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What a touching story this is. But the story of fourteen year-old Lily Owen has certainly affected me. I believe that I will be recommending "The Secret Life of Bees" for quite some time. This is a truly inspirational novel. It is rare that I finish a book feeling as though it has changed me or affected me beyond being a great read. I've already loaned my copy to two friends and purchased one for my aunt, they agree that this is one amazing and enlightening book.
Dakota Fanning plays Lily perfectly and Queen Latifah is always wonderful. Lily is confronted with her feelings about whites and blacks when she comes to live with August and her sisters. Lily learns about love and life and forgiveness.I really loved this book. Just one of the many truths she learns on her journey and at the same time it makes us the readers examine our own prejudices and long-held "truths."I also watched the movie right after reading this and was pleasantly surprised by how close they stayed to the novel. She accidentally killed her mother when she was four years old, has an abusive father, and breaks her nanny Rosaleen out of jail.
They changed a couple of things for dramatic effect, but overall they were true to the source. It's a wonderful coming of age story and it contains so many truths about love and life. They hit the road to escape their lives and to find out about Lily's mother, her past. Summary: Lily Owens is 14 in 1964 in the South. They are led to Tiburon, South Carolina and to the home of August Boatwright.
All of them are intelligent and cultured; Lily had always assumed she would be the smartest in the room.
Book was in great condition and was sent on time. And was a good deal.
For a book directed at a younger audience (particularly high school readers), this is a good strategy - better to assume that they'll miss those brilliant finer points and instead serve them up on a platter. The structure, the symbols, the themes - all are very well thought out and come together beautifully. I think Kidd makes the mistake of many lesser authors: in her great desire to ensure that the reader grasps the subtleties of the book, she makes the themes and the symbols of the book painfully obvious. But for an older reader, it smacks of condescension, and perhaps worse, it removes the magic of discovery.That (admittedly major point) aside, it is a very good book.
The movie was great, too. I fell in love with August, Lilly, and Zach. This was a quick read for me. Everyone should have an August Boatwright in their life. I LOVED this book. I could not stop thinking about the characters and hated to put the book down. I didn't want this book to end.
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