The Pink House

What I think is one of the best things in the book is the pink house.  It's a normal house, except it's painted an outrageous shade of hot pink.  Although I love that color, I probably wouldn't like living in a hot pink house because it would be a little embarassing.  As you might have guessed, May picked out the color, and August went along with it, although she later said it was difficult.  Sue Monk Kidd shows it as an example of sacrificing for someone you love.

Other Blogs

There are lots of other people out there who love The Secret Life of Bees.  Check them out.

1. http://www.fanpop.com/spots/the-secret-life-of-bees
2. http://www.slobfanblog.blogspot.com

Why I Loved This Book

If you haven't read this book yet, I will tell you why I love it so much.

Top 5 Reasons to Love The Secret Life of Bees

1. It is well written- Sue Monk Kidd is an excellent writer who knows how to make a great idea into an even greater novel.
2. It is funny- Although there are some tragic parts, many scenes will make you laugh.
3. It will teach you many things- It will teach you about life, love, family and beekeeping.
4. You will always remember reading it- It's a story that is almost impossible to forget.
5. It will help you get a new perspective- Once you realize how bad Lilly's life is, you will feel better about your own.

Honey!

Honey is very good!  I personally love honey!  Here is a list of some of the things you can use honey for:

• plain
• on toast
• in a sandwich
• on a bagel
• with ice cream!

If you have anything else comment it!

Beekeeping

Beekeeping plays a big part in the book.  Sue Monk Kidd does a good job describing the equipment and processes of beekeeping.  But here's some extra info anyways.
Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of honey bee colonies, commonly in hives, by humans. A beekeeper (or apiarist) keeps bees to get honey, beeswax, propolis, pollenn and royal jelly.  They use these products to pollinate crops or to sell the products.  A bee yard or apiary is what a place is called where bees are kept.  A colony of bees consists of three types of bee:

• a Queen bee, which is normally the only breeding female in the colony;
• a large number of female worker bees, typically 30,000–50,000 in number;
• a number of male drones, ranging from thousands in a strong hive in spring to very few during cold season.

The queen is the only sexually mature female in the hive and all of the female worker bees and male drones are her offspring. The queen may live for up to three years or more and can lay up to half a milliion eggs before death. At the peak of the breeding season, late spring to summer, a good queen may be capable of laying 3,000 eggs in one day, more than her own body weight. This would be rare; a good queen queen might peak at 2,000 eggs a day, but a more average queen might lay just 1,500 eggs per day. The queen is raised from a normal worker egg, but is fed a larger amount of royal jelly than a normal worker bee, resulting in a becoming much larger. When a queen dies it must be quickly replaced, or the colony will die.

Here is  a short video with some graphics.

The Black Madonna



The Black Madonna is an important part of the story.  She provides hope and comfort to the Daughters of Mary.  Lilly finds strength in her as well.  But August eventually tells Lilly that the Black Madonna is more than just the old figurehead.  She is the spiritual mother inside each of us.  From then on the Black Madonna really inspires her.
Here is some history of the Black Madonna:
From four to five hundred Madonnas still exist, and almost all are in Europe.  They are some of the first worldwide Madonna images.  The reason their black doesn't have anything to do with skin tone; it is just from other symbolic reasons and connections to early goddesses.  The Black Madonnas are a symbol of strength and love worldwide.

Characters

Since I just did a poll about characters, I think I should talk about them as well.

Lilly's main character traits are smart, funny, sarcastic and ultimately kind.  Lilly's conflict is not only that she is hiding from the police... she's also hiding from the shocking truth that her mother had left her when she was only a baby.  Lilly comes to peace with the truth by concluding that no matter what, her mother once loved her, and she finally begins to accept that she shot her mother.

T. Ray is everything a father should not be: cruel, neglectful and abusive.  He forces Lilly to kneel on grits and endure other punishments.  At the end, the reason for his abusiveness is revealed: he sees Deborah (Lilly's mother) in Lilly, and is mad at her for leaving him, because he loved her.

August is like the queen bee of the story.  She is kind, loyal and wise.  August swore against marrying and so never did.  She works as a beekeeper and the leader of the Daughters of Mary.  August has wisdom beyond most people.  She understands the way people and things work.  August is like a big rock protecting Lilly, and gives her great comfort throughout the story.

May is the life of the story.  Wacky but so nice she wouldn't even kill a roach, everyone is friends with May.  But life is not all good for her.  Ever since the suicide of her twin sister April, May often hums 'Oh Susanna' at high speed whenever slightly upset.  But that's not the worst; when May gets upset she starts sobbing and either needs to take a nice hot bath or go out to her Wailing Wall, where she keeps scraps of paper with prayers written on them.  Eventually May can't take the sadness; she commits suicide.  But while she was alive everyone loved her.

At first, June resents Lilly's presence.  But as time goes on, things change for June (mainly after May's suicide).  She apologizes for being rude and marries Neil, her longtime boyfriend.  June is a skilled cellist who plays her cello for dying people, so she is used to sadness.  She has a strong personality but is a nice person.

Rosaleen: she's not afraid to speak her mind (although it sometimes gets her into trouble) and sometimes embarasses Lilly.  But she is Lilly's "stand-in mother" and loving and protective.  It is Rosaleen who springs the events that end with her and Lilly living in a hot pink house.  Also, Rosaleen acheives her ultimate life goal, regestering to vote.

We can't forget Zach, the assistant beekeeper to August and Lilly's boyfriend.  Well, he's not really a boyfriend...his relationship with Lilly is complicated.  They kissed, and like each other, but they want to wait before starting to date.  Zach getting in jail affects the book as well because it may have caused May's suicide, among other things.