Search - Bee Season

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.

This is one of the better books I've read in 2006. Myla Goldberg's narrative style is very real, very personal. The way she descibes how Ellie, Aaron, Saul and Miriam are feeling - I was right there with each character. More often than not, I found myself feeling exacly how each felt at some moment in a time in my own life - Ms. Goldberg gets that "into" the emotions. It was fascinating to see each of their lives spiraling and changing and how each adapted (or didn't quite adapt) to change.

This is another book about a dysfunctional marriage. The family happens to be Jewish, which proves to be important to the plot. It's an interesting read but not my favorite.

A great intense story regarding a highly religious Jewish man and how it affects his religion affects his relationship with his family.

I really had a hard time getting into this one...