Bees need love one at a time

I think I need to just read one book at a time. I may have liked this one a lot more if I hadn't been reading a couple other books all at once. At the beginning I felt like, "Hey, I've read this book before . . . once in high school . . . disguised as Huck Finn." But I'm glad to say it didn't turn out to be the exact same. I later found out though, that she wrote that first part as it's own short story, and liked it so much she expounded, and it's a good thing she did, otherwise her little short story wouldn't have been original at all. In the after life Mark Twain would have come after her.

I really liked the circle of main characters, Lily and Rosaleen. The calendar sisters. Zach, mmm, I loved Zach. In my mind the book continues on and Zach and Lily end up married. I like that the author never changed the fact that Lily was the one who accidentally killed her mother. That is just something Lily is going to have to live with. Just like she has to cope with the fact that her mother did leave her. Which brings us into the theme of forgiveness. A well thought out theme of the novel. I liked how it was handled. I have known some people in my day who struggle with forgiveness and I definately think Lily's life warrants that struggle.

I loved all the racial tensions. I loved that it was the black people who were wise and heroic. I guess Zach's boss (I already forgot his name, Clarenec?) he was a good white guy but that's about it.

One point they made that I found very interesting is that when Lily's mother was struggling with depression the doctor recommended she go to the psych ward. The calendar sisters weren't having that. Just cause she had a serious case of depressiond didn't mean she had to go live with a bunch of crazies. And that was way back in the 50s. Hasn't changed much now. People who need special treatment for depressoin are still refered to the psych ward. I guess that's a quick cure though. Live a week with crazy/homeless/drugies and your life suddenly doesn't look so bad.

I guess I'd give the book 3.5 stars. Good contemporary work, but I don't see it sticking around forever.