The History of Bees: A Novel

A single person’s life, a single person’s flesh, blood, body fluids, nerve signals, thoughts, fears and dreams meant nothing. My dreams for him didn’t mean anything, either, if I failed to put them into a context and see that the same dreams had to apply to all of us.

This was a wonderful, moving book. Ratings are difficult to trust, because every rating is a four, rendering them useless in most cases. I read quite a bit and have learned to stop reading if I start to critique the writing in my mind. A good book draws me into the story so that I become unaware of the writing. This was one of those books. The alarming drop in the populations of bees and other pollinators lends a backdrop of urgency to each of the stories and connects them all together.

I liked the format of the three intersecting stories from different eras and locations, but I felt that the connections were a bit forced. There was the obvious connection of the struggle for parents to connect with their children and the struggle to tame the bees, but the connections made in the final pages of the book felt artificial and contrived. If one of the three stories were focused on and expanded, the novel probably could have been much better, but the division of focus meant that the reader had to make large leaps at times to connect one storyline's progress from one point to another. The novel itself focuses on an important issue, the strange disappearance of bees and their importance to life on earth, but the book relies on this issue to drive the plot forward. It's a fine read, but nothing extraordinary.

I really enjoyed this book. *Potential spoilers*It follows three generations of people in different places and their relationship with bees. Their stories interconnect by the end, and the way the author envisions the consequences of the loss of bees is incredibly interesting, especially since it's not far fetched. I think this can help people recognize the importance of bees in our survival, and more than that, recognize the necessity of protecting the environment.

Be patient with this book. Every chapter is a different person for awhile and then returns to each of them throughout the book. I was confused at first with so many names. I did enjoy it when I realized what was going on....maybe I wasn't fully concentrating!This is the type of book I would have rather read as a "book" than on the reader so I could easily return to where I had questions. Anyway, it motivated me to add to my bucket list of asking a beekeeper to allow me to go out with them one day when I retire! We REALLY need the BEES, plant flowering plants/trees. Although there some incidents in life that cannot be assisted by us, we can still help them out.

This book is at times heartbreaking and heart-warming. Lunde gives the reader a lot to consider in the areas of family relationships, individual responsibility in relation to the community, as well as the environment. Interesting and diverse characters that are well developed and believable, if not always likeable, but who is.

The story focuses on three families living in different timeframes, including one in the future, which are connected through their relationship to bees. The three seemly disparate narratives are woven together throughout the book with their interconnectedness becoming increasingly apparent as the novel progresses. This method demonstrates the common humanity of the various individuals’ tragedies, highlights the fragility of our ecosystem and what a world without bees could possibly look like.

I found this book very interesting and the story held my interest, but the writing seemed a bit dispassionate. It read like a translation, although there was no indication of a translator on the title page, which I found rather odd because the author is Norwegian. I would recommend it for the topic alone. Another feature was the parent-child relationship, particularly with George, who could not tolerate his son's apparent disinterest in beekeeping. For that reason, I would have to say Tom was my favorite character.

Great story, very touching and exciting. A must read!

Ficção totalmente possível de ser concretizada. Fácil leitura, prende a atenção e dá vontade de continuar lendo até o final, sem parar!

Very captivating taking you through the “bee” world in three different time zones. A very important message that cannot be ignored. This book is beautiful written, and a great Christmas present actually for everyone. An important message for our Planet. I couldn’t put down the book, as it was educational and I wanted to know, how it would end.That’s Amore!

Compelling, and eye-opening. the back and forth between plot lines was a bit annoying but was necessary to the story

While I enjoyed the central idea I found the structure of the novel too choppy. I get the different perspectives provided by characters but I couldn’t get invested because of each chapter cycling to a different character.I loved station 11 because the writing had more flow and the connections between characters seemed more organic