I've been sitting here for a full five minutes and I still can't work out what I feel like about this book. I finished it yesterday, and gave myself a night to sleep on it in the hope that an opinion might form itself in that time. Alas, nothing. And yet, this novel HAS made an impact on me. It's just the consequences of said impact that confuse me.
Paull's debut novel follows the life of a sanitation bee, Flora 717. Paull very cleverly creates a world the likes of which haven't been seen in an novel to date. She takes some liberties with actual bee lifestyle to create a world which feels, as it is meant to, alien, confusing and strange. The problem with this, however, is that this setting is so absorbing that the reader isn't really sure which morals are supposed to be "Ok", and therefore when something supposedly corrupt or moving happens (initially) it can be hard to tell whether or not we should feel anything about it. This is perhaps due, in part, to the lack of insight into Flora's thoughts. For a long time, we feel like we have no idea what she is thinking. I've read reviews of this book which describe her merely as a "plot-device", which I feel is quite accurate for about 2/3 of this book. For the first very large proportion, lots of things just happen to Flora in very quick succession. Because of this, the narrative comes across as quite disjointed and bitty, with nothing to hold the reader's attention happening until Flora begins to become a bit more independent and interesting. This, of course, may be purposeful, as we are supposed to believe that Flora is part of the "Hive-mind" and therefore should not be pursuing autonomous thought and behaviour, however this makes the novel very difficult in places.
And this is a shame, because where the novel excels, it really excels. This is a fantastic example of a novel which, for the most part, has a strong female protagonist who at no point is dependant on a male. It also asks some profound questions about faith and society as well as class discrimination. I would have no problems writing countless essays on Marxist and Feminist readings of this novel, which showcases how this novel is of a very high quality. This might explain why this book seems to be getting a lot of attention. Towards the end of the novel, the previous "bitty" plot strands begin to subtly come together to make some kind of sense in relation to the novel as a whole. As well as this, there are certain moments that are so exciting, shocking and moving that you will actually be hooked. And the conclusion of the novel was one of the most unpredictable and beautiful things I've read in a while.
So to summarise, Paull has successfully created a very profound novel set in a very clever world, which perhaps she is too keen to show off through the use of lots of events rather than through development, leading to a disappointingly disjointed novel which is often frustrating and confusing, but always thought provoking.
7/10
