Section 1 Pages 1-75

Let me start off by saying that I am very much enjoying this book. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd has humour, emotion, and depth, especially in the characters.

Lily is the main character in this story. She is a 14-year old girl who lives with her father in South Carolina during the mid-1960's. Her father, T-Ray is just a complete toolbag. He treats her like crap, making up cruel and unusual punishments, like making her kneel across the kitchen on RAW GRITS.

In case you were wondering, these are raw grits:

Imagine kneeling across 30 feet of those every time you didn't eat your veggies. T-Ray is almost too evil to be real. He openly hates books, which are one of the few things that Lily actually enjoys, he is against Lily getting a proper education, not to mention the physical and psychological abuse through which he put Lily and her mother. I am utterly shocked at the character of T-Ray.

One of the major themes in this novel is race and racism. Throughout the novel, we hear about real life events that are happening in the novel. For example, the novel makes reference to the signing of the Civil Rights Act by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 2nd, 1964. We also quickly hear about Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, and other events highlighted during the Civil Rights Movement.

Finally, if I could use 1 word to describe the tone of this book; it would be desperate.  How Lily is just so desperate to be like other girls, or to know what really happened to her mother, or even how desperate she is to get away from her father. Later on in the section, she is so desperate for a place to live, she lies to June, May and August about the real reason she is on the road.

Daniel
May 11th, 2014