PRMS paperback 302 pages
I read this a long time ago (I'll unearth my review, if I can find it. It's pre-blogger.) Then I had some book club kids read it and we watched the movie after school in March(?). It was interesting to guide their discussion when I only had vague memories of the story, so I had to do a re-read. I only finished it this past week!
page 9 - the Women's Club bars Lily from Charm School because she has no mother or grandmother to present her! Imagine - a child who needs female guidance and instruction more than any other is refused that guidance. In essence, she's punished for being motherless. So sad!
page 12 - This made me chuckle. As Lily is pondering what her life would be like if Rosaleen could adopt her (if Rosaleen were white or Lily were black), she thought, "Once in a while I had us living in a foreign country like New York, where she could adopt me and we could both stay our natural color." (The idea of New York being a foreign country made me laugh, not the dilemmas of a motherless child pondering how to get past racism's barriers.)
page 147 - When Lily and August are talking about the house's ugly "Pepto Bismal" pink and making May happy. "You know, some things don't matter that much, Lily. Like the color of a house. How big is that in the overall scheme of life? But lifting a person's heart - now, that matters." Later, August says, "I love May, but it was still so hard to choose Caribbean Pink. The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters." So true! Sometimes I'm appalled at my selfishness and how hard it is to choose lifting others up over my own wishes.
page 148 - The secret life of bees. The beekeeping and honey are beautifully woven throughout the story. August teaches Lily about bees and about life.
page 188 - When May goes out to the wall alone. I don't know if this bothered me as much the first time I read it as it did now when I knew what would happen . . .
page 209 - I love how Lily is accepted by the Daughters of Mary and she is able to laugh about the white people's mortuary with its drive-through window! "I thought of that policeman, Eddie Hazelwurst, saying I'd lowered myself to be in this house of colored women, and for the very life of me I couldn't understand how it had turned out this way, how colored women had become the lowest ones on the totem pole. You only had to look at them to see how special they were, like hidden royalty among us." I remember from my first reading of this book how much I loved the Boatwright sisters and their friends in the Daughters of Mary.
page 236 - When August and Lily finally have their big talk . . . "Because you weren't ready to know about her. I didn't want to risk you running away again. I wanted you to have a chance to get yourself on solid ground, get your heart bolstered up first. There's a fullness of time for things, Lily. You have to know when to prod and when to be quiet, when to let things take their course. That's what I've been trying to do." I love her wisdom. I sometimes wonder if I'll ever get there myself.
page 242 - When Lily comes to the conclusion that she is unlovable, it is so heart-breaking. Sadly, I can think of students who behave as though they are unlovable. I am so glad she has August to encourage her.
When she confronts T. Ray and asks who actually shot her mom when Lily was four years old, he answers that she did it accidentally. But then Lily thinks that T. Ray lies a lot. I think that was one of the things that frustrated me the first time I read this book. What actually happened? Did Lily accidentally shoot her mom? Or did T. Ray murder her in his anger and blame the "accident:"on a preschooler who couldn't really remember what happened? I like resolution!
I can't find my response from when I first read this book, but now this one is recorded here!
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