Everyone is broken by life but afterwards many are strong in the broken places.—Ernest Hemingway

5.0 out of 5 stars Wisdom in spades, August 5, 2014
By Rozsa Gaston, author of “Paris Adieu,”… (Greenwich, CT) – See all my reviews

This review is from: Say What You Will (Hardcover)

This insightful and hard-hitting story is not just about disability but about how to be a friend. Amy, its main character, has a disability – not just CP, but over-honesty. She says exactly what she thinks and hurts the feelings of people she’s trying to make friends with. I read this book with my 14 yr. old and we both learned so much from it. I loved the fact that Amy is flawed. She is inexperienced at how to be a friend. She practices with Matthew, painfully at times, and the challenging emotional terrain they cover together offers insights for everyone. A book so universal in its appeal, I can’t say enough. I’m still thinking through the lessons Amy and Matthew taught each other the hard way. Sequel pls., Cammie McGovern!

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Everything precious can slip from the hinges where you’ve hung it so careful.—Sue Monk Kidd

I just finished reading Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees and am still reveling in the rich resonance of this wonderfully written, content-packed story. There’s a lot of bee talk in The Secret Life of Bees, but there’s a lot more to this book than bees. How many books in one’s life are as beautifully written as they are content-laden? Usually I’ll like a book either because it’s well written or because the story is so compelling. The Secret Life of Bees delivers both.

If you read this book you’ll have received a gift that stays with you days after. Weeks, months, years. No wonder Sue Monk Kidd has exploded onto the literary scene as the next Carson McCullers or Harper Lee. What is it about these Southern female writers and their way with words?  Move over Southern ladies of the pen. Make room in the pantheon of literary lions from the American South for Sue Monk Kidd.  She floors me. She’ll floor you too if you you read The Secret Life of Bees.

What wine would you sip while contemplating this quote?

I would sip something honey colored—a buttery Chardonnay. Egret from California comes to mind.

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