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A review by emilyb_chicago
The Bees by Laline Paull
2.0
The main character Flora is a bee of many talents and I struggled to find her interesting or feel emotionally invested in her at all. While I'll likely remember this book for all it let me learn about bees, I can't say that I liked it.
It's an intense story with a of heavy overtones of religious fanaticism, cult behavior and an echo-y feeling of dread threaded throughout. (So be cautious if those things are triggers for you.) I kept feeling like I must be missing some message or allegory hidden in the book but after a talk with some smart bookish friends I don't think there was a moral I missed.
I wish at the end of the book the author had included a blurb about what real bee information she used and what she needed to bend to fit into her story - similar to how an author who writes about an alternate timeline will draw parallels.
It's an intense story with a of heavy overtones of religious fanaticism, cult behavior and an echo-y feeling of dread threaded throughout. (So be cautious if those things are triggers for you.) I kept feeling like I must be missing some message or allegory hidden in the book but after a talk with some smart bookish friends I don't think there was a moral I missed.
I wish at the end of the book the author had included a blurb about what real bee information she used and what she needed to bend to fit into her story - similar to how an author who writes about an alternate timeline will draw parallels.