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breeann7 's review for:
Bee Season
by Myla Goldberg
I picked up this book because I have liked watching or reading all these recent spelling bee movies or books. I thought this would be something similar. Surprisingly enough this is nothing like a "traditional" spelling bee story. Although I had a hard time putting the book down I am pretty sure I didn't really like it. It was like reading a book about a family of compulsive, delusional, fanatics.
Miriam--who had to pretend to be a lawyer yet live off her inheritance so she could steal things to put the world right and compulsively clean her kitchen, ignores her children and husband she didn't understand.
Saul--a man who is caught up in his own world of jewish mysticism, a man who has spent his life tryting to find that mysticism first thru drugs and sex and finally thru Abulafia (hebrew letter mysticism) which he believe will come thru his daughter who he has pretty much ignored until she wins the spelling bee at school, a man who pays attention to his son and then completely forgets about him while working w/ his daughter on the spelling and indoctrinating her into Abulafia's work. Yet he refuses to see the similarities between what he is trying to teach his daughter and the choice of Hare Krishna religion that his son has chosen. A man who doesn't have the slightest idea what is going on with his wife and is so caught up in his own persuits that he fails to recongnize that his wife is mentally ill and that his son has switched religions.
Aaron--a boy who has been seeking experiences with god since he saw a flashing red light from a plane reflected in the clouds, a boy who wants to grow up like his father but is usually ignored by him except for the study sessions he has with him which disappear when Eliza wins the spelling bee. He finally finds what he is looking for with Hare Khrisna, and spends his days chanting for hours and wanting to live in the temple to escape the real world.
Eliza--a below average student who has a talent for spelling words. She is basically ignored by both parents until she wins the spelling bee where she is then in the good graces of her father. She latches onto the theory's of Abulafia and wants to communicate with God thru letters. She too spends hours and hours chanting and doing word permutations in order to get closer to god (not much different than Aarons chanting). I think she is the only one that may go back to some semblence of normalcy when she purposefully mispells a word in the first round of the next spelling bee.
I liked these characters in the beginning of the book but after they spent the whole book spiralling down in their own versions of maddness, I just wasn't really interested in their story...maybe it was all just a little too unbelieveable that really none of these people was remotely normal in any way. I am still not sure I understand the point of the story or even the ending. I think the end was Eliza's way of trying to regain some sort of normalcy back in her life.
I don't think I could recommend this book to my friends as something I liked but it was interesting.
Miriam--who had to pretend to be a lawyer yet live off her inheritance so she could steal things to put the world right and compulsively clean her kitchen, ignores her children and husband she didn't understand.
Saul--a man who is caught up in his own world of jewish mysticism, a man who has spent his life tryting to find that mysticism first thru drugs and sex and finally thru Abulafia (hebrew letter mysticism) which he believe will come thru his daughter who he has pretty much ignored until she wins the spelling bee at school, a man who pays attention to his son and then completely forgets about him while working w/ his daughter on the spelling and indoctrinating her into Abulafia's work. Yet he refuses to see the similarities between what he is trying to teach his daughter and the choice of Hare Krishna religion that his son has chosen. A man who doesn't have the slightest idea what is going on with his wife and is so caught up in his own persuits that he fails to recongnize that his wife is mentally ill and that his son has switched religions.
Aaron--a boy who has been seeking experiences with god since he saw a flashing red light from a plane reflected in the clouds, a boy who wants to grow up like his father but is usually ignored by him except for the study sessions he has with him which disappear when Eliza wins the spelling bee. He finally finds what he is looking for with Hare Khrisna, and spends his days chanting for hours and wanting to live in the temple to escape the real world.
Eliza--a below average student who has a talent for spelling words. She is basically ignored by both parents until she wins the spelling bee where she is then in the good graces of her father. She latches onto the theory's of Abulafia and wants to communicate with God thru letters. She too spends hours and hours chanting and doing word permutations in order to get closer to god (not much different than Aarons chanting). I think she is the only one that may go back to some semblence of normalcy when she purposefully mispells a word in the first round of the next spelling bee.
I liked these characters in the beginning of the book but after they spent the whole book spiralling down in their own versions of maddness, I just wasn't really interested in their story...maybe it was all just a little too unbelieveable that really none of these people was remotely normal in any way. I am still not sure I understand the point of the story or even the ending. I think the end was Eliza's way of trying to regain some sort of normalcy back in her life.
I don't think I could recommend this book to my friends as something I liked but it was interesting.