Title: The Bees Author: Laline Paull
Published: May 6, 2014
Genre(s): Literary Fiction
Page Count: 340
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:Flora 717 is a sanitation worker, a member of the lowest caste in her orchard hive where work and sacrifice are the highest virtues and worship of the beloved Queen the only religion. But Flora is not like other bees. With circumstances threatening the hive’s survival, her curiosity is regarded as a dangerous flaw but her courage and strength are an asset. She is allowed to feed the newborns in the royal nursery and then to become a forager, flying alone and free to collect pollen. She also finds her way into the Queen’s inner sanctum, where she discovers mysteries about the hive that are both profound and ominous.
But when Flora breaks the most sacred law of all—daring to challenge the Queen’s fertility—enemies abound, from the fearsome fertility police who enforce the strict social hierarchy to the high priestesses jealously wedded to power. Her deepest instincts to serve and sacrifice are now overshadowed by an even deeper desire, a fierce maternal love that will bring her into conflict with her conscience, her heart, her society—and lead her to unthinkable deeds.
The first thing you need to know about The Bees is that it’s legitimately about bees. And you might know this going in (I did), but reading the first few chapters is weird. Because, like, bees. So weird. If the author could have pulled it off, how excellent would it have been? Very, in a vaguely disquieting sort of way.
But it didn’t really pan out. Laline Paull tried to, both at once, give the bees humanoid characteristics but emphasize the alienness of their society. It didn’t work, because you really can’t have it both ways. So we have the bees wearing lace and drinking wine and singing a botched version of the Lord’s Prayer (just why?) in one chapter, but in the next they’re acting exactly like you’d expect insects to act. It’s very hard to reconcile this idea of bees who braid their hair and eat pastries with the idea that they simultaneously spend all day either a) visiting flowers, b) feeding larva, or c) build honeycomb. Describing the bees as having “hands” and “faces” didn’t seem to fit at all. Also, these are bees. Why should they believe in human concepts like “sin” and “lust” and “greed”? Here Paull projects human characteristics onto an animal, but I couldn’t understand why. I get that she wanted to outline the rules for this society, but “sin”? That’s not making sense to me. These bees run around all day frantic to collect pollen to keep the hive alive, but they’re worried about “sinning”? Nope, I don’t buy it.
Additionally, the very complex hive structure in The Bees was never expanded upon. Paull writes about the different “kin” (AKA castes), but doesn’t explain how they came to exist, nor how the bees even developed a religion, or how the social hierarchy really function. I was lost at times because the author seems to expect readers to have enough bee-related knowledge to keep up with the story. But the number one thing writers must do is assume your reader doesn’t know anything, so…yeah.
Moving on to the main character, Flora. In short, she is a hugely major Special Snowflake. She’s a lowly sanitation worker, but rises up and becomes a nursery worker, then a forager, then builds honeycomb, and then the most special bee of all the specials. I hate this kind of character in books about humans, and it turns out I hate that kind of character in books about bees. Throughout The Bees, Flora’s character had no real growth, development, or depth. She just wanders around from job to job, excels at all of the jobs. The narration is very exterior to Flora’s actions, with no real insight or resonance into her movement. She just comes across as a faceless Chosen One type, which is hardly the sort of main character I’m likely to enjoy or sympathize with (insect status notwithstanding).
What I really think is, this book has a unique idea. However, it’s not enough to make up for mediocre prose and half-done characterization and world-building. Paull tried her best, and The Bees had its moments, but it just really couldn’t support the allure of its premise. It’s a cool idea, but the book itself doesn’t deliver.
