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psychobillygrrl's review against another edition
4.0
The back of the book compares The Hive to Bridget Jones’ Diary and I very much agree. #Very British #Funny #Neurotic women.
Welcome to St. Ambrose, a private grade school where the mums form committees and go jogging together and apparently have a lot of time to socialize and host lunches while their kids are in school.
Meet Rachel, the main character if there is one. She’s been dumped by her husband and her best friend for no apparent good reasons. Will she find love? Of course! This is the kind of book where a handsome man is introduced pretty early on and for the sake of stretching it out into a book, they don’t immediately get together!
Meet Bea, the ex-bestie. She is the queen bee (get it? Bea?) and very cliquey. Does she get her come-uppance? You betcha!
Meet Georgie, a housewife and mother of many. She used to be a lawyer, but prefers being a housewife. She is not one to kowtow to Bea. Her best friend Jo, is very grumpy. Also not much of a participant in mom group things.
Heather, on the other hand, could best be described as a toady. Always wanting to get picked for things, bending over backwards to please. I loved how she develops from totally irritating to finally fitting in with decent people.
Bubba tries too hard to impress with her money and former power job. Alas, she makes a fool of herself over and over.
And Melissa, well, she is perfect. The new mom in town seems to fix all the problems St. Ambrose can throw at her new friends, from bringing a Malteser cake for the lowbrow boot sale attendees to providing actual psychotherapy.
There are others, such as Colette (on the prowl for a man), Clover (who can’t cook) and Sharon and Jasmine (who just fill out the group with nothing in particular). But they do not matter. What matters is, over the course of one year, Rachel falls for the new headmaster, Chris (Rachel’s ex) gets dumped himself, various fundraisers end in near disaster, allegiances change and the outsiders become insiders. I’d watch the movie. The only big surprise was that Bea and Chris weren’t secretly a thing, which would explain why both dropped Rachel at once.
Welcome to St. Ambrose, a private grade school where the mums form committees and go jogging together and apparently have a lot of time to socialize and host lunches while their kids are in school.
Meet Rachel, the main character if there is one. She’s been dumped by her husband and her best friend for no apparent good reasons. Will she find love? Of course! This is the kind of book where a handsome man is introduced pretty early on and for the sake of stretching it out into a book, they don’t immediately get together!
Meet Bea, the ex-bestie. She is the queen bee (get it? Bea?) and very cliquey. Does she get her come-uppance? You betcha!
Meet Georgie, a housewife and mother of many. She used to be a lawyer, but prefers being a housewife. She is not one to kowtow to Bea. Her best friend Jo, is very grumpy. Also not much of a participant in mom group things.
Heather, on the other hand, could best be described as a toady. Always wanting to get picked for things, bending over backwards to please. I loved how she develops from totally irritating to finally fitting in with decent people.
Bubba tries too hard to impress with her money and former power job. Alas, she makes a fool of herself over and over.
And Melissa, well, she is perfect. The new mom in town seems to fix all the problems St. Ambrose can throw at her new friends, from bringing a Malteser cake for the lowbrow boot sale attendees to providing actual psychotherapy.
There are others, such as Colette (on the prowl for a man), Clover (who can’t cook) and Sharon and Jasmine (who just fill out the group with nothing in particular). But they do not matter. What matters is, over the course of one year, Rachel falls for the new headmaster, Chris (Rachel’s ex) gets dumped himself, various fundraisers end in near disaster, allegiances change and the outsiders become insiders. I’d watch the movie. The only big surprise was that Bea and Chris weren’t secretly a thing, which would explain why both dropped Rachel at once.
melissarochelle's review against another edition
3.0
I was reminded of one more reason to not have children: other parents. The Hive is one more reminder that the mean girls never go away (I don't really remember having this group in my high school, but it's possible I just blocked it or wasn't the one that was picked on or was the mean girl...that's an unpleasant thought). Anyway, the Queen Bee, Beatrice, was atrocious and I was flabbergasted by why some of those characters listened to her. Plus I didn't get some of the jokes. Tea and lesbians? Did I miss something?
Overall, a quick read, has some good book club discussion moments, but not one of my favorites.
Overall, a quick read, has some good book club discussion moments, but not one of my favorites.
kittykate99's review against another edition
4.0
Reminiscent of Big Little Lies, except without the murder.
fibuzz's review against another edition
2.0
There is a reason it took me almost 2 months to read this book and that is because it was a little bit like wading through treacle. A real shame because as a school-gate mum only to familiar with playground cliques I had high hopes for it. The premise behind the plot is pure genius though it only dawned on me in the last couple of chapters what the actual premise was... maybe that says more about me! Sadly its execution failed to keep my interest. I found the characters over-exaggerated and fake. Had I not promised to review it, I would have given up on it. Disappointing on the whole.
insertsthwitty's review against another edition
1.0
I could have liked this book, if I have never read a book before, or watched a movie, and knew nothing about the world or relationships. I might have thought this book was refreshing. But, I have done all these things. And I still read this book until the end, like a masochistic twat.
See, I read bad writing, I read bad fanfiction when I was a teenager way too into Harry Potter, but this is worse because someone thought, jolly good (this is the kind of phrasing you can also expect out of this book), people will pay for this. I mean, they have for some of it. And I'm sorry to hear that.
Everything in this book is vapid, from the plot, to all the characters, to all the relationships - which, it astounds me, are called genuine at the end. Anyway, not going to waste more time on this, so I will leave the best comment on this book at the end, which is Oscar Wilde's quote: "the man who could call a spade a spade should be compelled to use one." Take it as you will.
See, I read bad writing, I read bad fanfiction when I was a teenager way too into Harry Potter, but this is worse because someone thought, jolly good (this is the kind of phrasing you can also expect out of this book), people will pay for this. I mean, they have for some of it. And I'm sorry to hear that.
Everything in this book is vapid, from the plot, to all the characters, to all the relationships - which, it astounds me, are called genuine at the end. Anyway, not going to waste more time on this, so I will leave the best comment on this book at the end, which is Oscar Wilde's quote: "the man who could call a spade a spade should be compelled to use one." Take it as you will.
granolagrandma's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The only thing I would change is that I wish the romance was featured a bit more predominantly
gailm's review against another edition
2.0
Not much to it really. It certainly didn't keep me enthralled.
jacki_f's review against another edition
2.0
This is a semi-satirical novel about mums at a small primary school and about the way they revolve around the "queen bee" who runs the fundraising committee. We focus on a core group of 5 or 6 mums who all have their own place in the social standing: inside the clique, desperate to join the clique or immune to the clique. The story follows a school year as they go through their own individual dramas and the pecking order at school gets shuffled.
If anyone should have liked this book, it would be me, because I am highly involved in my children's primary school. I also think that it's a topic that's crying out for a novel. There was a recent article in Boston Magazine entitled "The Terrifyingly Nasty, Backstabbing, and Altogether Miserable World of the Suburban Mom" (you can find it on line) which shows how real and hurtful these kind of dramas are. But this book just doesn't work. We don't care about any of the characters, we don't explore any feelings in depth and the "queen bee" is so simplistically lazy and selfish that it's virtually impossible to believe that everyone wouldn't see through her.
Plus the "bee" metaphors drove me crazy. The analogy is clever but it gets rammed home again and again. Naming characters like Bea and Clover and Heather. Naming the school after the patron saint of bees. Frequent lectures from Rachel's Mum about how beehives work. Enough! I get it!
While there are amusing moments here and there, it's overall a tedious read. A friend described it to me as like "Fifty Shades of Grey without the sex".
If anyone should have liked this book, it would be me, because I am highly involved in my children's primary school. I also think that it's a topic that's crying out for a novel. There was a recent article in Boston Magazine entitled "The Terrifyingly Nasty, Backstabbing, and Altogether Miserable World of the Suburban Mom" (you can find it on line) which shows how real and hurtful these kind of dramas are. But this book just doesn't work. We don't care about any of the characters, we don't explore any feelings in depth and the "queen bee" is so simplistically lazy and selfish that it's virtually impossible to believe that everyone wouldn't see through her.
Plus the "bee" metaphors drove me crazy. The analogy is clever but it gets rammed home again and again. Naming characters like Bea and Clover and Heather. Naming the school after the patron saint of bees. Frequent lectures from Rachel's Mum about how beehives work. Enough! I get it!
While there are amusing moments here and there, it's overall a tedious read. A friend described it to me as like "Fifty Shades of Grey without the sex".