Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

11 reviews

sarabrogan's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Mental illness, Police brutality, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Blood, and Excrement

egrupenhoff's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, and Police brutality

shesun's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

It is a beautiful story about faith, growth and found family. Absolutely beautifully written.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Police brutality, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Misogyny and Blood

cfarron's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Racism, Slavery, and Suicide

Minor: Bullying, Blood, and Abandonment

sauvageloup's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

a really beautiful read with a lot of poignancy.
pacing felt a little slow in a couple of places but that was part of the charm.
loved the mix of depicting the time periods racism, lily dealing with the loss of her mother, the goings on with August, may and June, and the beautiful descriptions of them and the surroundings and the bees.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

schorlett's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Suicide, and Grief

Minor: Bullying, Blood, and Pregnancy

michaelion's review against another edition

emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Teenage me would've loved this.

I think the movie warped my  little baby brain, so then I ended up liking stuff like The Help and Hairspray, which I absolutely was obsessed with. But the focus on women, bees, connections to mothers and ancestry and selfs... Like ancestry lives within you and also you are your own mother... That white lady kinda popped off writing this. She kinda had a point to make. She kinda dotted her i's and crossed her t's. She kinda had her cake and ate it too. She kinda gobbled ate right the fuck up left no crumbs. She kinda did her thing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Misogyny, Vomit, and War

orchidlilly's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

So... This was not nearly as great of a classic as I was led to expect. First of all, it succumbs to the common pitfall of all books of whatever genre this is; it's so unbearably pessimistic. Most of the book is pg torture porn wherein we watch the protagonist suffer while also getting blasted with the fact that she isn't suffering nearly as much as other people. The commentary on racism is cliche and not very well addressed. Every single black woman is the mammy stereotype, I didn't know it was even possible to have every character be the same stereotype. They all have practically no depth and no arcs of their own besides 'we exist to further the character arc of Lily'. The take on racism at the time is extremely one-sided and, pardon the wording, entirely black and white. And my biggest issue; I get that it's a coming of age novel, but the romance is, quite frankly, gross. Lily is 14, middle school age, and Zach is, from my recollection, gearing up to head into college, already weird. Then you have to factor in that completely out of the blue segment in the book where the love interest sucks honey off the main character's fingers. This scene is described in detail, about how it makes her slightly hot and bothered, and how she's also semi disgusted with herself because loving a black man is wrong. This scene is so entirely jarring and completely unnecessary that it pretty well ruined the entire book for me. The romance isn't even a main part of the book, but it's just so uncomfortable that I couldn't focus on anything else.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Ableism, Bullying, Sexual content, Blood, and Religious bigotry

lulu2121's review

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Racism, Suicide, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, Police brutality, and Death of parent

savannah_c_dipasquale's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Cursing, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying, Religious bigotry, and Classism