Bee Season by Myla Goldberg

Hi all! I have finished reading this book a long time ago, but I have just come around to writing this review right now. Its been a while since I read it, so I'm going to have to be brief, because its not as fresh in my mind as before.

The story revolves around the Naumanns, a kind of dysfunctional Jewish family. They are all completelely engrossed in their own lives, so disconnected from one another, until their disjoint bubble-like worlds suddenly pop when Eliza, their daughter, wins the school spelling bee competition. This is really unexpected to all of them as until then, Eliza had always been a slow learner, and soon they begin to see her incredible prowess in her world of words. Eliza herself discovers within her the incredible realm of letters and words. In the course of her pursuit to understand and master this realm, she gets involved to such a degree that soon, the letters become her and she becomes the letters- they become one.

Saul Naumann, her father, is a man who delves into the world of Jewish mysticism. He aspires to be a good Jew, and helps out at the local Synagogue. His life is totally wrapped up in this pursuit of self discovery. And when his daughter reveals her talent, he becomes fixated on tutoring her. Aaron, his son, is a teenager, who begins to question his faith and begins to search for something different from his life. The true surprise element is Miriam Naumann, Saul's wife, who finds herself to be incomplete, and is searching for all the missing pieces to make her whole again.

The book is a narrative in the present tense and thus has a raw, wholesome feel to it. It is, however, a little crude at places. It is not what I would call an "un-putdown-able" book. Especially since I'm not one for depressing tales. But I did end up thinking about it a great deal. Myla Goldberg has done good job, but it's not a book I'd like to curl up with on a nice Sunday afternoon. I haven't seen the movie, but I've heard it was quite popular.

Well anyway you can give it a shot... happy reading.

Rating: 5/10

Thought for the day: "Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow." -Anon.