GIFTED / Today I bring you a review of a book I read a while ago, but some parts of the story still stayed with me. I feel like it is one of the books a reader learns a lot from.
The Music of Bees came out on April 27th 2021 and it has 322 pages. I want to thank Penguin Random House Global for sending me an e-galley of this novel (in an exchange for an honest review).
About the book:
FROM GOODREADS /
A heartwarming debut novel for readers of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, following three lonely strangers in a rural Oregon town, each working through grief and life’s curveballs, who are brought together by happenstance on a local honeybee farm where they find surprising friendship, healing–and maybe even a second chance–just when they least expect it.
Forty-four-year-old Alice Holtzman is stuck in a dead-end job, bereft of family, and now reeling from the unexpected death of her husband. Alice has begun having panic attacks whenever she thinks about how her life hasn’t turned out the way she dreamed. Even the beloved honeybees she raises in her spare time aren’t helping her feel better these days.
In the grip of a panic attack, she nearly collides with Jake–a troubled, paraplegic teenager with the tallest mohawk in Hood River County–while carrying 120,000 honeybees in the back of her pickup truck. Charmed by Jake’s sincere interest in her bees and seeking to rescue him from his toxic home life, Alice surprises herself by inviting Jake to her farm.
And then there’s Harry, a twenty-four-year-old with debilitating social anxiety who is desperate for work. When he applies to Alice’s ad for part-time farm help, he’s shocked to find himself hired. As an unexpected friendship blossoms among Alice, Jake, and Harry, a nefarious pesticide company moves to town, threatening the local honeybee population and illuminating deep-seated corruption in the community. The unlikely trio must unite for the sake of the bees–and in the process, they just might forge a new future for themselves.
Beautifully moving, warm, and uplifting, The Music of Bees is about the power of friendship, compassion in the face of loss, and finding the courage to start over (at any age) when things don’t turn out the way you expect.
Review:
At first glance, The Music of Bees grabbed my attention. The beautiful yet simple cover made me curious about the story inside, and as I was reading it’s premise, I got a feeling it is beautifully written literary fiction.
In a way, I can blame myself for having my hopes so high, as there weren’t so many reviews out there at the time.
The story follows three characters, Alice, Harry and Jake.
If I am being completely honest, I didn’t click with any of them at first.
I wasn’t a fan of the way Alice and Jake met each other, and I feel like Harry was big mystery, like we didn’t get to really see him, understand him.
It took 60% of the book for me to really get into the story.
That reflected on my reading pace as well. I read those slow 60% for days (when I say days, I mean more than a week), and the last 40% I finished in a day.
I loved how bees were present through the story and I feel like I’ve learned a lot about them.
I was thinking how the author did a really good job researching, but then I read that she actually is a bee farmer, so that makes more sense.
She obviously knew what she was writing about.
In the end, I want to mention that one character has disability (jake) and is in a wheelchair.
I can’t speak from personal experience (although I had to be in wheelchair for two months after the car accident), but I feel like the character is described respectively and fairly.
Book Dust Magic 
Slow burner, then, I guess… Good review, thanks!
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Thank you!
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The cover of this book is beautiful. I imagine learning about bees was the most interesting part of this book.
Amanda
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