Book Club

[songbird]

This book has been out for a while and I kept putting off in reading it.  All I knew about it is that is a "Dystopian" novel about....bees.  I finally got it, open it up and was shocked to discover it WAS about bees literally.  All the characters were bees.  I was immediately swept in to a world of ridged class structure.  The main character (bee) is Flora717.  Born in to the lowly class, she's a sanitation worker.  The Queen is on top of course.  Clustered by hand maidens that fuss over the babies in the nursery..  But Fora is different.  Shes bigger then the other bees, she can speak (most of the lowly workers are mute) She intelligent and very aware of her surroundings.  Eventually she moves up in rank, to working in the nursery.  Fighting oof the jealousy of the other worerks. Finally becoming a Forager (bees that fly out of the hive)  She meets the drones (males that will die after mating)  and most of all she becomes pregnant.  Now she's the danger to the Queen. The danger is everywhere from the hive and and their enemy the Wasps.

This is a great read, very funny too.  You will fall in love with Flora.  A wonderful character.  Rooting for her as she swoops around in the sky above the hive.  I will never look at a bee the same way again.

The author studied her subject and built her novel around the lives of bees.  It's a cross between The Handmaids Tail and The Hunger Games, set in a bee hive. 

[LindaSal]

Thanks for this recommendation.  It sounds like a great story and quite imaginative. 

Funny though just how vital bees are to the environment and how most people don't realize it.  I cannot wait to pick this up

[songbird]

@LindaSal   They are MAJOR to the environment.  Some kinds of honeybees are tamed.  These are the bees of the beekeepers.  After years and generations, the bees have become quite docile. Bees are herbivores.  The Wasps (hornets, yellow jacket, etc) are carnivores.  Although they are branded the name bees.  Wasps and bees sometimes hunt each other.