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The Death of Bees (2013)
by Lisa O’Donnell (Twitter.)
Publication Date: January 2nd, 2013
Publisher: Harper
Edition Read: Finished Hardcover, Read for TLC Book Tours
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Lisa O’Donnell won the Orange Screenwriting Prize in 2000 for The Wedding Gift and, in the same year, was nominated for the Dennis Potter New Screenwriters Award. A native of Scotland, she is now a full-time writer and lives in Los Angeles with her two children. The Death of Bees is her first novel.
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.
Marnie and her little sister Nelly are on their own now. Only they know what happened to their parents, Izzy and Gene, and they aren’t telling. While life in Glasgow’s Hazlehurst housing estate isn’t grand, they do have each other. Besides, it’s only one year until Marnie will be considered an adult and can legally take care of them both.
Written with fierce sympathy and beautiful precision, told in alternating voices, The Death of Bees is an enchanting, grimly comic tale of three lost souls who, unable to answer for themselves, can answer only for each other.
My Thoughts:
Well, this was a pleasant surprise. Despite it’s twisted, morbid plotline of two sisters burying their parents in their backyard (and a dog that has an uncanny knack of digging up body parts from flowerbeds,) The Death of Bees filled me up with warmth and made me smile. Built with a unique cast of memorable characters, with their own fears and quirks, O’ Donnell crafts a brilliant tale about family ties. Sometimes real families aren’t formed by blood ties. Perhaps Marnie and Nelly are by far not the most innocent girls, but I still found myself cheering them on every one of those three hundred pages.
Characters:
I love multiple perspectives, and O’Donnell does it exceptionally well. We unravel the story with Marnie and Nelly (the two sisters) and Lennie (their 70 year old gay, misunderstood “sex offender” neighbor.) What usually happens in books with multiple perspectives is that the voices blend together and don’t sound like two different people. Perhaps because each character is so distinct from each other that there was never a problem differentiating between them. Marnie has a dark, rebellious edge, while Nelly autistic eloquence sounds like the Queen of England (with a bit of swearing). Nelly reminds me of Becky of Glee’s inner voice.
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Posted by Lilian @ A Novel Toybox | Filed under Blog Tour, Book Reviews, Grade B