I hate doing book reviews; it makes me feel as though I’m back in high school trying to prove to my teacher that I’d actually read an assignment and all. Note that I do, however, enjoy writting little ditties about thematic issues or analysis of various novels. I don’t know why, you’d think that they jive together well, just not for mahself.

So, back to Bee Season. I’d seen the trailor for the upcoming movie and was interested enough to check out the book from the library a week or so ago. I sped through it in two days, which is usually an indication that the book totally ROCKED, which in fact it did.

The story is (without giving away too much info) about a Jewish family, focusing on each member and what they go through in the span of a year. The young daughter, who was normally thought of as being a C student and of mediocre intelligence, suddenly wins the school spelling bee, eventually ascending up to attending the national competition. Attidudes change towards her and the dynamics between each family member alter during this time. Each person is seeking something (which, in my own analysis is basically the same thing) but it ends up expressed in widely different ways.

If any of your enjoyed reading the Life of Pi (one of my top 3 books) or fiction with a transcendant type of theme—this book is for you. I’m pretty sure that this book has made its way up near the top of my favorites as well.

In other words, I’m buying a hardback edition for my home library. I may even write in the margins during my re-readings.

Picked it up off the library shelf and flipped to the first page, which seemed good enough to catch my interest.

completed

This is probably one of the best recently written novels I have read. It combines the topics of Jewish mysticism, dysfunctional families, and childhood genius to form a compelling read with a suprising ending.