The bad: It was not on the list.
(the ugly: it probably didn't deserve to be on the list anyway)
I finished The Secret Life of Bees. It was decent, in the way that most former bestsellers are. I could see why it was popular, why it initially cost $14 and how I ended up paying $0.50 for it at a used book sale on the half off last day. It was an easy read (I would also categorize it as a "quick read" even though I took my sweet time getting through it) and it was entertaining and would have been a perfect vacation book had I needed something to take to the beach. I enjoyed the book, but found it a little predictable, oddly pervy, and got the impression that it was trying too hard. The symbolism was a little forced, in my opinion, and there were too many symbolic/motif things going on at once. The queen bee, the Virgin Mary, the mother, Beatrice the Nun, etc., made the symbolism too jumbled, and the more there was, the more confusing it became. It was like one of the characters was supposed to symbolize the queen bee, but there were too many other symbols that made it difficult to figure out exactly which character it was. However, there can only be one queen. It was like the author was making arguments for each character......
......which is why when I googled this just now, I got a variety of answers, none of which I agree with. I will come back to this later.
Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the story, the characters, and especially the setting. It made me want to start driving to the middle of rural South Carolina and find the pink house and just stay there, like Lily. However, the thing I most enjoyed were the epitaphs in the beginnings of the chapters. All were from nonfiction books on bees and beekeeping, and gave some insight into the story. The one that stuck with me the most was the one about a queenless hive:
"The queen, for her part, is the unifying force of the community: if she is removed from the hive, the workers very quickly sense her absence. After a few hours, or even less, they show unmistakable signs of queenlessness." (epitaph for chapter 1)
Another that I liked:
"A queenless colony is a pitiful and melancholy community: there may be a mournful wail or lament from within...Without intervention, the colony will die. But introduce a new queen and the most extravagant change takes place." (epitaph for chapter 14).
Back to the answers who "Who is the queen bee in the story?"
One possible answer: August, because she is the leader of the sisters and the congregation they started and is the person who Lily feels closest to in the story.
My thoughts: Disagree, because queens are by definition mothers, and August is not a mother. Additionally, the epitaphs regarding queen bees are not relevant if August is considered the queen bee...exactly.
Another possible answer: Mary, because she is "the mother of thousands," as Lily says herself.
My thoughts: This is possible. While Mary is a mother, and brings people together, the epitaphs do not seem completely relevant UNLESS the message in this book is that everyone must have religion. In that case, the epitaphs regarding queenlessness are really about not having a religion. And while I agree that religion can bring people together, I do not agree that a community can "die" without religion. So while it is possible, I find it a little far fetched and preachy for my tastes.
Which is why I believe the actual queen is not a specific person at all, but a mother figure. Initially, I believed Lily's mother Deborah was the actual queen bee in the novel, and to an extent I believe that is true. That is why chapter 1 begins with an explanation of "queenlessness" that shows T.Ray and Lily's relationship and family without Deborah around. It is clear that they do not respect each other or value each other, and that Lily feels incomplete without her mother there. Lily's life is "pitiful and melancholy," and she sends much of her time obsessing over her mother and the circumstances surrounding her death. She blames herself and is confused by the things she cannot remember. For most of the book, she dealt with this "without intervention," i.e. by keeping it a secret. However, when she opens up to August and pieces together the truth, she is able to deal with it and move on. While is still "queenless," i.e. motherless, August is introduced as the new queen, or new mother figure, which is why we begin to see a change in Lily.
(You can probably now see why I felt the symbolism regarding the queen bee was a little jumbled with Mary thrown into the mix).
Next I plan to finish To Kill A Mockingbird. Stay tuned for a further discussion of symbolism, this time (if I remember correctly) more subtle and less jumbled. And then LOTR. For real this time.
(Side note: I have been buying one Harry Potter book per year (what's that you say? How could I not own them when I have read them all multiple times? I ask myself that same question every day) to add to my collection to spread the cost out/so I can use coupons/so my package is not 100 pounds/to keep track of years passing/etc, and while it was out of order, I bought #7 (the hardcover) today at a thrift store for (drumroll please!!!!!) $2.42!!! If I could put numbers in caps, I would, I was was that excited. And my standards for buying books, especially used books, are extremely high, including no torn or bent pages or covers, and no creases in the binding (unimportant in hardcovers with sleeves), which explains why it is a big deal when I buy anything at a used book sale. However, this one looks like it was preordered, read once the night it came out, and never looked at again. It didn't even smell weird! I WAS SO EXCITED!! So now the only one I have missing is the sixth one, and I may have to do some creative trading on the fifth one, which is the most recent one I have purchased, and while it is very nit-picky and ridiculous, it irks me that the pages are not as thick as the other books, so while #5 is technically the longest book, it actually is smaller than #4 because of the pages thickness. Ridiculous, I know, but something that has been bothering me since I got it a month or so ago. So.....I'll figure it out. I wish they had the other ones at the thrift store too so I could complete my collection for not much money. But I did the calculations, and based on the original price of $34.99, I got the book for a whopping 93% off. While that is fabulous, I am currently asking myself who donates Harry Potter to the thrift store? Seriously?)
