Wowed by a quality cast: my all time favorite celebrity, Alicia Keys, Grammy Award winning Queen Latifah, Academy Award winning Jennifer Hudson and the childhood wonder Dakota Fanning, I was initially very excited by the trailers for The Secret Life of Bees. After all the anticipation, I couldn’t help but leave the theater slightly disappointed. I enjoyed the movie but was left wanting more. At several points in the movie my questions were left unanswered. But the story piqued my interest, and I had to explore it further in the book that the movie was based on.
Sue Monk Kidd constructs a story set in South Carolina in 1964 during the Civil Rights Movement at the height of racial tension. The contrast between blacks and whites is as pronounced as the text against the pages. Several other themes run throughout the text as well: father daughter relationships, motherly love, romantic love, forbidden love, women and religion.
Kidd develops and distinguishes each of the character’s complex stories: Lily Owens, whose story is more complicated than any average 14-year-old should have to deal with; and each of the Boatright sisters with their unique traits: August Boatright with the familiar wisdom of a mother, the tough charade of June Boatright and the burdened innocence of May Boatright.
Lily and her nanny Rosaleen run away from their troubles in their hometown and what they find in the pink house of the beekeeping Boatright sisters is where the story unfolds. The strength of this novel is the beautiful language that sets the scenes of this Southern home. The text is saturated with the sights, smells and sounds of Southern country that put you right in the story. The details strengthen the story, even the truth with which she paints the depths of pain that the characters suffer. Kidd combines the familiar and unfamiliar: portraying southern details that others can appreciate but introduces unique details that build a fantastical aspect of this story. Kidd presents the intricacies of bees in a way that could put one with apiphobia at ease.
Now that I have satisfied that yearn to read the novel, I’ve realized that the movie introduced us to this beautiful story but it is in the book that we are allowed to fully explore the depths of its beauty. Thankfully, the movie relayed the story without distorting it with creative liberations.
While reading the text, one question persisted: what made Sue Monk Kidd write this story that goes so deeply into the lives of these African American women? The book offers an interview with Kidd that gives insight to her motivation for the novel. The summer of 1964 stood out for her and changed her life. Even at her young age at the time she was aware of the racial injustices and this novel is her personal protest. Her memories of bees in her own home stemmed the theme that ran throughout the text. Even though she is content with Lily’s story as is, Kidd is toying with the idea of a much requested sequel.
To get this discussion started, here are a few discussion questions from the book along with a few of my own:
How do you think the movie compared to the novel?
The Boatright sisters, particularly August, and the Daughters of Mary remind me of women many of us have grown up with in church or in our families? Did they remind you of anyone specific in your life?
How do you feel about what happened to May?
How do you imagine Zach and Lily’s relationship if they had explored a romantic relationship?
How do you imagine Lily’s story continuing a few years down the line?
-Lady D
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I haven’t seen the movie (i just don’t really see dakota fanning as Lily) but I loved the book. I couldn’t put it down.
May was such a tragic character. Her death was so chilling but it was the only way she could go. sorry if that was a spoiler.
i though lily and zach would stay together, i don’t get what happened. blah.
e.
What’s funny is that I couldn’t help but her Dakota Fanning’s voice narrating and imagining her throughout the entire book because I saw the movie first.
I have to say that I genuinely missed May’s character. I was most curious about her character, more-so from the movie than the book.
I really wanted so much more for Zach and Lily. I anticipated them being together and braced for the racial tension to explode among the people in the town as some result of it. But for some reason its ending seemed appropriate. As much as I crave a happily ever after to a good love story just like the next girl, their relationship would not have made sense, considering the circumstances. It would have been really interesting to see their relationship blossom though.
Secret Life of Bees will be available on DVD tomorrow! (in case anyone is interested)