by Sam Seder and Stephen Sherrill "There is nothing perfect," August said from the doorway. "There is only life." There may be nothing perfect in this world, as suggested by August, one of the characters in the book, but I believe is as close to perfect as one can get, in my opinion.
If asked on the spur of the moment, I would have a difficult time trying to recall if I'd ever read a better literary novel. This book does remind me of one of my favorite books, by Harper Lee. They both had all the flavors of the American South, from the lazy steamy Summer afternoons, when it is too hot to do anything else but nap until the weather cools, to the small town world where everyone greets one another on the street, and phrases like, "Yes, ma'am," could be heard coming out of the mouths of young boys and girls who'd been taught proper manners.
The year is 1964, the year of the Civil Rights Act. The setting is Sylvan, South Carolina, a small town about to be engulfed in the civil rights movement. Lily Owens is a fourteen year old White girl who lives on a peach farm with her father.
She also lives with her Black nanny, Rosaleen. At night, Lily lays in bed and watches bees fly around her room. She would listen to their propeller-like murmur vibrating through the walls.
On one of these nights, she tries to convince her father that there are bees that live in the walls of her bedroom. When he doesn't believe her, she traps two bees in a jar to show him that she isn't lying. They immediately begin to shows signs of lifelessness.
Like the bees caught in a jar, she sees her own life stuck in a situation which appears hopeless. Her father, who is short-tempered and mean-spirited, tries to suppress Lily's one chance for a bright future by discouraging her desire to read, and to write. She also experiences the injustice in the townspeople's responses to racial differences.
Through a fuzzy image, Rosaleen watches Lyndon Johnson sign the Civil Rights Act on a black and white television set. Filled with a sense of determination, she heads into town to register to vote, but when she encounters three of the town's worst racists, Rosaleen ends up in jail. The description of this encounter is gripping and harrowing.
Though it is painful to read, it is well written. Feeling sorry for the lifeless bees, one night, Lily leaves the jar open and the following morning, the bees are gone. Then, she hears a voice, and that voice tells her, Lily Melissa Owens, you're jar is open.
Like the bees that had been freed, Lily decides to break free from her own bonds. She views her introduction to bees in the summer of 1964 as a sign, an omen, much like Gabriel's visit with the Virgin Mary. Little does Lily know that her life is about to change drastically.
As she learns things from her past, including the circumstances around the death of her mother at the age of four, she also learns some of life's most important lessons. At the beginning of each chapter and from one of the characters in the story itself, we are presented with scientific facts about bees and life in a bee hive. Kidd weaves these facts like strands of wool in a beautiful quilt, metaphors in life.
I found the most significant metaphor has to do with the title itself, but I'll leave it to you to figure it out. After each chapter, I had to put the book down to think for a few moments about how simply, but impressively, Kidd uses analogies. I felt myself getting caught up in the lives of the characters.
Others have admitted to crying when reading this book. I have to admit that while reading the final chapter, I can't recall ever coming as close to tears as I ever have while reading a book. On a final note, in Lily's journey of discovery, religious ideology is brought to the forefront.
Not only does Lily come across the Daughters of Mary, a wailing wall, Catholicism intertwined with Paganism, but she also comes face to face with a Black Madonna. I've heard how some readers found references to a Black Madonna offensive. In addition, other readers found the idea of feminine divinity, another topic prominently protrayed in the book, unpalatable.
Neither of those subjects bothered me. In that sense, the controversy reminded me of the hoopla surrounding , but not to that extent. To those who hold such beliefs and refuse to read because of this, I would say, you are missing a well-crafted piece of literature and an elegantly-written story.
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