The Bees audiobook

The Bees is a powerful tale of what life might look like to a hive member. This is not your kids’ Bug’s Life, but a very grown-up, compelling drama that includes both sweetness and considerable sting. There are several elements that might make one think of Game of Thrones Drones. Corruption on high, battles of succession, sinister enemies, both in the hive and outside. Not only must all men die but winter is coming, twice. There is also a lot of religious reference here. This sits atop a marvelous, deep portrayal of a world that is very alien. And to top it off we are led through this journey by a character who, while far from perfect, is a very good egg, or was.Bee life cycle Of course Flora 717 might not have been considered a wonderful egg to those around her. She was born to the Flora caste, a group responsible for, ironically, cleaning up, a sanitation caste, essentially untouchables. But this Flora is a bit different. She is larger for one, possessed of great determination, curiosity, and a capacity for speech that is mostly suppressed among her peers. Still she is different and that is not usually allowed. The police are about to remove her (Deformity is evil. Deformity is not permitted.) when a Sage intervenes. Sages are the priestess class. Their intentions however, are not entirely holy. This Sage takes Flora under her wing, and the story is on. Sometimes it is good to spare the deviants, and experiment a little. We get to see many aspects of hive life through Flora’s five eyes, but also through her six feet, which are able to interpret vibrations in the floor, and her antennae, which she uses to sense scents and for more direct communication with other bees. That Paull can make the very alien sense environment of bees understandable to those of us with only four limbs and no antennae at all (well except for our friends in intelligence) is a triumph on its own. The Hive Mind is considered for its positive and negative aspects as well. The authorPaull tells about the origin of the story on her web site A beekeeper friend of mine died, far too young. In the immediate aftermath of her death, I began reading about the bees she loved so much. Very quickly, I realized I was exploring the most extraordinary ancient society that was like a hall of mirrors to our own: some things very similar, others a complete inversion, whilst more were fantastically alien and amazing. The more I read the more I wanted to find out, but when I learned about the phenomenon of the laying worker, I became incredibly excited by the huge dramatic potential of that situation. Her feeling of loss is very much present here. Bees are not the longest lived creatures on the planet, and more than a few see their end here. But there is another element as well, from a recent interview posted here on Goodreads, Becoming a mother changed me and made me stronger—but evolution is never easy. I didn't write Flora from an intellectual perspective but in a very visceral way: Motherhood made me a more passionate person—or allowed me to express that innate side of myself much more. So perhaps that's why Flora works as a character: There's primal truth in her motivation. She accepts her life one way, but then a forbidden force takes possession of her. Called love. Religious nomenclature permeates the tale. The Queen is not only a temporal ruler, but is considered divine as well. This is helped along by her ability to produce pheromones in vast quantity that can soothe her hive family. There are sacraments in this world, a catechism, rituals, prayers, some of which will sound familiar. There are also some virgin births. And what would religion be without a little human sacrifice, or in this case bee sacrifice. It is a place in which religion is joined to politics to generate Orwellian mantras like Accept Obey Serve, Desire is Sin, Idleness is Sin, From Death comes Life Eternal, and the like. And, of course, there is some Orwellian behavior. Life is held cheaply, particularly for those not of the favored groups, and the jack-booted police that enforce the rules are definitely a buzzkill. The death penalty is more the norm than the exception, and it is often applied immediately and energetically. Western honey beeFlora’s explorations of the world are entire adventures on their own, as she encounters not only adversaries like wasps, spiders and crows, but man-made hazards as well. On the other hand she experiences the longing of the flowers, and the expanded internal horizons that result from expanding one’s horizons externally. She has a particular longing of her own, which fires the engines of her determination. The Bees is a fast-paced, engaging, invigorating tale that will have you flipping pages faster than a forager’s wings. You will come away not only with the warm feeling of having shared a remarkable journey but will find yourself eager to learn more about our buzzy brethren, well, except for Nicolas Cage. And you might even find yourself tempted to get up and do a Waggle Dance=============================EXTRA STUFFLinks to the author’s personal, Twitter and FB pagesIn Paull’s site there is a photo of a Minoan palace map that informed her hive layout. Worth a look .This month’s (May 2014) GR newsletter features a brief interview with PaullThat buzzing in your ear might be more cause for concern that you’d realized. New project aims to upload a honey bee's brain into a flying insectobot by 2015An item I came across on a reason why bee population is in decline - We May Have Figured Out What's Killing The BeesA wonderful short piece in the NY Times - You’re a Bee. This Is What It Feels Like.- by Joanna Klein - December 2, 2016Well, hello, good-looking!A Bombus fraternus bumblebee. Sam Droege/United States Geological Survey from the above articleJune 7, 2018 - A NY Times article on new research on Bee cognition - Do Bees Know Nothing? - by James GormanJuly 28, 2020 - Smithsonian Magazine - Scientists Crack the Mathematical Mystery of Stingless Bees’ Spiral Honeycombs by Theresa Machemer Mathematically speaking, the honeycombs grow like crystals. (Tim Heard via Royal Society Publishing)

People who know me even just a little- know how much I love Watership Down...so when I saw THE BEES on one of my friends GRs profile and read some reviews, one review in particular caught my attention- "Watership Down with Beeeeees" it said. I didn't have to read any further than that...For Flora 717- it is almost over for her as soon as her little life begins. She is not like the others in her hive- she is bigger and darker than the other bees- and being different is never allowed- Deformity is evil. Deformity is not permitted....but priestess- Sister Sage- sees something unusual in Flora- yes she is darker and excessively large- but unlike the other Floras- the lowly sanitation workers of the hive- Flora 717 speaks. Sister Sage decides an experiment is in order to see if she can find a greater use for her- and places her in the nursery- to see what other tricks Flora has up her bee sleeve.Flora will do what ever is asked of her- Accept, Obey, Serve....but after being a nurse for a very short while- she meets The Queen Bee and is rubbing elbows with more favored bees. Flora wants more, and before long she moves up the ladder again- when the Queen grows fond of her. But the bees closest to the Queen have other ideas...and soon Flora will have to use her wit and skill to make her own way in the hive...and hide her secrets from those who would try to harm her.It probably comes as no surprise that I loved this book!! I originally had it rated at 4.5..because I didn't love it as much as Watership Down...but the more I thought about it- I decided that was kind of unfair- for me it is a 5-star book...and it forever changed the way I will look at beeeeeeeeeees. R-E-S-P-E-C-T!THE BEES did remind me of a cross between Watership Down with bees and The Handmaids Tale...and although it may sound strange- as I was reading it- Flora sort of reminded me of one of my most beloved protagonists- Amber St. Clair- from another one of my favorite books- Forever Amber. If that sounds at alllllll interesting to you- you might want to pick this one up and give it try.

I'm not even sure how to review this -- it's certainly one of the strangest things I've ever read! But I really enjoyed it! I listened to the audiobook as narrated by Orlagh Cassidy, and the narration was very good.In this story we follow Flora 717, a lowly sanitation bee, from the moment she emerges from her cell as a fully-formed bee through her life cycle. This reads a lot like some of the dystopian YA fiction that's so popular right now, as Flora 717 manages to find herself in some rather unique situations that allow her character to show us many different parts of the workings and politics of the hive.I did find the pacing a bit weird at times. Starting as early as about the 25% mark, I was repeatedly surprised to realize I was not heading into the final stretch of this book. (I know, I know, my math/time skills suck.) It kept feeling like the story was entering climax territory, but then it just kept chuggin' along. Some bits were also a bit repetitive; alas, I suspect the life of a bee is rather repetitive ;)Overall I really liked this book and I would recommend it to anyone who would like a different spin on the typical YA dystopian fare (with the added bonus of no romantic entanglements)!4.5 stars for this one because I still miss it a full week later.Badass Female Character score: 5/5 -- those bees kick some serious butt! Almost all of them. They're brutal! Don't be messing with bees!

Accept. Obey. Serve. Flora 717 is a survivor - large, deformed and ugly at birth, normally she should have been summarily terminated... and did I forget to mention, she is a bee!Whether seen as allegorical or literal, the buzz (pun intended :)) around this book is very much well deserved. Are the core lives and roles in a bee-hive, portrayed in this book, correct? I don't know, but will one day probably check, but the world within our world created by Paull is hypnotically spell binding - and then to top it all off the story of a bee, Flora 717, coping and surviving, despite a lack of privilege, is so well thought out, crafted and paced. 10 out of 12, a Five Star read... now buzz off and go read this!

To Bee or not to Bee...Did your fate and role in life should be ruled by your birth heritage?Is it advisable to question your religious beliefs?Nowadays those are odd questions since we are living in an era where you are not longer "classified" due your ethnics and even you can choose not believing the religion of your own family. However, this is not the case for the entire world.Even in the 21st Century, it's clear that while there are many countries enjoying freedom to express your opinion, still there are several ones where this is only a wild dream.That's why that stories like The Bees is still relevant and always is necessary to take on again the topic."Flora 717", the main character, a bee, due her birth cast, she is a member of the lowest cast in the entire hive, the Sanitation Bees, where even the skill of speak is negated by biology. However, nature finds the way to restore balance, to name a champion, and in this case, Flora 717 is a "deformity" to her cast, she can speak!, she can think! and most of all... she wants more!Flora 717 is favored initially by a leading member of one of highest casts in the hive, considering her as an "experiment" but this was the only chance that Flora 717 needed to begin her journey to understand the entire working system established on the hive.Normal. What's normal? It seems that the masses always are looking that everybody should be normal but... in past centuries or even in this very same era but in a different country, persons such as Stephen Hawking could be treated as a "failed deformity" and killing him barely seconds aways from his birth and humanity would be deprived of one of the best intellects ever in the history of humankind.God created faith to unite the humanity but the man created religion to separate it. Usually people with issues against religion involve God in the struggle without realizing that the religions are managed here on Earth by imperfect and fallible human beings that sometimes they really think that they are doing the God's work and sometimes they know inside of themselves that they aren't. And what would happen when you are living in a society, in this hive, where the Queen is a holy being and even you are unable to think different?The Bees is a powerful and dark tale showing the dangers when a government fusions state and religion in one single concept. In this scenario, when you are committing a crime, it's not only a crime... it's a mortal sin!!! So you are not only a traitor to the state but a sinner to your Queen.After reading this book, certainly the next time that you meet a beehive, you will stare at it and wonder...

Synchronicity on honey turns out to give an insanely great read. Watership Down crossed with 1984, Forrest Gump, The Red Book and the Memoirs of a Geisha. Q: “Accept, Obey, and Serve.”Q: “Deformity is evil. Deformity is not permitted.” (c)Q: ...kindly recall that variation is not the same as deformity. (с)Q: “You danced well. You have served your hive.” Lily 500 smiled at Flora. Praise end your days.Praise end your days, Flora thought back to her, and the words were sweet.Q: She wrapped herself in the rich perfume of the forest floor and watched until the last bee flew into the tree. Then she rested. (c)Q:You have wings and courage and a brain. Do not annoy me by asking permission. (c)

I really would have rather given this book three and a half stars. Four seems a tad too strong. It was very readable, interestingly novel, but thematically confusing. I felt like I was supposed to be drawing parallels deeper than "Hey, those bees fail to adjust their social structures in the face of adversity, just like us!"Ultimately stupid complaint: I was continually confused by seemingly fluctuating level of anthropomorphism. Often it seemed that these were simply normal bees with their experiences translated to human terms -- a bee in flight thinks about her engines and fuel levels. But then sometimes things got more human -- pollen bread is produced in the patisserie, cleaning bees have brooms and dustpans. I'm willing to assume the author had a very clear logic to all this in her head, but it didn't come across to me. Maybe if I knew more about bee behavior I would have grasped it all better.

I appreciate when a book gets me excited from the very first page and that’s exactly what this did. The subject matter was fascinating and I learnt a few things about bees.

I enjoyed The Bees. Flora 717 is a bad girl. She's born different than the rest of the Floras. She's bigger, darker, smarter and more talented than the rest of her clan, and this is dangerous. She even breeds and everybody knows only the Queen may breed.This is an odd little book that fascinated me with a bunch of bee facts, and it was very interesting...Then I came across this video that I watched more than a few times and it brought this book to mind. It holds pretty much all you need to know about bees in a stunning fashion.

You might like this book if:1. You enjoy Watership Down 2. You are curious about bees and their way of life3. You want to read something bizarre and different4. You are looking for a book with an original dystopian society (not another Hunger Games/Divergent copycat)The Bees is a surprisingly 1. original, 2. action-packed and 3. emotional! For the first half of the book, I kept asking myself - why do I keep reading this? It's the weirdest, most bizarre thing I've ever had my hands on and it doesn't even have a human logic to it! Seriously, the whole book is written from the perspective of a worker bee, trying to fit in a strict, fanatic society, survive the calamities that befall her hive and guard her ultimate secret - (view spoiler)[ her ability to lay eggs. (hide spoiler)]I went into this book without knowing much about this particular insect and its way of life, but by the 60%, I had the strong, unbearable urge to watch Bee documentaries! There are some pretty good ones actually... Of course, apart from the fact that worker bees are supposed to die after they sting, the author really knows her stuff! Ok, but that's not even the point! The world-building is amazing - the psychology and structure of a bee society is already interesting and weird enough, but add a little bit of dystopia, interaction with other species and real-life ecological issues and I cannot complain. The character development is superb - the protagonist starts of as any other weak-minded, rule-obeying worker and she gradually becomes a strong and independent leader to her people. Her journey is truly fascinating, but I had a real problem with her being so brainwashed in the beginning. The conclusion was epic! There is a lot of action and fights in this book (makes you feel sorry for the real bees), yet, the ending was also surprisingly emotional. Thank you, Laline Paull, for bringing us a remarkable, highly-original and emotional story!

An amazing imagination and a wonderful, wonderful story! If you ever wondered what life may be like inside of a hive of honey bees, this one is for you. Their life and death and cycle of wealth and loss are all here for everyone to discover. Did you ever wonder what a bee sees or what she thinks as she goes about her daily life?Flora has been blown off course on her way home from a foraging run. It is late and she has been chased by a crow. She has found a hole in a tree and is hiding. The crow cannot see where she is, but has taken up a watch for her on a branch near where she is hiding. From the book: “Its smell was strong and bitter from the old sweat between its feathers and the red mites that ran across them. Only when the crow lowered its head into its chest did Flora clamp her wing-latches shut and press herself into the tight gap in the bark. The sense of enclosure was some comfort, and with the crow sleeping a few branches above her, Flora settled herself to watch the darkening sky and wait for death.The beech leaves surged and shimmered in the wind. Far below, a vixen paused to stare up, then melted away. Stars burned tiny holes in the twilight and then a pale moon traced a slow silver arc through the sky…She gazed out into the darkness, waiting. Somewhere across the scented night was her lost orchard home. She imagined it under a bright blue sky, the sweet bouquet spreading in welcome as she drew near, sun on her wings and her body loaded with nectar and pollen. She imagined her ten thousand sisters dancing for joy, Holy Mother wrapping her in Love…”Flora 717 will be with me a long, long time, along with her sisters and Queen Mother.

I've been dragging my feet about reviewing this one because I loved this book,Killer Bees: "Camera's over there, Elliott." SNL season 1, January 10, 1976but really hadn't expected to. This is a wonderful mash-up of science writing and court intrigue, and I couldn't put it down. I finished it in an evening. Flora 717 is our protagonist, and she's the lowest of the low-status worker bees: a sanitation worker. She knows where she belongs and what she's supposed to do every minute of the day. If she falters for an instant, the biochemical signals encoded in the hive pathways set her straight immediately. (Orwellian, no?) But strange developments in the hive propel Flora to a promotion to caregiver in the queen's nursery. Someone has committed treason against the hive's queen by laying nonroyal eggs, a threat to hive unity that can't be tolerated. A savvy, loyal politico-bee, Sister Sage, is hot on the trail of the unknown egg-laying rebel. Sister Sage establishes clever Flora as a spy in the nursery, and the plot just zooms along from there. The writing is self-assured and irony packed. The science holds up almost flawlessly, which is part of the fun. For example, betcha knew already that male bees (drones) die after mating with the queen. But in author Laline Paull's hive, a badass queen will continue to wear the drone's snapped-off organ as a souvenir of a really good time. Lots of other details in the book are less racy, but just as witty and ironic. Give it a try: you may turn out to be as big a fan as I am. Baileys Prize for Women's Fiction Nominee, 2015