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A review by littlerah
How to Bee by Bren MacDibble
4.0
[This review will include spoilers].
Oh man.
Let's start by highlighting that this is a children's chapter book. It uses the voice of nine-year-old Peony and is incredibly fast-paced and dizzying. Writing from the perspective of a child is one of the hardest things you will ever do. But reading it, I can almost sense the youth with a level of ingenuity. But regardless, I am not the demographic for this book, and I would love to see young readers and their thoughts on it. How they liked it, and what they took out of it.
Nonetheless.
How to Bee is the story of Peony who lives on a farm and does the work of bees. Pollinating plants and ensuring the survival of crops. To be a 'bee' in this story is a point of privilege for Peony. However living on the farm is a place of desperation. When her mother, Rosie, returns from the city she endlessly drags to bring Peony with her, insisting that she will be better off and they will lead a rich life with her abusive partner, Danny, due to Peony's determination and skill.
In the city things are no better. Acting as a servant in the Pasquale house, the conditions are awful. Peony even notes the house the family live in is rather large for one of three, honing in on that socioeconomic conditions of the story. Peony goes on to befriend the daughter, Esmeralda, who fears going outside. She encourages her to become brave and take risks, which bring the Pasquale family together again.
Reading it with the education and upbringing I have, and in a world of discourses. It's really hard to sit nicely with this book. For a children's piece it brings into play a severe amount of trauma and ideologies that unfortunately underpin our society today. Capitalism and its effect on the poor, the terrifying decay of our ecosystem and environment, the toxicity and blackmail of families and emotionally abusive relationships. This novel is dark to the adult reader in a way that left me shaking.
I felt uncomfortable in a few sections. Such as the one where the Pasquale's provide Peony with $10 for helping Esmeralda go outside, or when they provide her money when they reach her on the farm after she escapes home. It was unsettling to see the prescribed upper-class of the book treating Peony, rewarding her behaviour and I did not want to see any value in them as their position ensures that they are part of the problem. Likewise, the deaths of many women in the book, the inability to reach a solution (which albeit is probably a result of our own conditions wherein we do not have a solution for extreme poverty and environmental destruction because the corporations who contribute to a significant portion are unlikely to do anything), left me unsettled. Where do we go next? How do we bee, especially in our current climate?
Whilst I felt jostled by the language and voice of Peony, presumably a result of an adult author, this novel reminds readers that they are in charge and need to do something. Be brave and take a step towards saving our world. If only more rich white men would give something like this a go and listen to the children, the future. Then maybe Honey will be salvation.
Oh man.
Let's start by highlighting that this is a children's chapter book. It uses the voice of nine-year-old Peony and is incredibly fast-paced and dizzying. Writing from the perspective of a child is one of the hardest things you will ever do. But reading it, I can almost sense the youth with a level of ingenuity. But regardless, I am not the demographic for this book, and I would love to see young readers and their thoughts on it. How they liked it, and what they took out of it.
Nonetheless.
How to Bee is the story of Peony who lives on a farm and does the work of bees. Pollinating plants and ensuring the survival of crops. To be a 'bee' in this story is a point of privilege for Peony. However living on the farm is a place of desperation. When her mother, Rosie, returns from the city she endlessly drags to bring Peony with her, insisting that she will be better off and they will lead a rich life with her abusive partner, Danny, due to Peony's determination and skill.
In the city things are no better. Acting as a servant in the Pasquale house, the conditions are awful. Peony even notes the house the family live in is rather large for one of three, honing in on that socioeconomic conditions of the story. Peony goes on to befriend the daughter, Esmeralda, who fears going outside. She encourages her to become brave and take risks, which bring the Pasquale family together again.
Reading it with the education and upbringing I have, and in a world of discourses. It's really hard to sit nicely with this book. For a children's piece it brings into play a severe amount of trauma and ideologies that unfortunately underpin our society today. Capitalism and its effect on the poor, the terrifying decay of our ecosystem and environment, the toxicity and blackmail of families and emotionally abusive relationships. This novel is dark to the adult reader in a way that left me shaking.
I felt uncomfortable in a few sections. Such as the one where the Pasquale's provide Peony with $10 for helping Esmeralda go outside, or when they provide her money when they reach her on the farm after she escapes home. It was unsettling to see the prescribed upper-class of the book treating Peony, rewarding her behaviour and I did not want to see any value in them as their position ensures that they are part of the problem. Likewise, the deaths of many women in the book, the inability to reach a solution (which albeit is probably a result of our own conditions wherein we do not have a solution for extreme poverty and environmental destruction because the corporations who contribute to a significant portion are unlikely to do anything), left me unsettled. Where do we go next? How do we bee, especially in our current climate?
Whilst I felt jostled by the language and voice of Peony, presumably a result of an adult author, this novel reminds readers that they are in charge and need to do something. Be brave and take a step towards saving our world. If only more rich white men would give something like this a go and listen to the children, the future. Then maybe Honey will be salvation.