Saralee Says
Trauma, sex, race relations in the South: Sue Monk Kidd's first novel is the perfect antidote for these hot summer in Nashville. Pour yourself a glass of iced tea or lemonade, find a comfortable chair and curl up with a book that is the perfect complement for all that is good and bad about our part of the country.
Lily Owen is a 14 year old living on a farm with her father T. Ray Owen. The year is 1964 and she and her father are white. Lily's mother died under mysterious circumstances when she was very young and she was very traumatized. Her father holds her responsible for her mother's death so there is no joy in their home. They are dirt poor on top of that and he punishes frequently. His favorite form of punishment is to make her kneel on grits.
Rosaleen Daise is the elderly African American woman who is the housekeeper to the Owen family and the closest thing to a mother Lily has ever had. Rosaleen wants to go to Sylvan, South Carolina and register to vote. The rednecks do not welcome her with open arms. What happens next is very traumatic for both Rosaleen and Lily and causes both of them to run away from home.
Where do they go and why? They are on a search for what vague happy memory that Lily has of her mother. She has a picture of a Black Madonna and somehow every time she looks at this photo she feels at peace and the picture happens to be on a jar of honey. Lily and Rosaleen go to find the place where the honey is made - Tiburon, South Carolina.
Enter the intriguing Boatwright sisters: three different and very amazing African American women. With their work ethic, kindness and communication with their Black Madonna they offer healing and understanding to Lily and Rosaleen.
Do you agree with the way racism is depicted for South Carolina in the 1960s? Is the description of the racial hatred too mild or too harsh? What about the Boatwright's method of worship to the Black Madonna? Is it too unorthodox or does it seem real to you? Do you think the author answered the secret as to the "secret life of bees?" Which one of the Boatwright sisters is your favorite and why? How about the ending? Were you inspired or frustrated? Do you think this book is worthy of its best-seller status and does The Secret Life of Bees live up to all the buzz surrounding it?
Larry's Language
The main character in The Secret Life of Bees - A Novel by Sue Monk Kidd is 14-year-old Lily Owens who is coming of age in rural South Carolina in 1964.
In this first person narrative we learn that her mother was killed when Owens was four years old and a gun fell to the floor during an argument. Owens has only fleeting and confusing memories about her mother and her death. Her father, T. Ray Owens, is an uncaring and abusive parent who believes that almost any action by his daughter merits punishment.
The father has washed his hands of any care for his daughter by instructing one of his black field hands, Rosaleen, to be her nursemaid, companion, and substitute mother. Whether the cause is racism or typical teenage tunnel vision, 14 year old Owens seems to care little for her substitute mother.
Rosaleen is inspired in the novel by the television announcement of passage of the 1964 Civil Rights law to walk into town to attempt to register to vote. Actually the author would have had a better storyline if this had been the 1965 Civil Rights Act which protected the rights of minorities to register and vote instead of the 1964 law which banned racial discrimination in employment and most public activities. The reader needs little imagination to figure out bad things are coming especially when 14-year-old Owens joins Rosaleen on the walk to the voting office. In quick order there is a vicious assault, an arrest and a daring escape from custody as Owens and Rosaleen wind up hitch hiking their way across the state.
Owens is determined to make it to Tiburon, South Carolina because all she has of her mother is a picture of a black skinned Madonna with "Tiburon" written on the back.
Once in Tiburon the true atmosphere and essence of this story is established when Owens and Rosaleen fall in with the calendar sisters, who are August, May, and June Boatwright. For purposes of this story they seem to be running an underground railroad for fugitives along with their bee farm. The relationship among these four women and one girl is awkward, fascinating, heartwarming and surprising.
Questions for our bookclub about this debut novel include whether you believe all the women in T. Ray Owens' life were justified in fleeing from him. Do you think 14-year-old Owens was racist in her attitudes toward Rosaleen and the other women? Do you think the calendar sisters were correct about the skin color of the mother of Jesus? Would any of us have survived these tragedies at age 14?
Join us for our next book club discussion, which will feature Benjamin Franklin - An American Life by Walter Isaacson.
