Secret Life of Bees....

[Tacori E-ring]

Loved the book...do you think the movie will be just as good?

 

[Kaleigh]

I didn''t read the book, but have high hopes for the movie. We shall see.

 

[diamondfan]

I tend not to love the movie version, but what an awesome cast! I do hope it will be great!

 

[Elmorton]

I just saw the first trailer, and thought "hey, that could be a good book to go pick up!"

 

[diamondfan]

It is. Sue Monk Kid also wrote the Mermaid''s Chair which I think I bought but never read. I loved the Secret Life of Bees though I read it years ago.

 

[monarch64]

Didn''t they already make a movie out of the Mermaid''s Chair? It might have been one of those made-for-tv-movies, but I''m pretty sure it''s a movie. I loved Secret Life of Bees. There is another bee-related book, called The Keeper of the Bees by Gene Stratton Porter, it is a WONDERFUL book. I have probably read it 10 times. I read it around the time Secret Life came out, totally different stories but the whole bee thing was going on in both of them.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

I hope the movie IS just as good. . .but we know how that usually isn''t the case. I haven''t checked the trailor or the cast yet! I usually try to avoid watching trailors as they often give too much of the story away.

 

[onedrop]

I truly hope the movie is as good as or at the least attempts to do the book justice. But you all have said it....rarely does the movie turn out better or even as good as the book. I think the only instance I feel the book and movie were equally as good was "To Kill a Mockingbird." There is a lot going on in the Secret Lives of Bees and I wonder how or if they will be able capture all of the layers in the story. I just recently finished reading this book although I purchased it probably two years ago just so I could compare the book and movie. We should all come back and compare notes!

 

[hlpkaixin3344]

I can''t wait to see it. I think it will be fantastic personally

 

[Dogmom]

I read the book a few years ago and loved it. I do hope the movie does it justice, and I think the casting is great, especially Queen Latifah. I hope it does well.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Didn''t like "Mermaid''s Chair" that much but *loved* "Secret Life of Bees." I agree, the movies are rarely as good as the book but sometimes they can be charming in their own ways (like "Devil Wear''s Prada").

Lisa, you should try to read it first. So heartfelt.

DF, the cast looks SOOOO perfect!

El, very good book.

df, I also read it when it first came out. I am sure the movie will bring it all back though.

monnie, I think it was a lifetime movie.

MC, we can hope!

onedrop, It will be interesting to see how they do it.

dogmom, I think it will do well.

 

[idreamofcushions]

I''ve never read that book. Since it''s highly recommended (and I am an avid reader) I may just have to pick it up. Can you give me a synopsis? Also, who is the author?

 

[BeachRunner]

I love "The Secret Life of Bees" and would recommend it to anyone in search of a good read! It''s fairly short and a very easy read.

I tend to enjoy the books more than the movie versions, but I agree with everyone, the cast looks amazing!!

 

[BeachRunner]

Date: 10/16/2008 1:05:05 PM
Author: idreamofcushions
I''ve never read that book. Since it''s highly recommended (and I am an avid reader) I may just have to pick it up. Can you give me a synopsis? Also, who is the author?

The author''s name is Sue Monk Kidd.
A synopsis from a quickly googled search:
"The bees came the summer of 1964, the summer I turned fourteen and my life went spinning off into a whole new orbit, and I mean whole new orbit. Looking back on it now, I want to say the bees were sent to me. I want to say they showed up like the angel Gabriel appearing to the Virgin Mary, setting events in motion I could never have guessed." So begins the story of Lily Melissa Owens, a plucky girl, rich in humor despite heart wrenching circumstances. Living on a peach farm in South Carolina with her harsh, unyielding father, her entire life has been shaped around one devastating, though blurred, memory- the afternoon her mother was killed. Four at the time, she remembers innocently picking up the gun. And, she has her father''s eyewitness account of the gun firing. People remind her it was an accident, yet she''s inhabited by a torturous guilt. Lily''s only real companion is Rosaleen, a tender, but fierce-hearted black woman who cooks, cleans and acts as her "stand-in mother."

South Carolina in 1964 is a place and time of seething racial divides. When violence explodes one summer afternoon, and Rosaleen is arrested and beaten, Lily is desperate, not only to save Rosaleen, but to flee a life she can no longer endure. Calling upon her colorful wits and uncommon daring, she breaks Rosaleen out of jail and the two of them take off, runaway-fugitives conjoined in an escape that quickly turns into Lily''s quest for the truth about her mother''s life.

Following a trail left ten years earlier, Lily and Rosaleen end up in the home of three bee-keeping sisters. No ordinary women, the sisters revere a Black Madonna and tend a unique brand of female spirituality that reaches back to the time of slavery. As Lily''s life becomes deeply entwined with theirs, she is irrevocably altered. In a mesmerizing world of bees and honey, amid the strength and power of wise women, Lily journeys through painful secrets and shattering betrayals, finding her way to the single thing her heart longs for most.

 

[idreamofcushions]

Thanks! Sounds good!

 

[onedrop]

Did anyone see it?? If so...reviews???? I would have, but hubby and I decided to see ''W'' instead. This was a compromise because there is no way I could get him to go for a "chick-flick." I will probably see Secret Life of Bees during the week sometime.

 

[diamondfan]

The movie got three out of four stars. It was reviewed well by our local movie guy. I cannot wait to see it.

 

[onedrop]

Thanks for the update DF! Three out of four stars isn''t bad at all.

 

[miraclesrule]

I don''t know why I clicked on this thread, I guess it was because it was prominently displayed in The Library topic, but now I am soooooo glad I did click on it after reading the synopsis by Beachrunner.
I thought it was about the animation film that Jerry Seinfeld did on bees.

This book sounds awesome. It''s about time for a break from heavy reading into some great stories. I wonder if they have it at Costco. Hmm, anyway, it will be a good read for me this weekend.

Thanks for the heads up Ladies

 

[princesss]

I really want to see this movie. I loved the book, and think that the cast is going to bring something really special to the movie.

I''ll have to sneak out to watch it sometime this week.

 

[Madam Bijoux]

I started a thread about the movie in Hangout (I haven''t read the book). I saw it yesterday and loved it. It''s the best work Queen Latifah has done so far. If it doesn''t get nominated for best picture, best actress (Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning), best supporting actress (Alicia Keyes, Jennifer Hudson), something is very wrong.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Madam, my mom said the same thing and *LOVED* it. She also said they stayed very true to the book (which I think is always a good thing).

 

[fleur-de-lis]

I saw it on Friday night; after all the times my fiance dragged me to see the latest Will Ferrell/Seth Rogan/Vince Vaughan movie on opening night, it was finally payback time!

Overall, I would have given it a low 3 out of 4 stars. Queen Latifah and precocious Dakota Fanning were FANTASTIC, and that one scene (if you''ve seen it, you know the one I''m talking about) had tears rolling down my face while I overheard sniffs and sobs coming from both the people sitting next to me and those behind me in the theatre. A-MAZ-ING performances were delivered by those two, though I suspect Queen Latifah was not so much acting as tapping into her wonderful self. One thing really grated on me though: the score. Time after time, there were these great little vignettes that would have stood rather nicely on their own, but the director chose to overlay this overly schmaltzy Hallmark-Movie-of-the-Week music over it. You know, like if the audience couldn''t figure out that something was sad and that we needed overly dramatic sad music to clue us in.

Oh, and now that I know my fiance can sit through two hours of a chick flick without bursting into flames, I think I''m going to get a little payback for "Semi-Pro" by forcing him to sit though that movie with the talking Chihuahuas!!!

f-d-l

 

[Italiahaircolor]

I want to see the movie...but have always found Dakota Fanning annoying....so I''m nervous, because very rarely can I sit thru a whole movie she''s in without getting weirded out by her.

 

[miraclesrule]

I like Dakota Fanning. My Dad was so into her that I don''t think I had much of a chance against her.
I bought the book and should be heading for the pillow and some reading very soon.