The story of the bees
The story of the bees ( Norwegian Bienes historie ) is a novel by the Norwegian writer Maja Lunde from 2015, which was published in German in 2017 by the Random House publishing group . According to the book trade magazine Börsenblatt , it was the best-selling book in Germany in the 2017 calendar year.
action
In her novel, the author combines three family stories, which take place in different epochs and locations and are all linked to the development of honeybees . One storyline takes place in the past - in 1852 in England , where the natural scientist William Savage wants to construct a new beehive. Another story is set in the present, in 2007 in Ohio , in which the American beekeeper George Savage is confronted with the so-called bee deaths, and the third storyline takes place in the future, where you meet the young Chinese Tao in China in 2098, which works as a pollinator because the bees seem extinct.
Narrative style
The three first-person narratives are not presented one after the other, but the threads of the plot alternate and are repeatedly interrupted. With the help of three different, repeating chapter headings, a reader who wants to can still read each story for himself.
background
In particular, a documentary about the death of bees, which the screenwriter and children's book author Maja Lunde saw in 2013, inspired her on the subject for her first novel. This was published in her home country Norway in 2015 and was immediately a great success, so that the publication rights could be sold in more than 30 countries.
reception
The novel was published in Germany in March 2017 and immediately established itself in the top 10 of the Spiegel bestseller list . With 350,000 copies sold, it was the most successful book in Germany in 2017 and it also received the 2017 reading award from the online book network LovelyBooks .
For Ulrike Sarkany on NDR it is particularly important and appropriate for the time. The author knows how to dress a real concern in a gripping story, whereby the focus is not on the environmental message but on the fate of three people. The literary critic Denis Scheck finds the book in his monthly bestseller review "on the verge of cliché, but not without charm". For the German translator of the novel Ursel Allenstein, it is a special book because it deals with a topic of global importance, although typically in Scandinavian literature private topics are usually the focus.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ These are the best-selling books of 2017 , Börsenblatt , January 3, 2018, accessed on January 14, 2018
- ↑ Jutta Duhm-Heitzmann: Maja Lunde - The history of bees . WDR 3 . Book review. May 4, 2017. Retrieved January 29, 2018
- ↑ Lea Thies: What is it about mass extinction? The matter with the bees , Augsburger Allgemeine , May 18, 2017, accessed on January 15, 2018
- ↑ Maja Lunde - The History of Bees , book report, accessed on January 14, 2018
- ↑ Reading Award 2017 . LovelyBooks , accessed January 14, 2018
- ↑ Ulrike Sarkany: When the bees disappear . Norddeutscher Rundfunk , April 26, 2017, accessed on January 14, 2018
- ↑ Denis Scheck: Denis Scheck comments on the top 10 fiction . Das Erste , December 22, 2017, accessed January 15, 2018
- ↑ Ursel Allenstein: Badly translated books have also become bestsellers . Börsenblatt, December 29, 2017, accessed on January 15, 2018