Pages:
360
Publisher:
Walker Books
Release
Date: 3rd
March 2016
Edition:
US proof, review
copy
This
powerful debut novel delicately blurs the line between truth and fiction as
Carol unravels the fantastical stories of her mentally ill grandfather.
When
she and her family move to his deserted ranch in order to transfer him to a
care home, Carol struggles to cope with the suffocating heat and the effects of
her grandfather’s dementia. Bees seems to be following her around, but the
drought means this is impossible. She must be imagining things. Yet when her
grandfather chooses her as the subject for his stories – tales of a magical
healing tree, a lake, and the grandmother she never knew – Carol sees glimmers
of something special in what her parents dismiss as Serge’s madness. As she
rethinks her roots and what she thought she knew about her family, Carol comes
to the realisation that Serge’s past is quickly catching up with her present.
I’ve heard wonderful things about
Lindsay Eagar’s debut and although I had a few issues, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Within pages of starting Hour of the Bees I was captured by the intensity
of the writing. I immediately felt the cloying heat, the danger and the
life-or-death feeling of the New Mexico desert and that never lets up. It does
lessen a little as the summer skips along pretty fast – maybe a bit too fast? I
wanted more of the long, lingering summer days reflecting the desert drought,
especially as Carol says how much the summer is dragging for her.
Speaking of dragging, I wasn’t a
huge fan of Serge’s story of Sergio and Rosa that ran throughout the main
novel. I find that flashbacks/stories are a bit hit and miss for me and these
ones were just a bit too long as I was genuinely invested in Carol’s immediate
story. Being confronted with her ancestral home and the grandfather she’s never
met before forces Carol to confront her heritage. She’s Mexican American, but
she focuses on the American side. Serge’s stories about his life, the ranch and
their history makes Carol think differently about herself and her origins which
I really loved.
The relationships throughout Hour of the Bees are so strong and
emotive. The painful, tense connection between Carol and her half-sister, Alta;
the new, tentative one between Carol and Serge; and the growing distance
between Carol and her dad as she learns about his past and relationship with
Serge. It’s knotty and fascinating and chock-full of emotion. I even cried at
the end…
Hour
of the Bees is a
gorgeously written magical realism novel about family, identity and embracing
your heritage.
Sophie
No comments:
Post a Comment
Leave a message, I'd love to hear from you!