About a month ago I decided that it was time to stop listening to other people and to give this book a shot, and I am so glad that I did that. Of course this book is nothing like "The Secret Life of Bees!" It has nothing to do with that time frame, that type of lifestyle, and that type of being! The story follows the life of a woman named Jessie Sullivan who is dealing with the mental breakdown of her mother who has chosen to deal with her pain from the loss of her husband thirty years prior, by removing a finger on her hand with a butchers knife. Unhappily married Jessie goes to stay with her mother on the island she grew up on and winds up falling in love with a monk, having an affair and trying to decide what is best for her, Jessie, the person who is actually important! We go through the ups and downs of a woman who is sad, and depressed, and has lost her way in her own life and what she loves. She has been married for twenty years and loves her husband, but doesn't love the fact that she feels as though she had to give up who she was to maintain the lifestyle the have lived for so long.
If you're a woman and you have ever been in a relationship where you feel as though you have been asked to give more than you receive, then you will appreciate this book! Sue Monk Kidd did a wonderful job capturing Jessie's life and making the reader start to wonder why certain things in their own life make them unhappy. For a book that is just under 400 pages, it's an easy read, but it does start off a little slow in the beginning.
My only little complaint, and this is just my own personal preferences with novels, I get tired of everything having a predictable, happy ending. I would have been interested to see the ending go in a different direction, but I gave the book 4 out of 5 stars on goodreads.com and most definitely suggest that people should give this book a shot.
