I guess I just didn’t like Hilarie Burton’s character

do not watch if you don’t wanna cry fifty million times

A young girl runs away from her hometown to find another family far away from her abusive father– and she got just that,, more than that, even. Personally, I prefer the book over the movie– there's just this element of emotion and melancholy that the movie just can't quite capture in the same way that the book is able to. I do, however, recommend the movie for people who have a hard time being able to sit all the way through a book— like me. In the book, the main character is portrayed as a sweet, charismatic 14-year-old girl who strives to experience a life that isn't held and controlled ever turn by her father, T. Ray. Honestly, I thought that Lily would dress a little more child-like in the movie, as I feel it would fit her personality a lot more,, for example; wearing colorful, patterned dresses or overalls. I honestly expected her hair to be darker, and shorter, and I expected her to be chubbier. In the book, she's a lot more immature, for example; when she first met the beekeepers and lied to them about her family. I think this makes the book better than the movie because she's portrayed as a lot more immature and emotional– whereas in the movie she has less character to her. In the book,, they only mentioned the Mary statue briefly, whereas in the movie they actually showed it and had an entire scene based off of it. This changed my understanding of the movie because it gave me more insight into what the statue was meant for and what it represented to them. This also affected the storyline because she goes back to the statue later and puts her hand on the heart of it in the movie. For this reason specifically, in this instance, I think the movie is better,, but overall I'd say the book is better. In the movie, after Rosaleen and Lily have a fight, Rosaleen goes in the creek to bathe– but this part wasn't shown in the movie to my knowledge. In the book, Rosaleen is bathing in the creek and Lily goes in the water with her and they apologize to each other. This affected the way I saw the book and the characters because they grew a closer relationship in that time in the book. This also affected the storyline because it made them closer to each other. For this reason, and a few others, I think the book is better.

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood. In class we were given the choice of what book to read and watch, the book and movie I had chosen were The Secret Life of Bees. This story is about a little girl named Lily Owens who left her toxic household to find out more about her deceased mother, Lily is convinced her mother had other reasons why she left in the first place and Lily is making it her duty to figure out these reasons so she can no longer blame herself. Though both the movie and book were beautifully written and played, I would recommend the movie if you are looking for a better understanding of the characters, how they're portrayed throughout the story, and how they grow from beginning to end. While reading the book, I was under the impression that Lily Owens was at least mixed. In my mind her mother was black, once I had seen the movie, Lily was a small, blue-eyed, blonde-haired girl. This made the story overall, more interesting and the movie better because she eventually moves in with 3 black beekeeping sisters, June, August, and May Boatwright, that take her and Rosaleen under their wing and treats Lily like a sister of their own. You can tell that the beekeeping sisters love Lily and Rosaleen when they all agreed to not throw them out even after they find out Lily's sob story was a hoax, they knew that if they sent them home they'd get mistreated by T-Ray, Lilys drunken father. "Lily can have a home here for as long as she wants." This is what August said after T-Ray showed up at the house to take Lily home. This made the movie more appealing to me because it provided a better view of how the characters differ and how they look. When comparing the movie to the book certain scenes are written differently than what I had watched in the movie. One example is when the girls are running into the house with Pie pans over their heads to protect their hair, in the movie the girls did not use pie pans and instead ran with nothing. Unfortunately, I really liked reading this part of the book, so I wish that it had not been left out. After watching the movie, I noticed that some scenes were not like the book, potentially making it difficult to choose the movie over the book. One example is when T-Ray started getting violent with Lily when she refused to go back home with him. In the movie, T-Ray was not happy that she wanted to stay but didn't lash out as far as the book portrayed him to.. This made me think to have some sympathy for T-Ray's character and how in the movie they let him be more subtle, for this reason, I would choose the movie over the book Overall, this story is very heartwarming and a good portrayal of what it was like back then for colored women and what it's like to be in an unstable home as a child. Although both the movie and book bring awareness to these topics, I believe that the movie can provide a better understanding whether that would be with the characters or the overall message that the story brings.

I read the book "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd and watched the movie "The Secret Life of Bees" directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood. The plot is focused on Lily, a fourteen-year-old white girl, who lives with her abusive father whom she calls T. Ray When her nanny and only friend Rosaleen gets arrested for confronting three racists, Lily decides to break Rosaleen out of jail. Together they run away to where Lily suspects her mother once spent time. I recommend the book over the movie. The main character of "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd is Lilly Owens, a fourteen-year-old girl who lost her mother when she was young; she in the book is portrayed as a strong girl looking for answers about her mother. Lilly looks a lot younger in the movie than I envisioned. In the movie, Lilly tells Zach that she is a runaway before she tells anyone else. In the book, Lilly asks August to tell Zach after she finally tells August at the end of the book. This adds to our understanding of the relationship between Lilly and Zach, how Lilly trusts Zach with the secret and asks for his advice, showing how much she values Zach's opinions. Or this reason, I recommend watching the movie and reading the book. The movie leaves out the scene of Rosaleen and Lilly bathing in the river after they escaped Silvin. I believe the director chose to leave out this scene to preserve the modesty of the characters. This changed the storyline because we didn't get to hear Lilly's monologue as Rosaleen waited out into the water. For this reason, I recommend reading the book to fully understand the relationship between Lilly and Rosaleen. The book and movie are valuable in diverse ways, so I recommend reading the book and then watching the movie.

Warning Will Smith movie! This should have been called The Secret Life of B Minus.

It brought me into a reality I have only guessed at; black women making a real life in the deep south in the waning days of Jim Crow. The plot did drag at times; wish there had been a bit more happening with the bees and their keeper. But the stress of living under Jim Crow, the oppressiveness of the society that they survived, even thrived, in was always there, informing so much of the film and the plot Queen Latifah and Dakota Fanning are excellent and believable in every scene. Sophie Okonedo simply was the troubled and damaged May. There were times when I wished to see more nuanced reactions from some of the actors, and a few scenes that I wish had been more fully developed; the director could have allowed more silences for the actors to explore the emotions called for in the script. On the whole, however, the film kept me engaged and gave me a deeper understanding of a culture and society that is different from the MidWestern world I grew up in.

An excellent movie. Engaging, moving, and thoroughly entertaining. It’s nice to actually feel something and have an existential experience when watching a film as a break from the action packed special effects laden movies that dominate the screens. Highly recommended.

*SPOILERS* The Secret Life of Bees is a historical fiction work. The book is written by Sue Monk Kidd and the Movie is directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood. This is a coming of age story about a girl who learns about her past and what her future could become. The theme seems to be about the irrationality of racism, mostly about how Lily overcomes her own racism. It also has undertones of how prejudice is sometimes learned from a young age and can be hard to overcome. There were many parts of the movie that were different from the book, which created some plot holes. The reason Zach went to jail was different, Lily's last question to T. Ray was different, and they never rubbed honey on the Black Madonna. Other than the inaccuracies and the pacing, the movie was okay. I enjoyed the movie, but the purple honey scene is just as awkward and uncomfortable in the movie as it is in the book, if not more so. If you haven't read the book, it's a pretty good movie. If you have read the book, try not to cringe too hard.

I read the book The Secret Life of Bees written by Sue Monk Kidd, and watched the movie directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood. They are both a historical fiction story about a girl named Lily, who killed her mother when she was little, who runs away and finds new friends and you follow along on her journey. I think the author's purpose is to show the strength of women, the weakness, the ability in all of us to grow and change, and become independent. The main theme I got from the book and the movie was that forgiveness is important in growing and maturing. I personally think the movie was a pretty good representation of the novel. There were some minor differences in the characters that I noticed, like Lily having a different hair color, but the only big difference between the novel and the movie was that I think that the novel evaluated the meaning of the "bees" better and more in depth. Overall, I think that the movie works well with the novel, and that if you read the book you should watch the movie too. The novel was better than the movie in my opinion because it went more into detail and depth about the theme. They are both really good and have a good theme and I recommend both.

(contains spoilers!) The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd novel was great. It had amazing pacing, lovely characters, and relatable issues throughout. The movie though, by Gian Prince-Bythewood, not so great. From someone who read the Novel first there are alot of important plot points and character developments missing. Sue Monk Kidd wanted to portray her book as an inside look into many struggles of POC, Women, and mental health issues. All while telling the story of a girl named Lily and her early tragic life. This book has many themes ranging from the Irrationality of Racism to Female power. The themes in the novel are in depth and well sewed into the story line. The movie is rushed so it leaves little to no time for important themes to shine through. !!Spoiler!! In the book May's death is slow and hard hitting, it describes each character's feelings perfectly through either action or dialogue. The movie basically skips through it, causing it to go from an emotional moment to just another character death. (I was personally very mad they didn't add a Neil/June wedding scene). This movie isn't the worst, the actors picked represent the novel characters well, and there are some good heartfelt scenes. In the end it's just another movie that does the book dirty. Watch it if you desire, but I recommend you read the book first.

This movie is based on the historical fiction novel, The Secret Life of Bees, written by Sue Monk Kidd. Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, The Secret Life of Bees brings you the story of 14 year-old, Lily Owens who runs away from her abusive father with her caregiver, Rosaleen, in search of the truth about her mother. Through this journey she meets the Boatwright sisters who take her and Rosaleen in and help Lily to find that answers she needs. Throughout the story we see Lily grow into a mature, young lady. Kidd shows us what a motherly figure truly is and shows us how powerful women can be. I think that the movie in comparison to the novel follows the storyline pretty well. I believe that for the most part the novel is an accurate representation of the theme, characters, and events that happen throughout the novel. There are some parts in which the director changed what the characters said or did. One example of this would be the significance of bees. Throughout the novel bees are a major part of the story and I feel that in the movie they did not portray the bees as well as I would of liked. The movie never tells us as to why they covered the hives with black cloths when one of the characters dies and in the novel we learn this is so the bees can morn too. Overall, I think was a good movie and would recommend it to a friend. It is entertaining and teaches us what motherly love is. I would rate this a 3.5 out of 5. I recommend this movie to family and all people.

!!!! CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!!!! The Secret Life of Bees,a fictional book, by Sue Monk Kidd, and directed by Gina Prince- Bythewood. It is about a girl who has run away from home with a substitute mother and escaped to a small town of Tiburon. She stays with these three sisters and starts to work for them and builds a connection with them. The author's purpose for writing this book is to show the struggles of POC women along with depression. All why telling the story of the girl who ran away showing that not everybody's life is perfect. There are multiple themes to this story but the one that truly sticks out to me is female empowerment. Watching the movie after reading the book you can tell that there are some things missing and with this, the theme is not as empowering about female power. There are some scenes in the movie that represent female empowerment but not as much as the book showed and explained. At the very end of the book all the daughters of Mary show up to defend Lily but in the movie they did not and it felt more empowering in the book. I think that Sue Monk Kidd wrote a great book especially empowering women, and I think that Gina Prince- Bythewood did an okay job working with what she had and trying to use most of the scenes from the movie. If you want to watch the movie I would recommend reading the book first because the movie misses some of the best parts.

In the historical fiction book and novel, The Secret Life of Bees, the author, Sue Monk Kidd, and the director, Gina Prince-Bythewood portrayed the story of a girl, Lily, on how she is searching for a place where there is a motherly figure there to love her. Throughout her journey, there is up and downs that she faces that the audience gets to witness too. There are many other themes in this novel, but one that stood out to me was the empowerment of women. I feel that Kidd wanted this theme to stand out the most in this novel. Throughout the novel and book, the storyline that was portrayed in both was very similar to one another, the actors that played certain characters fit their description as in the book, and the main events were similar as well. One difference that stood out to me was how there was a big significance of the bees in the novel that wasn't really shown in the movie. Overall, the book was better in my opinion, but the movie was good too. To recap, the author and director's work was projected well because the book and novel relate to each other pretty similarly. I would recommend someone to read the novel before watching the movie because there is more of a significance in the book that you don't get to see in the movie.

The Secret Life of Bees is a historical fiction book by Sue Monk Kidd, and a movie directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood. A motherless girl named Lily learns from three african american sisters that teach her life lessons, help her learn about her mother, and teach her about the Black Madonna. Sue Monk Kidd wrote this book to highlight racism in the 60s and show how important motherly figures are. I don't think the movie was that good. The book was so in depth that trying to fit everything into a movie made it all feel rushed and confusing. For example, in the book May finds out about Zach being in jail about a week later than he gets in. I'm pretty sure there's at least one chapter difference between these events so you can really feel the anticipation of the secret getting out. There's about 3 minutes between Zach getting in jail and May finding out in the movie. Sue Monk Kidd's book was amazing, but this movie doesn't stack up. If you haven't read the book, I think it's a great movie for you. If you have read the book, don't let this ruin it for you. The pacing is too fast, and the events were even a little confusing for me even though I knew what was going to happen.

!!Spoilers!! Secret Life of Bees, a science fiction novel by Sue Monk Kidd, movie directed by Gina Prince Bythewood. This movie and novel outlines the life of a young white girl, in the Civil Rights Era, who escapes her abusive father to uncover the truth about her mother and her past. She escaped to Tiburon, South Carolina where she met the Boatwright sisters and began her adventure through the twists and turns of her mother's past. The movie in my opinion was an okay representation of the book. The parts that were cut off did not make much sense to me at all. I feel that some of the most significant parts were left out. The theme was represented very well in the movie especially in Lily. All of the characters are somewhat close to how I imagined them but August didn't look how I expected her to. Many events were left out in the movie such as June and Neil's wedding and Lily's phone call to T. Ray. I found those parts very significant and they were not presented in the movie. I believe the director did a good job representing the theme and what the book was really about but failed to present many parts that accompanied the theme.

<<<SPOILERS>>> The Secret Life of Bees book is written by Sue Monk Kidd and the movie is directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood; they are both historical fiction. Both take place in the 60s that show the life of a young girl named Lily. The purpose of this novel and movie is to showcase the life of Lily. <<<SPOILERS HERE>>> The movie and the book were very different although the themes were the same. The characters could have been portrayed differently along with some of the events. In the book Lily's father finds her because she makes a call to him that he tracks to where she is and in the movie he finds her based off of a map in her room. In the book Lily and her mother have black hair and in the movie they are both blond. Although Sue Monk Kidd and Gina Prince-Bythewood have two different versions of The Secret Life of Bees both are very good and thought out. I would recommend this movie but not until after you read the book due to the fact the movie leaves out some things.

The author of the historical fiction novel, The Secret Life of Bees, is Sue Monk Kidd; and the movie of the same name is directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood. The movie follows a young girl, Lily Owens, as she tries to find who her mother really is. The Secret Life of Bees has many different themes, from forgiveness to the importance of religion. I think the movie was pretty good, though it had some inconsistencies. The movie leaves some characters out and skips some scenes, but manages to work around these obstacles. It is understandable why they would not follow the same script as the movie, as the movie would drag on and on and be very boring at times. Overall, I think the movie was good and is worth a watch if you have read the novel.

This movie is based off of the historical fiction novel The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. The director of the movie adaptation was Gina Prince-Bythewood. The book (and movie) are about a girl named Lily Owens who runs away from home. Lily's life has been shaped around a blurred memory she has of her mother. Lily and her "stand-in mother" Rosaleen end up in Tiburon, South Carolina living with the Boatwright sisters. In the book the story holds important lessons about female power, racism, and forgiveness. I feel like the movie lost a bit of the importance of these. In addition to losing some of these themes, I feel some of the main characters were not represented well. On the flip side of that, the movie did a good job of giving more depth to some of the secondary characters like Neil. I liked how the less important characters were more dimensional, but was frustrated that some of the main characters were lacking in that department. I will say that I absolutely loved June in the movie. I was disappointed that the Daughters of Mary didn't have a more prevalent role, as they were fairly important in the novel. I was also disappointed with how the question Lily asks her father at the end was changed. I feel like the organization of the movie could have been improved. The transitions from one event to the next were somewhat unclear and scattered. It would have lost me had I not read the book first. The movie can simply be described as awkward. Despite this, I feel that overall the movie was fairly good, but if you had not read the book it wouldn't make as much sense. I think that you should watch the movie, but only if you are okay with quite a few alterations from the book to movie. The book is most certainly better and I highly recommend reading it.

<<spoilers ahead>> The Secret Life of Bees is originally a book by Sue Monk Kidd, and a movie directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood. The book and movie follow Lily, and her life. The authors purpose of the book was to show the life of Lily, and how bees, religion, mother figures, and more effect her and help her grow. The movie and the novel weren't very alike. The timing of each event seemed off. The movie was missing several important events, and had no impact or build up. I did like how the movie added in the scene of June and August calling Rosaleen July. There were several parts of the movie that just seemed awkward, and was hard to watch with how strange some scenes felt. I wouldn't really recommend this movie, but the book was very good in comparison.