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Book Review of Bee Season

Bee Season
Bee Season
Author: Myla Goldberg
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Book Type: Paperback
nymphadora avatar reviewed on + 95 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2


This book would have gotten the full five stars had the ending not been so... unfinished? Bee Season is the story of a seamingly average girl, Eliza, who discovers she has an incredible knack for spelling. Where "Akeela and the Bee" took it's viewers through the life of just Akeel and her quest to win the National Spelling Bee, "Bee Season" tells the story of how each family member is effected during the Bee and the events leading up to and after it.

As a person living with OCD, I found it incredible to get into the mind of Eliza's mother, Miriam, and how OCD can ravage a life and destroy the perfect order of things if it isn't controlled. I also recognized the patterns of behavior the rest of the family had when trying to pretend that Miriam was perfectly normal, sleeping only three or four hours a night and cleaning each individual item in the refrigerator while everyone else sleeps.

Eliza's father, Saul, is a great character who is responsible for my new desire to study religion. It is interesting to hear his conflict with Eliza's brother, Aaron, when Aaron breaks from Judaism and in doing so, breaks away from Saul.

Overall, very well written. I found that, toward the end, I could not put the book down. Well worth the read, just don't count on a tidy ending.