Summary and Reviews of Bee Season by Myla Goldberg

Media Reviews

New York Times Book Review - Dwight Garner A dispassionate, fervidly intelligent book that comes by its emotion honestly . . . has something else going for it, something you didn't realize you'd been missing in recent fiction: a bit of actual suspense ..... Bee Season flickers past like a dream, and it is artful indeed.

Newsweek It is amazing how quickly a true talent can announce itself. In the case of Myla Goldberg, it is now even a matter of pages, but of sentences...a marvelous debut novel.

Tattered Cover - Cathy Langer The protagonist of this first novel is a heretofore-unremarkable nine-year old girl who is revealed to be a spelling prodigy. This novel is beautifully written and draws the reader into the world of this young girl, the compelling world of Jewish mysticism, Spelling Bee politics, family dynamics, and deep secrets. Absolutely amazing!

The New York Times - Christopher Lehmann-Haupt As mundane and unmystical as these longings of Eliza's may be, you never stop caring about whether she will fulfill them....sensitive and witty.

Time Out New York Goldberg, who is only 27, has something rare in first-time novelists, and for that matter, in more experienced writers: an appreciation of the subtlest dynamics of human relationships and experience. And as a stylist has the equivalent of a musician's perfect pitch. This is a fantastic first novel, that I wanted to read again as soon as I'd finished it.

Booklist - Bill Ott There is something of Holden Caulfield in Eliza, the same crazed determination to save her loved ones from themselves. An impressive debut from a remarkably talented writer.

Kirkus Reviews Goldberg is a gifted writer, but her style--delivered in a detached, almost clinical prose that gives the feeling of fable or dream--holds the reader at a distance and keeps her characters from ever quite coming into the third dimension.

Publishers Weekly While coming-of-age stories all bear a certain similarity, Goldberg strikes new ground here, and displays a fresh, distinctive and totally winning voice.

School Library Journal - Molly Connally Teens will identify with these young people as they seek out their own identities while risking the loss of parental approval.

Library Journal - Kimberly G Allen .....The result is not always compelling, however; too much time is devoted to Eliza's study of words.