REVIEW: The Bees

A novel by Laline Paull

Worker bee Flora 717 does not calmly enter into this world; she explodes into it, tearing through the waxy constraints of her womb room. Born into the lowest caste of the hive, Flora should be a mute bee who works her sanitation job diligently and without question, but that’s not the case. Flora can speak, produce Flow (royal jelly), understand emotions, and think for herself. Flora challenges the uniformity and strict social hierarchy of the hive in every possible way, including carrying an egg, a treasonous offence against the queen. Flora must decide if her own maternal instinct and happiness is worth going against the hive’s internal order. This pivotal point is also where Laline Paull’s debut turns from an Animal Farm-esque story to a dystopian mix of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games calling into question Nature vs. Nurture as wells as questioning the status quo.

Paull transports us into the mind of a bee and illustrates the inner workings of a hive, whether that’s through the highly detailed descriptions of the architectural wonder that is a hive or a caste-based system that requires its residents to fall in line and do as they’re told — unless you’re Flora 717. Paull’s language is wonderfully evocative: the flight scene of the male drones places you onto an airstrip where you’re practically buzzing along with the bees as they prepare for flight. It’s quickly countered by Flora’s more peaceful first voyage, less Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumblebee” more Debussy’s “Clair de Lune.” Paull weaves a story that both entertains and forewarns, entertaining with clever word play while also addressing serious issues, including prejudice, sexism, and environmental concerns.

— Melissa Tunstall, Main Library, Charleston, S.C.

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