Good stories are hard to find. Most books I read are either too boring, not a topic that is of interest to me, in a tense that I find hard to read, or have a writing style that I don't enjoy. One book I read this summer that fits the difficult criteria I have to be a good book is The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. Lily Owens, the protagonist, is my age; 14. She lives in South Carolina and has a father who abuses her and a caretaker named Rosaleen, who kind of fills in for tasks Lily's mother should have been there for, if she hadn't left Lily and Lily's father when she was little. Lily's life is filled with hectic racism of the South and getting in trouble with the police multiple times on her journey to find out more about her mother. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for something written in an exciting, spunky style with a large vocabulary, something with an adventurous plot that never gets boring, and something that is short, sweet, and gets to the point.
On page 79, Su Monk Kidd wrote a few lines that I loved and wanted to read over and over again."The rain had stopped and the sun glowed behind a bank of clouds. Pinewoods stretched beyond the honey house in every direction. I could make out beehives tucked under the trees in the distance, the tops of them postage stamps of white shine". The author goes on for a whole scene in the book describing the woods and scenery in this same way and style. these first few lines set the stage for a moment of quiet and peacefulness in the book. I love it when I have to look up words in a novel I am reading, because It means the words are new and interesting enough where I want to know more about them. A good book always has great description, writing style and an interesting vocabulary.
To me, plot is 99% of the story. A book can have the best description in the world, great character development, or perfect writing style, but if the plot is boring, none of that matters. Whether a plot is "boring" or not depends on the reader and what their interests are, but I can assure you that anyone who reads The Secret Life Of Bees will love the plot. The time period, 1964, is a time where there is so much discrimination and so many other rules that are different from today, that it is thrilling to read because you never know what someone might get in trouble for, or who is going to think what about something.
The Secret Life of Bees is about 300 pages long. I am definitely not saying a book needs to be on the shorter side to be good, but sometimes novels are too long and have much more detail than is needed. Sometimes that's good, but if you are looking for something short and sweet that gets straight to the point in an elegant way that pulls you in wanting to read more, this book does just that. Chapters are roughly 12 pages long. This is a perfect amount for lots of detail before having a fresh start at a new chapter, but not so much that you doze off and have to read a few lines over again.
There are a few smaller stories of less importance that are going on as the main plot matures. One is the story of Lily and Zach. Lily starts to like Zach, but that leads to problems because of the time period and the fact that Lily is white and Zach is black. Even more problems come from this including one other character committing suicide.
The Secret Life of Bees ends with Lily Owens finding out the truth about what happened to her mother, and comes to terms with that and with her father. She is finally able to make her dad realize that he shouldn't hurt her. She is his daughter, not his wife that left him, but his precious daughter who needs to be taken care of. It is one of the best books I have ever read because it has words that make me think, descriptive lines that make me want to read on forever, and isn't too short or too long, leaving me wanting more at the end.
I think that the strongest part of your argument is your second paragraph because you gave a direct a detailed quote from the book. It really gave me a sense of the style of the author and the feel of the book.
ReplyDeleteI think that the weakest part is is probably the fifth paragraph. I feel like it's gives just a little too much away about the story. I didn't read the book but I feel like maybe the character committing suicide was supposed to be a shocker.
I am definitely convinced to read The Secret Life of Bees. You gave a ton of description while also advertising it really well. I got to know the characters a little before diving into the book, so it felt like a preview.
This was a great blog!