At our 27th February meeting we had a most interesting discussion of the novel by Laline Paull, THE BEES, a story in the “talking animals” tradition of Animal Farm, Watership Down etc.. The setting was a honey bee hive, with disciplined, genetically controlled division of labour working towards a unitary purpose. The novel is quite graphic in its description of biological functions, and this sickened more than one of our readers, and its level of detail meant some also found the going quite tough. The novel’s plot was generated by the impulsive rebellion of one worker bee, with serious consequences for the functioning of the hive. Some of our group found this more believable than others. 

On the whole, although not everyone read the book to its end, the group felt that it was quite memorable, and they enjoyed discussing some of the serious issues which the novel raised, such as instinct, authoritarian systems, chemical pollution and global warming.  

Next month we will be discussing travel literature, and on April 24th, the writings of the American author, Anne Tyler.