First published in 2015, Lunde’s novel is a fascinating work of literature about climate change. As the title suggests, she focuses on bees. The book details the lives of three protagonists, Tao who is a pollinator living in China in 2098; George, a beekeeper who lives in Ohio in 2007; and William, an apiarist, and would-be inventor, who lived in England in 1851.
All three segments of the story feature relatable relationships between spouses and riveting parent/child dynamics. The non-communicative and unsympathetic, sometimes unlikable characters are symbolic of Lunde’s more powerful message about humans’ treatment of bees and ultimately the relationship that all humans have with Mother Earth as we know it. William Savage, who lived in 1851, spent months in bed suffering from what he described as melancholy. It turns out that he was a frustrated academic who could not please himself and his mentor with his early study of bees. He eventually builds beehives and works to control the hives and impress his family and community. He seemed motivated mainly by power and prestige. Yet, he inspired his daughter to become an accomplished beekeeper even though he could not convince his son to follow in his footsteps. George, who lives one hundred fifty years later, finds much pride in his handmade hives and his hours of devotion to the bees. George ignores most of what his wife desires, and he has a son who does not want to continue the family business but aspires to be a writer. The struggle with offspring plays out differently in the future segment since Tao’s son is separated from her after a terrible and seemingly undefined accident. During her search for her son, she discovers disturbing information about the Collapse, a world event marking the time pollinating insects disappeared from the Earth. According to this fictional story, the Collapse took place around 2040. Still, it is playing out in the present as CCD, Colony Collapse Disorder, where bees are dying off for various reasons. As we reside in a world of pesticides and GMOs and manufacturers creating food that’s not nourishing, the novel’s events provide a clear notification to humanity. The author delivers her cautionary tale about humankind’s miscommunications and unfriendly overtures related to the climate change debate, and it is not overly preachy.
There are so many aspects of this story, and one can read it on various levels. When George dismisses the wishes of his wife and son, we are forced to consider him representing those in the general populace who routinely disregard the signs of potential disaster that loom if society doesn’t begin acting more responsibly about the loss of species and the huge shifts in climate trends. William is preoccupied with himself, and his behavior is so extreme that he is completely unaware of life around him, including his wife and eight children. His actions represent the historical narrow-minded, tunnel-visioned focus on self without consideration for the greater community. Of course, Tao, who lives in the world post-collapse where pollinating insects no longer exist, provides the most poignant part of this cautionary tale. Like her counterparts in the other segments, Tao has more devotion for her son than her spouse. These misguided and indifferent character traits are indeed the central message of the story since we all must be worried about how our children will survive in a world that does not consider the future and is too self-centered to act for the collective good.
The characters in the three timeframes suffer at times from minimal food sources and near-poverty living circumstances. Lunde carefully helps us realize that bees are integral to food production and survival. Our indifference to the warnings of scientific experts and our focus on controlling nature will lead to dire conditions where we will indeed lose our children and the resources we value. While competing with others about the best style of human-made beehives and trying to convince their children to follow blindly in their career paths, the characters demonstrate and advocate for complacency. They exemplify the egotistical eradication of comfortable lives for future generations. All of the main characters experience a loss of control as they navigate their goals. Additionally, they feel a sense of abandonment and worry about self-preservation. Through the actions of major and minor characters, the author warns us that we are destroying the earth with our focus on material and financial gains, and we are abandoning our descendants’ needs. Some of the characters symbolized the drones, workers, and queens of the beehives. We all must consider what we must learn from bees’ communal living and emulate the interdependence of the hives’ members rather than thinking we can somehow survive without considering the collective needs of human beings. Humans must reconsider the desire to conquer and reign over nature.
