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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
Y'all I just read a political epic, a critique of unquestioned power, an unrequited romance, a soldier's memoirs, an ethnology, a dissection of motherhood and fertility regulation in matriarchal societies, and the biography of a nun of wavering faith, and every single character but for seven was A BEE. And those other seven were two wasps, two houseflies, a mouse, and a couple spiders.
AND EVERYONE ELSE IS BEES.
The blurb for this is utterly ridiculous in invoking the Hunger Games. Handmaid's Tale is nearer the mark; there are shades of A Canticle for Leibowitz, The Left Hand of Darkness, and various "ambiguous utopias" like The Dispossessed. It's also, like, basically Charlotte's Web with nuns.
I found it compelling, as in I read compulsively - because I wanted to know what happened next, the writing is gorgeous, and I couldn't quite believe the author pulled off a 300-pager from THE PERSPECTIVE OF A BEE. And yet she did, with aplomb and very little cutesiness. Every so often the degree of anthropomorphization ratchets up to merit an "okay, chill," but otherwise... I am astonished at Paull's skill.
The Capitalized Nouns are strong with this one, but they end up reinforcing the ritualistic, oral-history-like narrative style, which is engrossing in its own right to a degree bordering on hallucination. It's fascinating.
I'm not enough of an entomologist to know if the depiction of hive hierarchy is accurate, but I'd be glad to research more.
AND EVERYONE ELSE IS BEES.
The blurb for this is utterly ridiculous in invoking the Hunger Games. Handmaid's Tale is nearer the mark; there are shades of A Canticle for Leibowitz, The Left Hand of Darkness, and various "ambiguous utopias" like The Dispossessed. It's also, like, basically Charlotte's Web with nuns.
I found it compelling, as in I read compulsively - because I wanted to know what happened next, the writing is gorgeous, and I couldn't quite believe the author pulled off a 300-pager from THE PERSPECTIVE OF A BEE. And yet she did, with aplomb and very little cutesiness. Every so often the degree of anthropomorphization ratchets up to merit an "okay, chill," but otherwise... I am astonished at Paull's skill.
The Capitalized Nouns are strong with this one, but they end up reinforcing the ritualistic, oral-history-like narrative style, which is engrossing in its own right to a degree bordering on hallucination. It's fascinating.
I'm not enough of an entomologist to know if the depiction of hive hierarchy is accurate, but I'd be glad to research more.
This book is bonkers. I cannot believe it was written. Read it immediately.
adventurous
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Perfect premise: the life of a honey bee, but written from the point of the view of the bee. Reads like science fiction.
Beautiful descriptions, really nice fresh take on the whole dystopian genre. Great read.
I almost didn't finish this. I knew I wasn't enjoying it when I wanted the main character to die about 20 pages in, and that urge never lessened; I wanted her to die so I could stop reading.
The worst part was that the author couldn't figure out if she wanted humanized bees or bee-like bees. The bees style their fur, wear clothes, use plates (??? how could they do that?), but also act accurately like real bees, proving that while Paul did her research she didn't successfully synthesize her two ideas of how the bees behave.
Completely unnecessary sexual overtones and bloodlust destroyed about 50% of the scenes the drones were in ("dronewood" is the worst coined word I've ever heard and I wish I could excise it from my brain). Also, is anyone else confused who the father of Flora 717's eggs is? Who did she mate with? If it's Sir Linden (the only possibility I saw), doesn't that make the ending of the book really, really weird?
Ugh.
The worst part was that the author couldn't figure out if she wanted humanized bees or bee-like bees. The bees style their fur, wear clothes, use plates (??? how could they do that?), but also act accurately like real bees, proving that while Paul did her research she didn't successfully synthesize her two ideas of how the bees behave.
Completely unnecessary sexual overtones and bloodlust destroyed about 50% of the scenes the drones were in ("dronewood" is the worst coined word I've ever heard and I wish I could excise it from my brain). Also, is anyone else confused who the father of Flora 717's eggs is? Who did she mate with? If it's Sir Linden (the only possibility I saw), doesn't that make the ending of the book really, really weird?
Ugh.
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
What a cool little book - I think if you like animal farm you would also like this one
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
While I enjoyed Flora 717's progress from Sanitation Worker to Forager to Mother, I found myself more interested in the inner workings and organizations of the Hive than the character's thoughts and the plot. I'd like to talk to a bee expert to find out how much of the book was accurate to the layout of a hive and if bees are segregated into hierarchies as in The Bees. The idea for the novel is so unique that I was kept intrigued with no idea of how it would play out. The creativity went too far in a few instances such as saying the bees had hands and stating that they had dishware and cutlery. Too far-fetched! I would have preferred the author kept it as close to natural processes as possible. Things like that drew me out of reading and broke my immersion. I would also have really appreciated a map of the hive as I found it hard to picture which rooms were connected to others and how big certain areas are like the Dancing Room and the Morgue. Flora and Sir Linden were both intriguing characters and I wish we got to see more of the Queen's perspective. This book could have really benefited from different points of view. That being said, Paull did a great job introduced many levels of the Hive at the beginning of the book by having Flora move around from the Nursery to the Sanitation Worker's ignorance to the soft glow of the Queen's quarters. The descriptions of flowers and nectar/pollen were beautiful and gave a new light to humanity's effect on wildlife. Smog coated flowers and cell towers disrupt their natural patterns that have existed for thousands of years and threaten the survival of thousands of beautiful and unique creatures. In summary, I liked this book more for its uniqueness in subject matter than the plot and characters although those were good as well. This is a great novel from Paull and I look forward to reading more from this new author!
adventurous
dark
informative
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes