This book was a compulsory literary text (set book) in the Kenyan secondary schools for many years.In 1995, this novel won both the Jomo Kenyatta Literature Prize, and the Commonwealth Writers Prize Best First Book in the Africa Region.An epic story spanning cultures, it tells the lives of three generations of women. The first woman, Akoko sets the pace by defying culture and asserting her position as a woman in the Luo cultural setting. It traces the story of Akoko through to the children who live and die in the 20th century. A wonderful read that has been criticized as feminist but one that tells about lives of different women through different generations. Some of my favourite quotes include;
"A home without daughters is like a river without a source"
"Do not decide the wisdom of a man by the brevity of his quiet or the multitude of his words. It is only a wise man who can decide quickly that he doesn’t know and needs to seek more knowledge. A fool knows everything. It is only a wise man who does not hide his folly behind many words.”
“In any case I have done anatomy, and beneath the skin everyone is remarkably the same. Even the blood, which is supposed to be thicker than water, is all just a combination of iron and protein in every instance. Some people are good. Others are bad—it’s got very little to do with their blood or tribe. It’s all in the heart.”
“It does not matter that she did not understand the language. Some feelings go beyond words.”
And here are some quotes about women;
“...a child lies in its mother’s womb; the first sound it hears is her heartbeat and the first human voice it recognizes is hers.”
“I feel unfinished, as if I’m not completely formed; that I still have some growing up to do—which I am sure sounds like nonsense in this country where women marry in their teens and manage to have successful marriages.”
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk KiddMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I honestly enjoyed reading this book so much... A story of a young girl growing up trying to unravel the mystery of how her mother died and if she loved her while leaving with a distant dad. It's a story about how love triumphs over racial differences as well as a spiritual journey when runs away to live with the beekeeping sisters. A wonderful read.
Some of my favorite quotes are;
“Someone who thinks death is the scariest thing doesn't know a thing about life.”
“It is the peculiar nature of the world to go on spinning no matter what sort of heartbreak is happening.”
“After you get stung, you can't get unstung
no matter how much you whine about it.”
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