Non-Fiction: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

                The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd is set in racist South Carolina in the summer of 1964. It tells the story of a young girl named Lily who runs away from her abusive home and finds herself in the company of three African-American sisters. The sisters take Lily in and give her a bed, food, clothes, and shelter in exchange for her working with the bees that produce their honey. Lily grows vastly throughout the story, and as she begins to find love and acceptance, thinks less about the haunting memory of accidentally killing her own mother. The Secret Life of Bees, overall, is an incredible story about female strength, passion, and acceptance. Although the beginning of the story starts out slowly, the rest of the novel is filled with drama that keeps the pages turning.

                The characters in The Secret Life of Bees are well developed and well spoken. There are the protagonists: Lily, the Boatwrights, Zach, and Rosaleen, and the main antagonist: T-Ray, Lily’s father. Each character has flaws and a strong past. Kidd shows great human strength through the characters in her novel as they let go of pain inside of them and learn about love and companionship.

Author Sue Monk Kidd with Oprah Winfrey!!!!!!

                The writing style of The Secret Life of Bees is filled with mass amounts of figurative language, perhaps too much, that flows perfectly. With the story written from Lily’s point of view, it allows the audience to feel everything that Lily is feeling, whether it is pain, desperation, fear, excitement, or passion. Especially at the beginning of the book when Lily describes her memory of killing her mother and being abused and neglected by her father. Sue Monk Kidd does a wonderful job of describing this pain and desperation that Lily feels inside: the idea of being loved and cared for by somebody is completely absurd and unrealistic to the extent that the only thing that Lily has to hold onto is the uncertain memory of her deceased mother.

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

 

                There are various themes and metaphors throughout the novel. Sue Monk Kidd writes about incredibly important subjects: racism, female power, growth, and mothers. When Lily falls for Zach, she begins to question the concept of racism that she has grown up with. By the end of the novel, racism is completely irrational to Lily and she decides that it will not keep her from being with the Boatwrights, Rosaleen, or Zach. Female power runs strongly through the novel as it is questioned, with the violent death and suicide of Lily’s mother and May, and admired, with the strength of August Boatwright and Lily herself. All throughout the novel, Lily carries the baggage of killing her mother and is continuously longing for a mother’s love. Interestingly enough, throughout the novel Lily really is surrounded by mothers: the memory of her mother, Rosaleen, and the Boatwright sisters. Surrounded by these women, Lily begins to heal.

Historical Fiction: Life Through Another's Eyes

Some of the most famous or well-known Historical Fiction authors are Mark Twain, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Alexandre Dumas, and many more.

There are mass amounts of remarkable, critically acclaimed books that have come out of this genre including, The Great Gatsby, This Side of Paradise, and Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. There is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.

More recently, major titles include The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, The Help by Kathryn Stockett, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, and The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.

The characteristics of this genre include an emphasis on human destruction and flaws in the world. A lot of the books take place in the times of war, slavery, female oppression, and evil leaders, e.g.; Adolf Hitler, King George, and King Louis. Authors of historical fiction take important events in history and make the audience aware as well as able to relate to the characters and events.

One award that has been devoted to historical fiction is The Scott O’ Dell Award for Historical Fiction that is given out to top historical fiction novels and authors. Legendary author Mark Twain has won numerous Newberry Honor Awards and the American Humor Award. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Let me just put that into perspective… SHE WON A PULITZER. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak was awarded prizes including the ALA Best Books for Young Adults and the Michael L. Printz Honor Book awards among many others.

Historical fiction, according to Readwritethink.org, is mainly described as “stories that are written to portray a time period or convey information about a specific time period or an historical event. Usually the event or time period is about 30 years in the past.” A historical fiction novel includes fictional characters in a real-life setting. My favorite time period to read about in historical fiction books is usually about the Roaring 20’s because of the outfits, parties, and culture.

So far, my book, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, relates quite well to the historical fiction genre. It is set in the 1960’s so the 30-year aspect of the genre is correct. It is about a major time in American culture-the Civil Rights Movement. It includes fictional characters in a real-life setting, South Carolina. It also includes real-life events such as the jailing and release of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

 

Although I’m not historical fiction’s biggest fan, I have enjoyed being able to reach out of my comfort zone. I wanted to stop reading this book, actually, about ¼ of the way through because it is incredibly sad and slow (at the beginning) and kind of a downer. I am, although, glad that I continued reading because the plot has definitely developed, advanced, and strengthened (so have the characters).

 

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson404/HistoricalFictionDefn.pdf

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/historical-fiction

Book Three: The Secret Life of Bees

     For my third book, my genre is realistic fiction. I chose to read The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. TSLoB is a book about a young girl growing up in South Carolina in the time of racial discrimination against African-Americans. She runs away from home, escaping her abusive father, and finds comfort in the home of three African-American sisters.
      I chose this book because I have heard that it is a wonderful book about overcoming differences and racial discrimination in the South. I also thought that this book was different from many other books, especially ones about the Civil Rights movement, because it is told from the perspective of a young, White girl.
      So far, I am glad I chose this book. It is incredibly well-written and the main character, Lily, is such a vivid, intelligent, and strong young girl. I enjoy reading from her perspective even though it is sad learning of the abuse that she has to go through.