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alexblackreads's review against another edition
4.0
I adored this book for the character relationships. It captures so perfectly a situation in which children have to "earn" the love of their parent; the competition with each other, the guilt of the parents, their self worth being linked directly to their achievements. It's fantastic. All of the characters are fully developed and you feel for them, even the parents who don't intend to cause such harm. I especially loved the sibling relationship for its nuance and depth. Absolutely fantastic.
Where this book kind of lost me was the Jewish mysticism. I'm not sure I disliked that aspect so much as it went completely over my head. Like I couldn't remotely follow what was happening or what was intended by it.
But I really enjoyed it overall. Would definitely recommend and also am interested in picking up more from Goldberg.
Where this book kind of lost me was the Jewish mysticism. I'm not sure I disliked that aspect so much as it went completely over my head. Like I couldn't remotely follow what was happening or what was intended by it.
But I really enjoyed it overall. Would definitely recommend and also am interested in picking up more from Goldberg.
book_nut's review against another edition
2.0
I enjoyed the spelling bee part of it, but, unfortunately, that was over halfway through the book. Alas, I had to wade through many pages of unhappy, disturbed people in an unhappy family to actually finish the book. And the end wasn't very satisfying. Wish I had put it down instead of plugging through to the end.
karolinatx's review against another edition
4.0
Bee Season is the story of the unraveling of a family which was clinging together by the barest of threads, with two parents so engrossed in their own obsessions that they listened but never heard. We have Aaron, the older brother, who is consistently bullied at school and feels at peace only at the Jewish temple where his father, Saul, is the cantor. Saul has created a world for himself in his tiny study full of books from which her emerges only to cook dinner for the family as his wife, Miriam, is not the domestic type. Miriam, meanwhile, is haunted by her quest to reach Perfectimundo, a state in which everything is perfectly clean, sterile, and in its correct place. And then there's Eliza, who is tracked as a lower-achieving student in second grade and manages to float through life on a cloud of after-school sitcoms, achieving nothing out of the ordinary until she rockets to the national spelling bee in fifth grade. What follows is the family's gradual collapse, helped along by Aaron's decision to find God in the Hare Krishna faith, Miriam's schizophrenic kleptomania, and Saul's newly-found belief that his daughter can be trained to become a direct link to God based on her talents with letters. Eliza, thrilled at the prospect of her father finally noticed her, plays along until the bitter end when everything snaps. Bee Season is gut-wrenching and by its end, makes the reader feel like he might have descended into the darkness that this family inhabits. Goldberg is a gifted writer, and I look forward to reading more of her work, if perhaps of a more optimistic slant.
rkravitz's review against another edition
2.0
This was a quick read and somewhat interesting, but it kinda just ends and you are left feeling like there was more story to tell.
kdferrin's review against another edition
2.0
I wanted to like this book because it was a well written character driven book that is usually my style but I had a really hard time relating to the story. I couldn't wrap my brain around the mystic/kabbalah idea of the letters presenting themselves to the main character as she spelled words but I am a terrible speller so maybe that is what I am missing. Also the whole family dynamic was so dysfunctional and depressing. Every single member of the family was just so messed up and it only got worse and worse as the book went on.
mrsthrift's review against another edition
5.0
Bee Season exists at the baffling intersection of Spelling Bees, Jewish mysticism, Hare Krishna recruitment, and mental illness. Each family member has a sort of unconventional relationship with the others, although it's difficult to see how very strange things are until they start to fall apart. (Oh, Chinua Achebe, you go everywhere with me).
The very average, younger sister becomes the favored child when Eliza suddenly displays her surprising aptitude for turning words into carefully placed letters recited aloud. This provides an opportunity for the fissures of the family to become giant gullies straight through the middle of a very normal family. Her older brother starts spending time with people who shave their heads, smell like incense, wear orange robes, and talk about the illusions of the material world. Her mother drifts further and further away from reality. Her father misses the whole unraveling, caught up in his enthusiasm for Eliza's potential & the going-on's of Transcendence.
I was captivated by the fumbling, ineffective parenting. I mean, no one really "knows" how to "be a good parent," but it is always remarkable how best intentions can go so awry. When your kid joins a cult, is it your shortcoming as a parent? I also loved the very honest way that Goldberg explored the ways that Saul transfers his own dreams/goals onto a kid's life experience. Aaron & Eliza resolve that pressure in very different ways. This provides insight into their convictions & spirit.
In the post-book interview, Goldberg says that she only knew Eliza's character and the final scene of the book, and that the rest of the story unfolded itself to her as she wrote it. Dang! What a ride through the fiction lurking in the back of Myla's brain.
I read this on the suggestion of Ariel Federow. She said, "I liked it a lot. I don't want to blow the ending." As a person who *loved* A Prayer for Owen Meany in high school, this sort of review with a mysterious, spoil-able ending really intrigues me. I not only requested it from the library, but bumped it to the top of my "to read" queue, getting it on audiobook because that is the fastest way for me to get through a book. I commute, okay? Anyway, I was glad I did because this book is the JAM.
The very average, younger sister becomes the favored child when Eliza suddenly displays her surprising aptitude for turning words into carefully placed letters recited aloud. This provides an opportunity for the fissures of the family to become giant gullies straight through the middle of a very normal family. Her older brother starts spending time with people who shave their heads, smell like incense, wear orange robes, and talk about the illusions of the material world. Her mother drifts further and further away from reality. Her father misses the whole unraveling, caught up in his enthusiasm for Eliza's potential & the going-on's of Transcendence.
I was captivated by the fumbling, ineffective parenting. I mean, no one really "knows" how to "be a good parent," but it is always remarkable how best intentions can go so awry. When your kid joins a cult, is it your shortcoming as a parent? I also loved the very honest way that Goldberg explored the ways that Saul transfers his own dreams/goals onto a kid's life experience. Aaron & Eliza resolve that pressure in very different ways. This provides insight into their convictions & spirit.
In the post-book interview, Goldberg says that she only knew Eliza's character and the final scene of the book, and that the rest of the story unfolded itself to her as she wrote it. Dang! What a ride through the fiction lurking in the back of Myla's brain.
I read this on the suggestion of Ariel Federow. She said, "I liked it a lot. I don't want to blow the ending." As a person who *loved* A Prayer for Owen Meany in high school, this sort of review with a mysterious, spoil-able ending really intrigues me. I not only requested it from the library, but bumped it to the top of my "to read" queue, getting it on audiobook because that is the fastest way for me to get through a book. I commute, okay? Anyway, I was glad I did because this book is the JAM.
minvanwin's review against another edition
3.0
This started out as a freakishly charming portrait of a spelling bee champion and her family, but I felt the second half a little outlandish and out of place. Nevertheless, I’m reminded of my own spelling bee foibles. It was fourth grade. It was the final round. And in my excitement and haste, I spelled recipe with an S, thus losing the biggest contest of my young life to Tiffany W. What’s your spelling Achille’s heel?