serendipitysbooks 's review for:

The History of Bees by Maja Lunde

4.0

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The importance of bees to society is told in this novel through three narrators - William in mid-nineteenth century England, George in early twenty-first century America and Tao in late twenty-first century China. Each of the three are parents and the book also has a lot to say about the parent-child relationship. I found it a little hard to connect to the characters. Not sure whether it was because the story constantly shifted from one to another and each section was fairly short, or whether it was due to the fact I was reading in translation. I often feel somewhat removed from characters in translated works. Not sure why. Nevertheless the novel did a powerful job of showing how the absence of bees could adversely affects society. A definite call to arms. I also like how the last few chapters linked the three seemingly separate stories. It did leave me wanting to know more about Charlotte though - probably my favourite character - especially her story which linked William and George.