Book Review: The Bees by Laline Paull
by Laline Paull
I judged a book by the cover (the designer should get a bonus). It was sunshine yellow with thick, black lettering reading The Bees, grey honeycomb patterned, and with the silhouette of a bee flying away. My hand happily went to it and pulled it from the shelf, and it was the blurb that solidified my purchase, with promises of Flora 717 being a part of the masses in the hive and her navigation through life with her instincts which simply labels her “a survivor.”
Even more to my delight—the narrative was actually that of a bee named Flora 717. Before buying the book I had my suspicions that perhaps it was actually metaphorically called The Bee, that perhaps it was a human living in a hive-like society ruled by a queen. Easy stretch to make, and perhaps not the most imaginative metaphor.
However, it is literally about a bee.
As I read on, trying to grapple with the world of Flora 717, which both character and I were thrown into, I was confused. It could be very well the intent of the writer, to keep the reader as confused as Flora as she learns her place in the hive, yet somehow manages to intercept every part of it within moments of hatching as a fully formed bee. But, but page 90, not only that I still find myself without full understanding of some of the more crucial things in this bee world and how its society and hierarchy is run, but I felt nothing toward the character. In fact, I found her to be without personality, and without gumption. She just happened to be lucky, and to move where she was told to go, for the most part. In fact, if, at that point, I were to be asked what it was that the character wanted, what her desires and goals were, I would only be able to say that no matter where she is, she wants to be somewhere else. She always wants more. Everything else just seemed to be happenstance. She was devoid of all magnetism.
If I hadn’t been planning to write a review, I would have already put the book down long before that point. I once had an English teacher who said that if he got 10% through a book and didn’t know the direction of it, then he would give it up. At page 90 of a 340-some-odd page book, I felt that I should already have a good grasp at it, being over a quarter of the way through. All the information I had acquired at that point was that the boos in this society were either brainless or jerks, except for the Queen and Flora.
I decided I would get myself to the half-way point of the book, and if I still felt lost and without knowledge of the plot, then the book would remain unfinished by my eyes.
After approaching the half-way point, and seeing the potential, I gave the book another thirty pages. However, I still just wasn’t “feeling it”. I finally put the novel down, trying to decide just what it was that was missing.
Aside from the dull nature of the main character (so far her only careening force is her love for her illegal eggs), the story is mostly a series of events, rather than a driving plot. As I read on, I still didn’t know what the plot was other than to simply see what it was that bees go through in story form.
While I didn’t enjoy the story structure at all, I can see the importance in such a book. There are a great many who I do think would enjoy this book, and there is a place for its narrative in our world. We are reaching a crisis regarding our bees, and this speaks to that. For that, I will give it credit, and not completely try to dis-sway anyone from reading it.
I look for three things in a book:
Engaging character with psychological evolution
A truth/deep meaning
Something that I will be left with to think about.
Other than simply wanting to make sure I carry a vile of nectar with me wherever I go in case I see an exhausted bee, this book has left me with very little.
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