June's book club meeting was attended by a small number of book club devotees (Tahnee, Colleen, Trilby and Kerry) at my place. We were all in agreeance, that this months book, The Secret Life of Bees was a good easy enjoyable read and that it was a nice change after having read a couple of books which were thought provoking and fairly heavy to read.
In the book, a young girl who embarks on a quest seeking answers about her dead mother ends up living with a group of african american women in the deep south in the early 60's. She is accompanied by her african american housekeeper, who she broke out of jail after she had spat on a group of white mens boots. The novel explores the treatment of african americans during this time period and the relationships between the young girl and the women she comes to live with.
All of us were impressed with the conviction of the characters to live their lives in the way that they wanted to despite the obvious racial prejudices that surrounded them which could have resulted in personal injury or death.
Two questions were discussed. These are as follows:
1.who was the Queen Bee in the book?
The significance of the bees during the book we felt was to represent the interaction of August her sisters and the daughters of Mary. August was clearly the queen bee.
2.What compelled Rosaleen to spit on the three men's shoes?
Rosaleen was so focussed on wanting to register to vote that she wasn't going to let anything get in her way, even though she would have known of the danger in spitting on the mens shoes. We discussed the possibility that she had a sense of false bravado because of the fact that black americans had been given the vote or that after having stolen the fan from the church she was on a roll and thought she could get away with it.
Book club member ratings
Leslie - 8, thoroughly enjoyed it
Sandra - 6, Lily should have got over her mother issues earlier in the book
Tahnee - 6, Lovely warm read, chick lit (not lick)
Colleen - 6, A very enjoyable read, soft book
Kerry - 6, Stunning, filled with racial and political tensions
Trilby - 5, More undercurrents/ issues than you think on first reading
Kaye - 7, A good light read but full of substance
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
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