3 out of 5

‘Where the Bees Are Going’ is an interesting concept, welded to a narrative.  This is certainly the genesis of many a tale, and then it’s the skill of the story teller in deciding how much to dress up that narrative to affect the reader in whichever desired way.  And I’m not quite sure if Andy Holt is there yet, consciously going through that process, so much as deciding on a theme that works with his idea and then designing moments that support that idea.  Along the way, his creative mind undeniably burbles with extra details, but they become asides as much as the rest of the supporting elements.

His short tale essentially sets out to explain the statement made by its title – which is smartly topical, bee hive abandonment having popped up lately – but immediately informs its reader to fear not: This ain’t an ecological tale, but rather a social study, of bees and humans, of our interesting similarities.  And then – praise One Story and Holt for allowing this genre leap – going slightly sci-fi with it to further consider a setup where those similarities get blurred…

And I think Holt’s structural method of jumping between points of view to establish a type of collective narrative is a good roundabout way to explore and explain his concept, but as mentioned, there’s a bit of a disconnect that prevents the story from going beyond a thought / writing experiment.  Little biographical notes we get read like lines from an assigned character sketch, with a requisite ten dollar word and metaphor.

Bees is a promising short story.  Its a big idea, soundly told.  Although the connecting threads are a bit too visible, the story is smartly open-ended enough to make its exploratory format an entertaining read.