There’s a lot of buzz out there about one of the hottest books this season (get it?).
One of the most amazing things that a book can do for you as a reader, is to change the way you look at the world. While reading Lalinne Paull’s debut novel The Bees, (a fictional account of life inside a bee hive), I found myself contemplating the insect world around in me in a different light.
The Bees tells the story of Flora, born into a “sanitation” caste within the hive. Flora is a special and talented bee (in spite of her ugly appearance) and rises to other roles, including as a wet-nurse within the nursery and as a forager in the orchards.
Paull’s research is comprehensive and very detailed. Readers will understand the workings of a hive in a way they never considered, and the obvious comparisons to our own lives is absolutely fascinating.
The author has a beautiful command of language and she really makes the bee hive come alive. Flora becomes not just a Cinderalla caricature in her rags to riches story, but a full and complicated individual to whom I became very attached.
My only complaint with The Bees is that the pace was uneven. 10 pages of description of the wax in the hive would give way to a one-page battle scene full of action. As much as I loved “living” the life of a bee for the past week as I read this book, I’d have preferred the editing be a little tighter.
The Bees is an interesting novel that pulls you into another world…perfect for a summer read.
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