In The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell the opening is sure to grab your attention…
“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 Nelly come from one of the most dysfunctional families I’ve ever read about. Their mom Izzy was a drunk and neglected her girls and their father Gene was a druggie and an awful person. The girls are much better off without the both of them but now there is the problem of staying under the radar so that they aren’t put into foster care. Neither of them wants that. They want to stay together. Burying their parents in the backyard was their only solution. Until their neighbor Lennie begins to get suspicious.
Now Lennie has his own bad reputation in the neighborhood to deal with. He is a gay man but that’s not the issue. The issue is he was caught doing something he shouldn’t have been doing. I was prepared to fully despise this man and yet I couldn’t. He took the girls under his wing and cared for them the best he could. Then there is Vlado who is another man wanting to help them but he’s a drug dealer. Eventually, despite their best efforts to keep everything secret, all the lies come out and they end up at their Gramps house. There are reasons the girl’s mother was how she was and the girls may be in even more danger at his house than anywhere else.
I guess I’m in the middle with this book. The beginning threw me off some but by the middle I found I couldn’t put it down and needed to know how everything would turn out. It is a very dark story which in itself doesn’t bother me nor does the bad language throughout. Maybe it was because I didn’t feel a connection with the girls although I really liked Nelly. She is considered slow and yet for all her slowness she seemed to be the more level headed of the girls and she could be quite amusing amid the darker side of this novel. Ultimately this book held my interest. It is gritty, raw, and real and yet shows the resilience and hope of the human spirit.
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Source: Review copy provided by the publisher. No compensation was received for this review and all opinions are my own.
I can see why that opening would grab you! I probably can’t relate to the girls either but have a feeling I’ll like the book.
I couldn’t put this one down. I gave the book to my daughter, Steph, and she loved it too. Not something I would normally read but it sure turned out to be a grabber.
Great review, Dar!
This is not my usual type of book but the premise and the marketing so far have me interested. We’ll see!
Oh my gosh! I’m reading such great things about this book. I bet it is gritty but it sounds like one that you feel like you just have to read. At least that’s how I look at it.
Thanks for sharing!
I’ve seen those opening lines before… maybe in a Tuesday Intro post? They sure got my attention. This is not be the type of book I usually read, but I may just give it a try anyway.
This is certainly an unusual story to say the least! I’m looking forward to reading this one and making my own decision on the main characters.
Thanks for being on the tour!
Hmm…I’m intrigued by this one but I’m not really jumping around ready to read it. I actually already have a copy on my shelves as well so I will be reading it at some point. It will be interesting to see how I feel about the book after reading your thoughts 🙂
It took me a bit to adjust to this one but when I did, I really enjoyed it. It was just so different and the style really pulled me in.