Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

12 reviews

saltnvinnies's review

emotional reflective relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Death of parent, Mental illness, Police brutality, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Abandonment and Bullying

cfarron's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs

Moderate: Child abuse, Racism, Cursing, Slavery, and Suicide

Minor: Abandonment, Blood, and Bullying

anilourengo's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

El libro cuenta la historia de Lily en el verano de 1964. 
Refleja con mucho éxito el trato que se le daba a la gente de color en 1964 y cómo la sociedad estadounidense reaccionó cuando se les permitió votar y terminar con la segregación.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Suicide, Mental illness, Death of parent, Racism, and Police brutality

midnightmarauder's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The Secret Life of Bees is one of those movies that helps remind you that it is possible to come from a life full of hardship and struggle and go into one full of love and support. I am not at all surprised that the book it's adapted from is exactly like that. 

The story follows Lily Owens, a fourteen-year-old girl living in South Carolina in 1964. She lives with her abusive father, T. Ray, who is a constant ticking time bomb, and Rosaleen, a black woman who works as a maid in the Owens household and has been a motherly figure to Lily for as long as she can remember. 

Lily's mother died when she was four, the specifics of which are hazy in her memory. She holds on to the few belongings that her mother left behind, and, after a difficult night with T. Ray, she flees her house, eventually ending up in the care of the Boatwright sisters. 

What I liked about this book was the fact that Lily got a happy ending. One of my favorite tropes is the found family trope, and both the book and movie fulfilled it. Lily knew she would never truly be happy if she stayed with T. Ray, so even though her running away could've ended badly, I'm glad she decided to leave. She always had a family waiting for her in the pink house and it just took her some time to find them. 

I watched the movie way before I read the book, so I have a softer spot for the film adaptation. The characters really come to life on screen, and each actress that played the Boatwright sisters (Queen Latifah as August, Alicia Keys as June, and Sophie Okonedo as May) did an amazing job in their roles. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Abandonment, Grief, Racism, Death of parent, Hate crime, Physical abuse, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Bullying

schorlett's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Gun violence

Moderate: Grief, Suicide, Death, and Mental illness

Minor: Blood, Bullying, and Pregnancy

itsy719's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Gun violence, Slavery, Bullying, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Grief, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Child abuse

Minor: Vomit

a_alves00's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Bullying, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Grief, Suicide, Death of parent, and Racism

michaelion's review

emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Teenage me would've loved this.

I think the movie warped my  little baby brain, so then I ended up liking stuff like The Help and Hairspray, which I absolutely was obsessed with. But the focus on women, bees, connections to mothers and ancestry and selfs... Like ancestry lives within you and also you are your own mother... That white lady kinda popped off writing this. She kinda had a point to make. She kinda dotted her i's and crossed her t's. She kinda had her cake and ate it too. She kinda gobbled ate right the fuck up left no crumbs. She kinda did her thing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Death, Racism, Grief, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Child abuse

Moderate: Confinement, Murder, Abandonment, Ableism, Animal death, Blood, Torture, Toxic relationship, Fatphobia, Police brutality, Gun violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Gaslighting, and Child death

Minor: Vomit, Misogyny, and War

orchidlilly's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

So... This was not nearly as great of a classic as I was led to expect. First of all, it succumbs to the common pitfall of all books of whatever genre this is; it's so unbearably pessimistic. Most of the book is pg torture porn wherein we watch the protagonist suffer while also getting blasted with the fact that she isn't suffering nearly as much as other people. The commentary on racism is cliche and not very well addressed. Every single black woman is the mammy stereotype, I didn't know it was even possible to have every character be the same stereotype. They all have practically no depth and no arcs of their own besides 'we exist to further the character arc of Lily'. The take on racism at the time is extremely one-sided and, pardon the wording, entirely black and white. And my biggest issue; I get that it's a coming of age novel, but the romance is, quite frankly, gross. Lily is 14, middle school age, and Zach is, from my recollection, gearing up to head into college, already weird. Then you have to factor in that completely out of the blue segment in the book where the love interest sucks honey off the main character's fingers. This scene is described in detail, about how it makes her slightly hot and bothered, and how she's also semi disgusted with herself because loving a black man is wrong. This scene is so entirely jarring and completely unnecessary that it pretty well ruined the entire book for me. The romance isn't even a main part of the book, but it's just so uncomfortable that I couldn't focus on anything else.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Cursing, Grief, Mental illness, Police brutality, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Gun violence, Death of parent, and Misogyny

Minor: Sexual content, Ableism, Religious bigotry, Blood, and Bullying

dudette's review against another edition

inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Bullying