The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Original Book Cover

Have you ever wanted to run away? Just leave all the bad behind in the dust as you speed on forward to a better tomorrow? Sometimes all it takes is a little guts and whole lot of will to take that first step of leaving the hurt and pain in the past.

In Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees Lily does just that. She runs away from the heartache and abuse that is inflicted on her by her widowed father and the memory of something deeply suited in her soul. Lily, only 14, leaves behind the hurt and horror of her life she looks for the one place she can find comfort in the future, her mother. She knows that the physical being of her mother is impossible, the memory of how she died rooted inside of her holds deep guilt, but the clues left behind by her mother lead her to find just what her soul was looking for. The place that her mother called home.

The adventure of a teenager finding herself in the south in a time of segregation is well written and beautifully transfixed on how color really has no boundaries on the heart. Monk Kidd does a great job of telling this coming of age story in the midst of such historical context in America. The mind of a child is shown through as Lily see's beyond the color of her adoptive family and into their hearts, but understands that the outside world does not see the sames as her.

I have passed this book on to a few friends who enjoyed it so when it was turned into a movie I was trilled to see the adaptation. But what I found was that this book far outweighed the movie in comparison. I will always recommend the book over the movie on this one. The actresses did a great job in the portrayal of the characters that Monk Kidd had developed, but the editing literally botched the feel of the story.