Huck Finn meets To Kill a Mockingbird. I enjoyed every page of this book and can't wait for the movie to come out. ( )

Sooo sweet, and the reader was brilliant. Really enjoyed this production. ( )

I had a hard time getting into this one - I found myself just not caring about the characters much at the beginning. After the first 50 to 100 pages it did start to pick up and I enjoyed the remainder of the book. ( )

I was a little surprised that I enjoyed this one. It is pretty rare for me to like a book I have to read for English class. I really did enjoy it though.
There were a few moments that dragged on a little bit, but over all the story was engaging and interesting.
I enjoyed the sisterhood aspect. Most books focus on the romance, not the friendships.
I highly recommend reading this book. ( )

The story begins in Sylvan, South Carolina, in 1964, at the height of racial tensions as blacks are finally legalized to vote. Lily Owens, 14 years old, is played by Dakota Fanning who does an outsounding job in her performance in the movie. (She is who I pictured while reading this book, which did not stray much from the movie at all, so may have had big part in high star rating...I'm not sure now. I LOVED THE MOVIE!) Her parents had a brutal marriage that drove her mom into great depression and she left her with her abusive father for three months when she was only 4 years old. When she recovered enough to care for Lily, she returned to take her away with her to Tiburon. But, when her mother returned and her father began throwing her around again and screaming and hollering, her mother grabbed the gun. T-Ray knocked it out of her hand where it fell to the floor. Lily picked it up and accidentally shot and killed her mother. After 14 years of abuse, Lily and her black nanny ran away to Tiburon, a town written on back of the little black virgin Mary wooden statue she had found in the attic that once belonged to her mother.

This is a coming of age story about Lily trying to find peace and her place in life. The secret lives of bees parallel her own life full of secrets as she finds refuge with the three black Boatwright sisters, August, June, and May, in the big pink pepto-bismol honey house in Tiburon. This divine intervention of God, led her to this house which she later learned, August, the oldest of the sisters, had been her own mother's nanny growing up.

Sue Monk Kidd is one of those unusually gifted writers, and I will be looking into reading more from her.
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THE MOVIE -
The Secret Life of Bees (2008) - One of my favorite movies of all time. Dakota Fanning does an outstanding job as Lily. In fact, she had me bawling when she has a breakdown as she approaches the black virgin Mary statue and places her hand over the red heart. The book did not draw this emotion from me. Queen Latifa, who I usually don't like as an actress, was perfect for her part as August, full of patience, independent, calm, loving, and nonjudgemental...a caregiver to anyone in need. Alicia Keyes played June. Just a super great cast of actors and actresses.

( )