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karin_lindh's review against another edition
4.0
I really loved this book. It’s a great story, unique, beautiful storytelling and incredibly smart, and a really gorgeous cover. The most exciting thing is how political and criticized against lots of societies in the world it is. You as an individual are nothing, but you as a group are everything. You should "accept, obey and serve" without even hesitating. The protagonist Flora, she is just one of the crowd. She doesn’t stand out much, except that she is a little different, which makes her just one of the others. You could think this was a bad thing, why her? Or in a good way – it can be used to increase the group thinking. What also strikes me about this book is how emotional it is.
sian_m's review against another edition
4.0
A magical listen and quite intriguing! I absolutely love bees and to imagine them being promoted is absolutely wonderful! The complexities and commitments of their life roles are inspirational. Much like with ants, as far as I understand, they are born into their role and that’s that, it never changes. Either way, I loved it. It’s creative and simply splendid! The ending caught my heart with such beautiful ambivalence.
tishywishy's review against another edition
1.0
Did Not Finish. The story line is slow and bumpy. I've been trying to coming back to finish it but there is very little appeal to the story. There is some drama building in the background but it's tough to connect with any of the characters and hard to see where the entire plot is going. If I'm bored and out of books, I'll get back to this but I don't see it happening anytime soon.
katykelly's review against another edition
5.0
You've never been inside a hive before, have you? Of course not. I don't think anybody has ever written a book (possibly apart from a picture book) written from the perspective of the bee. Read Laline Paull's debut and you might feel you've visited one.
I was very impressed with this book. My cover is stunning (some versions seem to differ) - yellow hexagons with the Hive motto on it "accept obey serve". This is one of the things we are all taught about bees as children - they each have their own role to play in the hive, and Laline Paull plays with this idea to create a world set at the insect-eye level. Did you ever see the Woody Allen film (ostensibly for children) Antz? A comedy about a neurotic ant who didn't feel appreciated as an individual. This book looks at conformity, individuality and co-operation in a much more serious way. And you feel that from the beginning.
Flora 717 is born to be a worker. She emerges from her egg with this knowledge. As part of her Hive she is also born with knowledge of her ever-loving Mother, the Queen Bee, who is devoutly worshipped by all her children, each of whom has a closely policed and separate role to play in the efficient running of their home. But Flora immediately shows herself to be unique - able to talk unlike the other workers, she is moved to areas of the Hive a worker would not otherwise have access to. And thus we are also granted access to the workings of the Hive. However, the Hive is nesting a secret, one which threatens to destroy Flora's swarm.
I adored the bee's point-of-view writing. I don't think you have to be a fan of natural history to enjoy this, but I certainly finished and immediately went online to look at how much of the book is based on real bee behaviour (and it looks like Laline Paull really did her homework). It's a real eye-opener and fascinating. And not just the biology but a great story, set over the course of a year in the life of one hive. Flora (rather conveniently, but usefully for the book) is moved around the Hive in various roles, meeting higher-up Priestesses (bees who serve the Queen directly), the Queen herself and (in the book's few comedic scenes) the male drones.
I loved the drones. When we meet the males, it's like the opening scene of Romeo and Juliet with male posturing, sexual innuendo and high jinx. One drone repeatedly crosses paths with Flora, and through Linden we also get to learn about the males' role in Hive life and continuity. And we also get the novel's one light touch at a romantic subplot.
Which of course is a little too anthropomorphic. Bees don't fall in love. Paull mostly treads the line of reality and fantasy carefully, for of course for the book to work we have to have bees communicating and speaking to us in terms we can understand. I like the way Paull does this. The only time I felt she went too far was in having a cleaner bee using implements to clean. That was the only time it jarred with me.
The publishers have compared The Bees to several other famous books. I've already mentioned two of my own. I would agree that there are shades of The Handmaid's Tale in Paull's book - the idea of conformity and subservience being similiar in the two. I would disagree most strongly with any likeness to The Hunger Games however - this to me is jumping on the bandwagon and I don't feel this book needs to do that - it can stand on its own merits. The world of Flora's Hive is nothing like that of Katniss's District 12. There are battles but all are of natural origin (wasp attack, spiders, some within the Hive). That's not to say fans of the Hunger Games won't like this. Flora is brave, determined and smart and there is more action that you might be expecting. I would also say there are similarities to Tarka the Otter, on the natural history theme - both in terms of the animal's-eye-view and the structure and ultimate arc of the story.
I'm not one for religious stories and themes, but I did like the way Paull used religious fervour (like 1984's devotion to Big Brother if I can make another comparison) as a form of control and unity between the bees. They worship their mother, they each connect to her regularly and strive to protect her and feed her. She is the centre of their world and their Hive. And that's also the crux of the story.
I'm really glad I gave this a read. Every time I see a bee now (as I write, spring has started and bees are all on the move again) I think of Flora hunting for nectar and think of what she would see if she came across me. I loved reading about her world. Loved the idea, loved playwright Paull's writing and plot. Hope she has another unique idea for her next book, as I'll be watching out for it.
Review of a Lovereading.co.uk advance copy.
I was very impressed with this book. My cover is stunning (some versions seem to differ) - yellow hexagons with the Hive motto on it "accept obey serve". This is one of the things we are all taught about bees as children - they each have their own role to play in the hive, and Laline Paull plays with this idea to create a world set at the insect-eye level. Did you ever see the Woody Allen film (ostensibly for children) Antz? A comedy about a neurotic ant who didn't feel appreciated as an individual. This book looks at conformity, individuality and co-operation in a much more serious way. And you feel that from the beginning.
Flora 717 is born to be a worker. She emerges from her egg with this knowledge. As part of her Hive she is also born with knowledge of her ever-loving Mother, the Queen Bee, who is devoutly worshipped by all her children, each of whom has a closely policed and separate role to play in the efficient running of their home. But Flora immediately shows herself to be unique - able to talk unlike the other workers, she is moved to areas of the Hive a worker would not otherwise have access to. And thus we are also granted access to the workings of the Hive. However, the Hive is nesting a secret, one which threatens to destroy Flora's swarm.
I adored the bee's point-of-view writing. I don't think you have to be a fan of natural history to enjoy this, but I certainly finished and immediately went online to look at how much of the book is based on real bee behaviour (and it looks like Laline Paull really did her homework). It's a real eye-opener and fascinating. And not just the biology but a great story, set over the course of a year in the life of one hive. Flora (rather conveniently, but usefully for the book) is moved around the Hive in various roles, meeting higher-up Priestesses (bees who serve the Queen directly), the Queen herself and (in the book's few comedic scenes) the male drones.
I loved the drones. When we meet the males, it's like the opening scene of Romeo and Juliet with male posturing, sexual innuendo and high jinx. One drone repeatedly crosses paths with Flora, and through Linden we also get to learn about the males' role in Hive life and continuity. And we also get the novel's one light touch at a romantic subplot.
Which of course is a little too anthropomorphic. Bees don't fall in love. Paull mostly treads the line of reality and fantasy carefully, for of course for the book to work we have to have bees communicating and speaking to us in terms we can understand. I like the way Paull does this. The only time I felt she went too far was in having a cleaner bee using implements to clean. That was the only time it jarred with me.
The publishers have compared The Bees to several other famous books. I've already mentioned two of my own. I would agree that there are shades of The Handmaid's Tale in Paull's book - the idea of conformity and subservience being similiar in the two. I would disagree most strongly with any likeness to The Hunger Games however - this to me is jumping on the bandwagon and I don't feel this book needs to do that - it can stand on its own merits. The world of Flora's Hive is nothing like that of Katniss's District 12. There are battles but all are of natural origin (wasp attack, spiders, some within the Hive). That's not to say fans of the Hunger Games won't like this. Flora is brave, determined and smart and there is more action that you might be expecting. I would also say there are similarities to Tarka the Otter, on the natural history theme - both in terms of the animal's-eye-view and the structure and ultimate arc of the story.
I'm not one for religious stories and themes, but I did like the way Paull used religious fervour (like 1984's devotion to Big Brother if I can make another comparison) as a form of control and unity between the bees. They worship their mother, they each connect to her regularly and strive to protect her and feed her. She is the centre of their world and their Hive. And that's also the crux of the story.
I'm really glad I gave this a read. Every time I see a bee now (as I write, spring has started and bees are all on the move again) I think of Flora hunting for nectar and think of what she would see if she came across me. I loved reading about her world. Loved the idea, loved playwright Paull's writing and plot. Hope she has another unique idea for her next book, as I'll be watching out for it.
Review of a Lovereading.co.uk advance copy.
ktrex's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
protoman21's review against another edition
3.0
Well, I was looking for something different, and I certainly got that. It started out interesting enough, but the longer it went on, the more I stopped caring. I think partly because there was only really the one character and although some of the details of the working of the hive was interesting, there was far too much detail that felt made up and not scientific. I certainly applaud Paull for trying something new, but I'm afraid I can't recommend this to anyone.
betseyboo's review against another edition
3.0
I thought the concept behind this novel was great, but it failed in different ways for me even though it did give me a very different perspective on bees.
shinyscout's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0