, who was just a statue but her presence was so powerful to all the characters in the book. Another thing I loved about the book was that the author put a precursor to each chapter in the form of describing a part of the life of bees which basically summed up the chapter except that the chapter replaced the bees with humans. That was absolutely brilliant to me and the research that the author must have gone through really made a difference in the writing. I won’t discuss much the plot of the story because there’s a lot that must be discovered for yourself but the premise of the story is based on a runaway white teenage girl with a black nanny fugitive who both get kind of adopted by a group of black women back around the time of the Civil Rights Movement. It’s a deeply moving story about being lost and found, the effects of spirituality, and so much more. Anyway, I can’t wait to see the movie as I have great respect for the cast members and think they’re so talented. I highly recommend the book since it’s a relatively quick read but filled with such intensely detailed material you’d think you’d read an epic historical ficiton novel 
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Here’s my favorite quote from the whole book found on p. 171:
“If I ever managed to get to heaven after everything I’d done, I hoped I would get just a few minutes for a private conference with God. I wanted to say, Look, I know you meant well creating the world and all, but how could you let it get away from you like this? How come you couldn’t stick with your original idea of paradise? People’s lives were a mess.” ~ Lily Owens (the white teenage runaway girl)
