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A review by pewterwolf
Here Is the Beehive by Sarah Crossan
3.0
RTC (keep flipping between 2 stars and 3. 2.5ish? Will round up to 3 stars for now, but I might lower to 2 stars at a later date).
While I love Crossan’s prose and her reading in this audiobook (thank you NetGalley UK/Bloomsbury), I have issues with both the story & the editing of the audiobook. Basically, I didn’t have that emotional punch other readers have - in fact, I constantly question if I was meant to be sympathetic to Ana & her grief because she was just a horrible person. And Connor is just... the words "pathetic" and "weak" come to mind.
Review Taken from The Pewter Wolf Reads
***Audiobook given by UK publisher, Bloomsbury, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review/reaction***
Ana is sitting in her lawyer’s office when she gets a phone call from Rebecca, saying her husband has died. But when Ana hear’s the name of Rebecca’s husband - Connor, it throws her into a spiral. Rebecca’s husband is the man Ana’s been having an affair with for the past three years.
Now Ana’s finds herself alone, trapped inside her secret grief and her life, her marriage, her relationships with her family and friends, are unravelling. How can she grieve for the man she loved, the end of her secret relationship, if the world knew nothing about it?
Before I go further, I want to point out two things out. The first is that this is written in free verse (in the same style as Sarah’s previous novel, [b:One|25366338|One|Sarah Crossan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1431681924l/25366338._SY75_.jpg|43127666], which is fabulous and I highly recommend, so it’s not going to be a linear as other novels (and I was intrigued on how free-verse will translate onto audiobook). The second is I asked to review this audiobook was the cover. Doesn’t look like lovely?
Now, Sarah’s writing is wonderful. It lives up to One. And Sarah narrates the audiobook, which gives an extra layer. She knows the rhythm and beats, and this comes across.
And yet… There are things that just don’t work.
Maybe it would have been better if I have read this, but from some of the reviews I’ve read, maybe not. The book has duel timeline - Ana grieving for Connor’s death and how it’s affect her/everyone around her, then her and Connor meeting of the affair throughout the year - and yet there is no real transitions between the two. It’s quite jarring at times.
But the main thing I have issue with is the characters, mainly Ana and Connor. I’m sorry, but I felt no sympathy towards them. In fact, I came away from this quite angry with them both. I understand that we come into the story at the end of the affair and in Ana’s grief, but I found Ana truly unlikeable: self-centred, selfish, horrid to people around her (her husband, her friends, her mother, her sister, her children). Connor was exactly the same, but he felt more pathetic and weak-willed, wanting his cake and eating it, wanting Ana but not willing to leave Rebecca. This affair is toxic and quite harmful to themselves and people around them, and Ana’s grief turns almost obsessive as she compares herself to the mythical Rebecca before meeting her and trying to become her friend (I see you, [a:Daphne du Maurier|2001717|Daphne du Maurier|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1422444467p2/2001717.jpg]).
While Sarah’s writing and reading is beautiful, the characters and what this story wanted to do just didn’t work for me. For someone else, this will hit that sweet-spot perfectly, but not for me, I’m afraid. I’ll be sticking with One.
While I love Crossan’s prose and her reading in this audiobook (thank you NetGalley UK/Bloomsbury), I have issues with both the story & the editing of the audiobook. Basically, I didn’t have that emotional punch other readers have - in fact, I constantly question if I was meant to be sympathetic to Ana & her grief because she was just a horrible person. And Connor is just... the words "pathetic" and "weak" come to mind.
Review Taken from The Pewter Wolf Reads
***Audiobook given by UK publisher, Bloomsbury, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review/reaction***
Ana is sitting in her lawyer’s office when she gets a phone call from Rebecca, saying her husband has died. But when Ana hear’s the name of Rebecca’s husband - Connor, it throws her into a spiral. Rebecca’s husband is the man Ana’s been having an affair with for the past three years.
Now Ana’s finds herself alone, trapped inside her secret grief and her life, her marriage, her relationships with her family and friends, are unravelling. How can she grieve for the man she loved, the end of her secret relationship, if the world knew nothing about it?
Before I go further, I want to point out two things out. The first is that this is written in free verse (in the same style as Sarah’s previous novel, [b:One|25366338|One|Sarah Crossan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1431681924l/25366338._SY75_.jpg|43127666], which is fabulous and I highly recommend, so it’s not going to be a linear as other novels (and I was intrigued on how free-verse will translate onto audiobook). The second is I asked to review this audiobook was the cover. Doesn’t look like lovely?
Now, Sarah’s writing is wonderful. It lives up to One. And Sarah narrates the audiobook, which gives an extra layer. She knows the rhythm and beats, and this comes across.
And yet… There are things that just don’t work.
Maybe it would have been better if I have read this, but from some of the reviews I’ve read, maybe not. The book has duel timeline - Ana grieving for Connor’s death and how it’s affect her/everyone around her, then her and Connor meeting of the affair throughout the year - and yet there is no real transitions between the two. It’s quite jarring at times.
But the main thing I have issue with is the characters, mainly Ana and Connor. I’m sorry, but I felt no sympathy towards them. In fact, I came away from this quite angry with them both. I understand that we come into the story at the end of the affair and in Ana’s grief, but I found Ana truly unlikeable: self-centred, selfish, horrid to people around her (her husband, her friends, her mother, her sister, her children). Connor was exactly the same, but he felt more pathetic and weak-willed, wanting his cake and eating it, wanting Ana but not willing to leave Rebecca. This affair is toxic and quite harmful to themselves and people around them, and Ana’s grief turns almost obsessive as she compares herself to the mythical Rebecca before meeting her and trying to become her friend (I see you, [a:Daphne du Maurier|2001717|Daphne du Maurier|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1422444467p2/2001717.jpg]).
While Sarah’s writing and reading is beautiful, the characters and what this story wanted to do just didn’t work for me. For someone else, this will hit that sweet-spot perfectly, but not for me, I’m afraid. I’ll be sticking with One.