''Bee Season'' is a 2000 novel by
Myla Goldberg
Myla Goldberg (born November 19, 1971) is an American novelist and musician.
Biography
Goldberg was born into a Jewish family. She was raised in Laurel, Maryland, and graduated from Eleanor Roosevelt High School, where she was one of the Schola ...
. It follows a young girl as she attempts to win the
national spelling bee
The Scripps National Spelling Bee (formerly the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee and commonly called the National Spelling Bee) is an annual spelling bee held in the United States. The bee is run on a not-for-profit basis by The E. W. Sc ...
, and the repercussions of her success on the other members of her family.
Plot summary
Eleven-year-old Eliza Naumann is the only "ordinary" member in a family of gifted people living in
Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Abington Township is a township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It is adjacent to Philadelphia's northern fringe. The population was 55,310 as of the 2010 census, making it the second most populous township in Montgomery County after Lower ...
. Her father Saul is a
cantor
A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. In formal Jewish worship, a cantor is a person who sings solo verses or passages to which the choir or congregation responds.
In Judaism, a cantor sings and lead ...
at the local synagogue and a keen student of Jewish texts; her mother Miriam is apparently a successful lawyer and her brother Aaron is a gifted student who is able to read and recite in
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
and is allowed into his father's study, where he plays the guitar with his father.
One day Eliza surprises herself by winning the class
spelling bee, then the school bee at McKinley Elementary School. At first Saul is unaware of her success, but then he becomes increasingly involved with her. Eliza is invited into his study to practice, and Aaron for the first time finds the door closed to him. But as Eliza progresses through the district bee and prepares for the national bee, the troubled lives of her family come into sharp focus. Saul, who has tried to reach God, first through drugs and then through study, becomes convinced that Eliza's talent shows a propensity for
mysticism
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in ...
greater than his, which has the potential to lead her to
''shefa'', the influx of
the Divine
Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.[divine< ...](_blank)
. He gradually introduces her to the writings of
Abraham Abulafia
Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia ( he, אברהם בן שמואל אבולעפיה) was the founder of the school of "Prophetic Kabbalah". He was born in Zaragoza, Spain in 1240 and is assumed to have died sometime after 1291, following a stay on the ...
, a
Medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
kabbalist writer, and it becomes clear that his ambitions for her go far beyond the winning of the spelling bee.
Aaron, who had a "
religious experience
A religious experience (sometimes known as a spiritual experience, sacred experience, or mystical experience) is a subjective experience which is interpreted within a religious framework. The concept originated in the 19th century, as a defense ...
" at the age of eight (it was actually the wing-light of a plane), finds himself disillusioned with Judaism and begins to look elsewhere, first to Christianity and then to
Vaishnavism
Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...
. Through a chance encounter in a park he discovers the
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement or Hare Krishnas, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava Hindu religious organization. ISKCON was founded in 1966 in New York City by A. C. Bhaktiv ...
(ISKCON) and becomes a devotee, unknown to his family. Miriam, who has always had an obsessive personality, has kept from her family that she has not worked for years, instead being a
kleptomaniac who spends her time stealing small items from department stores, believing that they are small parts of herself from which she has become separated, a concept she formed when Saul told her about ''
tikkun olam
''Tikkun olam'' ( he, תִּיקּוּן עוֹלָם, , repair of the world) is a concept in Judaism, which refers to various forms of action intended to repair and improve the world.
In classical rabbinic literature, the phrase referred to leg ...
'', the "fixing of the world".
With the other members of her family preoccupied, Miriam's obsession takes a new turn when she finds herself entering people's houses and stealing small objects from them. Several times she is almost discovered, but, though she tries to anchor herself to the real world through emotionally detached sex with Saul, she cannot resist the pull of the empty houses. At the National Spelling Bee, Eliza performs well but does not win, so she begins to prepare for the following year, with Saul's enthusiastic help. But the family is about to be torn apart. Miriam is arrested and Saul learns she quit her job years ago. She has been putting her stolen items into a storage space, where she has arranged them all in a beautiful, complex pattern. She pleads not guilty by reason of insanity, and is admitted to a
psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociat ...
. Aaron announces his intention to leave home, and his faith, to join ISKCON.
Eliza, who has begun reading Abulafia on her own, without her father's knowledge, has a terrifying experience on the night that she attempts to achieve ''shefa''. The following day, at the class spelling bee, she deliberately misspells a word; her powerful way of bringing her family back together from the edge of collapse.
Characters
*Eliza Naumann – a young girl, an entrant in the national spelling bee.
*Saul Naumann – Eliza's father, cantor in the Beth Amicha synagogue and student of the scriptures.
*Miriam Naumann – Eliza's mother, who is
obsessive-compulsive and a kleptomaniac.
*Aaron Naumann – Eliza's brother, who loses the Jewish faith and goes on to become a
Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna may refer to:
* International Society for Krishna Consciousness, a group commonly known as "Hare Krishnas" or the "Hare Krishna movement"
* Hare Krishna (mantra)
The Hare Krishna mantra, also referred to reverentially as the (" ...
.
Reception
''Bee Season'' was well received by critics. Paul Gray of ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' called it "a winningly eccentric and intriguing first novel."
Dwight Garner of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' called it "a dispassionate, fervidly intelligent book ... that comes by its emotion honestly" and described it as ''
Kaaterskill Falls
Kaaterskill Falls is a two-stage waterfall on Spruce Creek in the eastern Catskill Mountains of New York, between the hamlets of Haines Falls and Palenville in Greene County. The two cascades total 260 feet (79 m) in height, making Kaaterskil ...
'' meets ''
American Beauty''. It reached number 15 in the ''New York Times'' independent fiction bestseller list in July, 2000.
Reviewers have commented on how the book begins on a simple note (girl unexpectedly wins a school contest), and later moves into dark territory (family falls apart). In a 2005 interview at her college alma mater, Goldberg explained her motivation: "I'll tell you how I wrote the book. I did write it very consciously to get darker and stronger as it continues. I wanted it at first to be like this sunny, happy, ''
Reader's Digest
''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wif ...
'' kind of read, and to lull people into this sense of complacency and then hit them over the head."
Awards and nominations
It was a finalist in the Frankfurt eBook Award 2000 for Best Fiction work converted from print to ebook.
''Bee Season''
at Barnes & Noble (annotation)
Film adaptation
A feature film
A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...
based on the book, directed
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''D ...
by Scott McGehee
Scott McGehee (born April 20, 1962) is an American filmmaker. He is a Columbia University graduate and did graduate work in the Rhetoric department at UC Berkeley. He was born in California, and currently resides in New York City. McGehee is ...
and David Siegel with screenplay by Naomi Foner, was released in 2005.
Cultural references
The Decemberists
The Decemberists are an American indie rock band from Portland, Oregon. The band consists of Colin Meloy (lead vocals, guitar, principal songwriter), Chris Funk (guitar, multi-instrumentalist), Jenny Conlee (piano, keyboards, accordion), Nate ...
' "Song for Myla Goldberg" from the album '' Her Majesty the Decemberists'' makes references to the novel. The band's frontman and songwriter Colin Meloy
Colin Patrick Henry Meloy (born October 5, 1974) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and author best known as the frontman of the Portland, Oregon, indie folk rock band The Decemberists. In addition to vocals, he performs with an acoust ...
served as a guide for Goldberg when her book tour for ''Bee Season'' visited Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...
.{{citation needed, date=January 2016
References
2000 American novels
Novels by Myla Goldberg
Jewish American novels
American novels adapted into films
Scripps National Spelling Bee
Doubleday (publisher) books
2000 debut novels
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