Trying to briefly describe Laline Paull’s “The Bees” in order to encourage people to read it seems like an impossible task. The novel encompasses an incredible scope of themes and topics in its gripping, but winding, plotline, although the knowledge of bees that Paull packs in is impressive. We enter the world of this novel as surprised and disoriented as the protagonist, Flora 717, when she breaks from her waxy cocoon into the throbbing life of the hive. Although Paull attempts to ease us in with a dubious framing device, set on the level of the beekeeper’s son, there can be no true preparation for … Continue reading Book Review: The Bees by Laline Paull