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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I definitely recommend! It is also the closest to a book that scares me as I have ever read -- a world without bees = the collapse of society? of the human race? Worldwide? And it feels particularly frightening as I watch our current government enact policy after policy and remove safeguard after safeguard that were providing some minimal protections.
This is the story of three families of beekeepers - one in Victorian England in 1852 at the birth of the intense study and cultivation of bees, one in Ohio in 2007 just as the bees start disappearing, a phenomena that is dubbed Colony Collapse Disorder, and one in China in 2098 when there are no more bees and pollination is done by human hands painting the pollen on the blossoms. It is even more the story of parents and children, and how each has their own set of dreams for the other, and neither seems capable of compromise. Written in alternating chapters, the language spare but so beautiful, the story richly told so that images stay in your mind. The simplest images build on top of each other to lead you gently but remorselessly to the denouement, such as.
I discovered this book at Scandinavia House in NYC last fall, when the author, Maja Lunde, did a talk about it, and was intrigued. It is actually part of a quartet of books Ms. Lunde is writing, her first books for adults, all will feature some endangered natural resource. Her second, writ using a similar structure, addresses water, and has yet to be translated and published in the US.
I read this for the 2018 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge as my book I really wanted to read in 2017 but did not get to. Also my book for 2018 ATY #45. book that scares me.
This is the story of three families of beekeepers - one in Victorian England in 1852 at the birth of the intense study and cultivation of bees, one in Ohio in 2007 just as the bees start disappearing, a phenomena that is dubbed Colony Collapse Disorder, and one in China in 2098 when there are no more bees and pollination is done by human hands painting the pollen on the blossoms. It is even more the story of parents and children, and how each has their own set of dreams for the other, and neither seems capable of compromise. Written in alternating chapters, the language spare but so beautiful, the story richly told so that images stay in your mind. The simplest images build on top of each other to lead you gently but remorselessly to the denouement, such as
Spoiler
the passing of a pesticide tanker as George and Tom drive to Maine, which makes you realize that the use of pesticides has been casually but deliberately introduced multiple times alreadyI discovered this book at Scandinavia House in NYC last fall, when the author, Maja Lunde, did a talk about it, and was intrigued. It is actually part of a quartet of books Ms. Lunde is writing, her first books for adults, all will feature some endangered natural resource. Her second, writ using a similar structure, addresses water, and has yet to be translated and published in the US.
I read this for the 2018 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge as my book I really wanted to read in 2017 but did not get to. Also my book for 2018 ATY #45. book that scares me.
I liked this book just okay. I was thoroughly excited by the premise but found the execution to be disappointing. Two of the main characters were too unlikable for my taste. Perhaps it's because I'm not a parent but I found their obsession with putting their dreams onto their children to be frustrating to say the least. There were some redeeming qualities though such as the characters of Charlotte and Tom and the hopeful way in which the story wraps up.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
2.5
informative
medium-paced
Loved the book, the writing and the connected stories. I look forward to reading the author's future books.
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes