The story of Augusta and Karl's marriage, and how Augusta struggles to have a life in a stifling small farm community, told during the backdrop of her son-in-law's brain surgery.

A feel-good read. Very accessible, nothing profound or amazing. Characters round enough to be likable, but not terribly captivating. The seamless transitions between the flashbacks were better than I expected (I thought I'd dislike the back and forth). I read it for the bees, and, while they are less prominent than I expected, there's enough info on them. Not really sure that the visions played a significant role, or just added an element to the story.

There's enough in this book for a ladies' book club, if they stick to more popular literature. ( )

When Gail Anderson-Dargatz showed the manuscript of A Recipe for Bees to her divorced parents, it caused them to reconsider their sixteen-year separation. “My parents, Eric and Irene, are models for Karl and Augusta in many ways. I set out to show them how extraordinary their seemingly ordinary lives were.” She interviewed them during the writing of the book and as they read the work in progress, they began to talk about unresolved problems(…) Her parents were remarried on Christmas Day, 1998, some fifty years after their first marriage.

This is a lovely anecdote but it doesn’t really surprise me. A Recipe for Bees is a masterful examination of relationships, primarily the one between Augusta and her husband. At its heart are the life, death, and resurrection of an extraordinary marriage. With lots of beekeeping lore, this Giller Prize nominated (1998) story is as sweet as honey.

Read this if: you believe that the bonds of marriage should hold, for better or for worse. 4 stars ( )

Honestly I thought this book was more about honey and recipes and bee life than hard living and a remote farm and cheating. An old lady, always in a romance with somebody, is waiting for her son's in law surgery and tells the story of her childhood and marriage. Her mother cheated her father, she cheated her husband, life seems to have cheated mother daughter and grandaughter as well. Although well written, I did not like the plot: things happen, for any reason, no need to tell everybody though ( )

Very hopeful feeling at the end of this book. I liked that things in this marriage got better with time, not worse as many marriages do. Main character is funny and quirky and complicated. ( )

From Amazon.com
Augusta Olsen has seven cats, a son-in-law in the hospital "for tests," and a husband who never says what he is thinking. A Recipe for Bees looks back over her life story, from a childhood on a farm in rural Canada through various waves of premonition and loss. As a young girl she is infatuated with the handsome and mysterious Joe, but all she has left of him is a pendant: a bee frozen in amber. When her mother dies, she marries Karl, who loves her so much that his face reddens when he looks at her. He makes her feel safe and irritable. Only late in life when she rediscovers her mother's beekeeping equipment does Augusta find a true opening into the past, as she spends hours out among the swarms, observing how "a handful of bees felt for all the world like a handful of warm black currants."
A Recipe for Bees is most original and compelling in such passages, which have inherent metaphoric power. It is not for readers seeking the overtly provocative--Gail Anderson-Dargatz stays within a passionate but circumscribed set of images and emotions. A prizewinner for her previous novel The Cure for Death by Lightning, the author will appeal to readers who understand the power of everyday tragedies. --Emily White ( )