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Today is Christmas Eve. Today is my birthday. Today I am fifteen. Today I buried my parents in the backyard.
Neither of them were beloved.
The opening lines of The Death of Bees
sent chills up my spine. Marnie and Nelly are two young teens. They live in poverty in the slums of Glasgow with parents who are abusive, neglectful, and often absent, but at least they are physically present often enough to pick up the rent check and spend it on alcohol and cigarettes. With their deaths, Marnie and Nelly are on their own. Desperate not to be separated in foster care, they bury their parents in the back yard and try to go on as normal, keeping their terrible secret. Marnie is 15 and smart, straight A’s without even studying, sleeping around and smoking and caring for her younger sister as best she can. Nelly is 12, nearly 13. She’s a talented violinist and speaks very formally, using old-fashioned words, yet she’s often vague and it’s clear she’s been damaged. In some ways, she seems much younger than Marnie.
Their next door neighbour, an elderly man now single after the death of his lover and unfortunately branded a sexual pervert after an encounter with a young man he thought was of legal age, notices the parents have disappeared and assumes they’ve abandoned their kids again. Gradually, he finds himself taking care of the two girls, feeding them and doing their laundry, trying to fatten up Marnie, whom he worries is anorexic, becoming the caring father they never had. In the meantime, his dog has a strong attraction for his neighbour’s yard, although the girls do their best to keep him out.
Chapters are short and are told in alternating voices–Marnie, Nelly, and Lennie. Each voice is very distinctive, and each manages to go somehow very deep into the human experience while at the same time moving along quickly. The Death of Bees is an unusual book. Dealing with people who are living in the depths, somehow it offers hope for redemption, and although much of the subject matter is depressing, the book itself is full of humorous touches. They meet unusual people along the way–the drug dealer who’s a former teacher and tutors Marnie in math and science, the grandfather who abandoned their mother when she needed him most but who now considers himself the most upright pillar in the whole society, who uses Christianity not as a faith but instead as a club to defend his own self-righteousness.
The Death of Bees is a story about family and friends, those you can trust and those who betray, those who use and abuse and those who care and love. Ultimately you will care deeply about the fate of Marnie, Nelly and Lennie. Each is well-drawn, accurate in their own story, and sympathetic. Author Lisa O’Donnell has a deft touch and an ear for voices, and a talent for avoiding cliche and sentimentality. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I highly recommend it.
Running for my life by lopez lomong, a great read!!
I loved the Hunger Games, and also enjoyed 50 shades of grey 😉 Thanks for the chance!
i’ve just re-read ‘stranger in a strange land’ for the first time in 15 years. always loved it…still do!
I can’t just pick one book for this year – I read a lot of book and enjoyed most of them
50 Shades of Gray
I read Chicken Soup: Here Comes the Bride.
The Time Traveler’s Wife…soooooo much better than the movie! It has some really beautiful prose sections. Definitely one that I would re-read.
50 Shades of Grey!
ptavernie at yahoo dot com
I loved reading The Marriage Bargain. This book sounds very interesting! Thanks so much for the giveaway!
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell – I find myself mentioning it in conversation all the time. I would love to read The Death of Bees!
I liked “It’s Kind of a Funny Story” by Ned Vizzini. I’m not usually into YA, not at all really. But my teenage daughter asked me to read it. I thought it was a very accurate account of depression, or at least of some kinds of depression.
I loved Winter Garden.
I enjoyed Delirium
This book is at the top of my “want-to-read” list. Thanks for the chance to win a copy. 🙂 I read a lot of great books in 2012. Here’s some of my favorites:
World War Z, The Baker’s Daughter, The Prize Winner of Difiance, Ohio, etc.
But I think my favorite of 2012 was Gone Girl (so many unexpected twists and turns). 🙂 Again, thanks for the giveaway. It’s so cold here. Perfect time to curl up by the fire with a good new book. 🙂
Me before you Jojo’s moyes a beautiful book.chanel bonfire Wendy glass an unreal childhood.
11.22.63 by Stephen King was a great book
I just got done reading a Steven King novel.
I have heard about this book, and it sounds like an intriguing story. I read *The Crazy School* a few months ago, and it was pretty good!
Thanks!
h4schaffer at gmail dot com
I really liked Safe Haven.
My favorite book of 2012 was definitely The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock
The Fault In our Stars by John Green! Fantastic work!
I adored the Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater and Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor!
I read The Great Divorce by CS Lewis. It is almost a yearly read for me.
I love that book. I think it is Lewis’ finest.
I enjoyed Ready Player One and Seraphina
Fantastic review! I really look forward to reading this book.
Also, great book I read this year that I highly recommend: “Wicked Bugs” by Amy Stewart. It totally changed the way I think about bed bugs. (Still gross, but more malevolent.)
One of the GREAT books I read in 2012 would have to be THE GIRL WHO FELL BENEATH FAIRYLAND AND LED THE REVELS THERE by Cathrynne Valiente. Awesome series if you ever get a chance to explore its wild and wordy ways. ^_^
I read the Magic Warble by Victoria Simcox, very good book
I loved The Secret Keeper : A Novel by Kate Morton.
les miserables after seeing the movie.
One of the better ones I read was the last one I read in 2012, and that is Miss Hildreth Wore Brown by Olivia deBelle Bryd. It was just so funny. Thanks for having this giveaway.
Would love to read!
The Magic Warble by Victoria Simcox
I enjoyed Snow Child in 2012.
Hunger Games is one of my favorites.
Thank goodddness for great authors.
The fourth of july by kevin dowd is amazing
The Night Circus.
I liked home front
The Hunger Games.
Sounds like a great book
Her fearful symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger.
Wasn’t as good as Time travelers wife, the ending is confusing,
but characters are well-shaped. I’ve read about 20 books, but this was the first I remembered so it must have been good 🙂
The Brief History of the Dead
I read (and loved) The Help! 🙂
I’ve been reading “The Ghost in Me” By Shaunda Kennedy Wenger… it’s amazing! This book sounds just as good… I’m looking forward to reading it!
Marianne Sandling
Sandling All Day
Read a political book not too long ago.
Watch your Mouth is really good.
I read many great novels on my kindle last year, but the last book I read in 2012 was a paperback titled The Dalai Lama’s Cat.
The City of Bones, and The Help were both great!
The Devil in the White City
I like Ashfall.
Everything I read by Gillian Flynn was great – Gone Girl, Dark Places, and Sharp Objects.
I just finished reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.
I finished up a book that I won from 5 minutes for books.
I read and enjoyed John Green’s The Fault In Our Stars.
One the books most memorable books i read in 2012 was Everyday by David Mitchell… Awesome book…
A few books by Kristin Hannah – first time I had read her and LOVED her!
girl with a dragon tatoo
nannypanpan@gmail.com
I read all the books by JD Robb
I have been so wrapped up in school work this year, that I can’t remember something I read for fun!
Blackout, by Connie Willis! It was a great book about WWII
I liked the 50 shades of Grey trilogy.
Have to be honest, have not really read any thing lately.
Re read BreakingDawn!
the hunger games
7:an experimental mutiny against excess
I have to give you two: Wonder by R. J. Palaccio and The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom!
I read an old Steven King book awhile back.
The Secret Keeper, by Kate Morton, was my favorite book of 2012—truly an amazing read!
did not do a lot of reading in 2012 but what I did read I enjoyed and hope to put reading back into my daily life more in 2013
“Starters” by Lissa Price
Thank you for hosting this giveaway
Louis
pumuckler {at} gmail {dot} com
A Walk Across the Sun by Corban Addison! The Death of Bees is high on my wish list!
The Night Circus.
I loved “Brain on Fire” by Susan Cahalan. It was hard to put down. I am telling all my friends to read it. It is a true story of Susan who was attacked by a mysterious disease and the persistence and hope of her family, friends and doctor that helped her through.
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin was very good!
I liked Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.
I read The Shoemaker’s Wife which was memorable.
I read The Professor, it’s by a local artist, but was very good.
Been busy reading auto repair books lately, major car problems.
I know this is going to sound corny, but I read all of 50 shades of gray.
Twilight book; first in series.
I am trying to catch up on some older books that I missed, so it’s not a new book but one of my favorites that I read this year was The Help.
Have read over 100 books this year. The last great book I read was Wedded to War by Jocelyn Green.
I loved John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars.
Just reread Nicholas and Alexandria – about the fall of the Russian Royals.
I have read too many goods books this past year to just pick one. I love and will always love reading.
The Ballad of The Whiskey Robber.
Thanks for the chance.
I read Fall of Giants and Winter of the World by Ken Follett. Both are long books but the author is such a great story teller that I didn’t mind and didn’t want them to be over.
I enjoyed 50 shades or grey! LOL
Bossypants! Loved it!!
I am not sure, but I think I saw a documentary about this on Discovery Channel. Something about two teenagers that were abused by their parents and end up killing them. Seems to be related somehow. Do you think this book is based on a real story?
No, because–SPOILER ALERT!!– the girls don’t kill their parents, they simply bury them. I don’t think it’s based on a real story, but I do think the characters are realistic.
Loved reading The Middlesteins and End of Your Life Book Club. So many really great books read this year.
I just finished reading The Alchemist. An older book but still amazing.