★★★★★ | Literary Fiction | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads
I enjoyed this book so much more than I expected. Perhaps it’s the grief I have been feeling that has opened up new emotional channels. I found myself tearing up at multiple points in reading this book. I really cared for the characters: Lily, August, May, Rosaleen, these beautiful, wise women.
The bee motif helped symbolize the power of rational, organized society and strong female leadership (queen bee). I don’t know if a white female author could write about race relations like this today, but I thought it was written with compassion and empathy. The fact that the racial crimes recounted in the story really happened — all the time — is sickening.
People, in general, would rather die than forgive. It’s that hard. If God said in plain language, “I’m giving you a choice, forgive or die,” a lot of people would go ahead and order their coffin.Â