Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (May 5, 2004)
5, .2004 E ntertaii ^ ent A kts ; T he C lackamas P rint • 7 W/fh Performances by: |gF j|*Richmonci School aT 5 *CCC French students will perform CabareCstyle Trench songs, dance & poems Tati no dance ^Rjtmo Tropical” with a dance demonstration, jjf, " J ’^Fi We' courtesy of the German-American School Bees' will sweep readers away Jennifer Trank ¡ he C lackamas P rint i! Monk Kidd’s first novel, :d “The Secret 1 jfe of Bees,” rn from an award-winning story Sand deserves awards of n. thimhe first few pages, the ; floats back to the summer (64 in rural South Carolina, we meet Lily Owen, the 14- •Id daughter of a peach r who she “called T. Ray (Se ‘Daddy’ never fit him.” ,:er the death of her mother (Lily is four, she is raised by ican^pirited and some- abusive T. Ray and her® alack Inanny, Rosalccn.^g Rosaleen stirs the • ofvsome of the meanest ; in town and Lily can no ■ tolerate her father’s cruelty, lee together, embarking on a :y where Lily will learn the about her mother’s life and TaHpg refuge with three :ric black sisters, Lily learns rt of beekeeping and the tanccl of finding her inner strength. The story is told from lily’s perspective and one can’t help reading with the southern drawl of a young girl. Kidd elo-^?® qucntly describes Lily’s sur roundings and. each of ihefj^ colorful characters in a way that makes the reader feel as if they are perched on the limb of a giant old oak,’ watching the drama unfold in the warm southern sun. “The redness had seeped from the day and night was arranging herself around us, cooling things down, staining and dyeing the evening purple and blue-black.” Kidd draws on the experience of spending her own adoles- Pccncc in a tiny town in g Georgia and gives the reader a greater understanding of the world in which 1 ,ily lives. “I vividly remember the sum mer of 1964 with its ... racial tensions and the erupting aware ness of the cruelty of racism. 1 was never the same after that summer.” Kidd adds dimension to the story by weaving in tidbits of the mystical world of honeybees, offering parallels between the queen of a hive and the mother of a family. This is shown through brief quotes from bee lore at the beginning of each chapter. “|The queen’s| true role is less that of a queen than mother of the hive, a. title often accorded to., her. And yet, this is something of a mockery because of her lack of maternal instincts or the ability to care for her young,” (The Queen Must Die: and Other Affairs of Bees and Men). “The Secret Life of Bees” is a story about finding strength with in oneself, overcoming life’s tragedies and becoming a self-suf ficient individual, capable of nur turing and consoling oneself. It articulates the importance of a mother in a child’s life, while revealing that mother figures come in many different forms. The only disappointment with this novel is that the 300 pages will be over before the reader is ready to put it down. It is widely avail able in paperback for $14. INTERNET PHOTO Sue Monk Kidd fills her novel ‘The Secret Life of Bees’ with sweet soul and heartfelt emotion, making it a must-read. CWIM: SANDWICHES Ällri ’few db Buy 1 whole sandwich and get 1 of equal or lesser value free Expires June 30,2004 Danielson Shopping Center i g 1 1520 Molalla Ave. Oregon City, OR 97045 (503) 557-9949 CALL AHEAD FOR QUICK PICK-UP!!
