[Осень Шира]

В своем неуемном любопытстве я нашла пересказ книги, по которой снят «Шмель». Пересказ довольно подробный, мне он помог прояснить многие моменты, которые до этого были не совсем ясны.

Title: The Bumblebee Flies Anyway
Author: Robert Cormier
Publisher: Dell
This book was written by Robert Cormier who was the author of many other storybooks such as "I am the Cheese". The story mainly describes the different kinds of human relationship and reflects the thoughts of different patients in an experimental hospital, which was abandoned when a new structure was built on the other side of the town. It was redeveloped into an institute when the Handyman, actually named Doctor Edward Lakendorp, and his associates moved in and began to operate the former hospital as a facility for experimental medicine.
The Complex was filled with the air of mystery as the story said. The patients staying there included Allie Roon, who was the youngest person, was just a kid aged about twelve or thirteen, but had speech impediment, Billy who had a kidney disease and had to sit on a wheelchair, Mazzo who was hooked up to a life-support machine and Barney Snow, who was sixteen years old and had no visible handicaps. He was the only lucky patient who was not in the group of the doomed as all the terminally ill patients in that hospital were waiting for death except him. He was like a leader, willing to contribute to research voluntarily whereas some, such as Mazzo, was hoping for a quick death. All of them had an almost fairly regular life in the Complex. They were sometimes introduced to different tests but they could still wander around every corner for the rest of the time.
The initial test caused Barney some slight physical pain, but those were not worse than the awful secrets, which he discovered about himself gradually during the memory tests. Barney could not remember life before the Complex. He had only fleeting memories about his past. The story always mentioned that a nightmare of the car slanting down the hill would sometimes suddenly flashed into his mind no matter during the daytime or at night. This terrible secret then drove him to fulfill his and his fellow subjects' ultimate dream, "The Bumblebee must fly!"
At the beginning of the story, Barney regarded Mazzo as a grumpy boy who seemed to hate all other people and was proud of his wealth and handsome appearance. He was the only patient who owned a private telephone because his mother had paid quite a lot of money in contributing to the development of the Complex. Later, Barney then changed his feelings towards Mazzo and agreed to help him to take the phone calls from Mazzo's family when he knew Mazzo hated his mother much for his father's death. This gave Barney the chance to meet Mazzo's twin sister, Cassie, who looked attractive and nice and asked for Barney's help to take care of Mazzo. Barney soon fell in love with her and naturally promised her to make friend with Mazzo in order to enjoy meeting her more often to report Mazzo's recent news. After that, Barney talked to Mazzo more frequently though Mazzo did not give any responds to him most of the time, Barney tried to tell jokes and find new topics to talk to him till once, Barney discovered Mazzo's love for cars. Barney then thought of a plan that would give Mazzo the quick death he wanted.
Secretly, Barney reconstructed a life-size model of a car stolen from the near junkyard. At the end of the story, Barney pulled off the plug on Mazzo's life-support system and helped him to the roof where the car built was waiting to be pushed off for one last glorious flight, like a bumblebee flying in the sky. Billy could also witness Mazzo's death during that flight. At the same time, Cassie also died at home because of her long-term disease. Although the twins had finally died, they, especially Cassie, his lover, remained in Barney's mind and heart forever.
I think that the most interesting part of this story is that almost everyone in the Complex had a nickname, for example, Billy was called "Billy the Kidney" to emphasis his kidney problems and the doctor was called "the Handyman" because he was powerful in the Complex!
I will use the word, "beautiful", to describe this story. It is very meaningful and the dialogue, situations and the characters are quite believable and realistic. Although it is a tragic story, it has a beautiful ending and it also includes some interesting and touching scenes. I think the writer is really successful as he can manage and arrange the plots well. One scene came after the other naturally without any contradiction. The organization of the story is perfect.
"The Bumblebee Flies Anyway" brings the message that everyone can choose to live an enliven life. If you think it is valuable and meaningful to do, then just try to be brave and put effort to achieve your goal, even at the cost of less important matters. This has been proved by the Bumblebee!
In the story, Mazzo entered the Complex so as to end his life earlier as he knew he had to be hooked up to the life-support machine permanently till he die. He always seemed to be very upset and negative. Through the course of the story, Mazzo turned positive gradually because of Barney's care and support. I think Barney was really a good friend that he found out some ideas to satisfy Mazzo's last wish. He had fulfilled his promises by trying hard to reconstruct the "Bumblebee" secretly inside the Complex. Although what he had done might be due to his love for Cassie, he had dramatically changed Mazzo's final destiny. His involvement with the bitter, slowly dying, Mazzo brought himself hope and a moment of heroic glory
However, I am a bit disappointed that Barney could not tell Cassie about his feeling even at the end. On the other hand, Mazzo could not forgive his mother before his death though his mother had done a lot of things to compensate. This also made me understand that, as life is limited, we should treasure our lifetime to care for our family and the people around us, who has accompanied us and shared the happiness and sadness with us everyday.
This book gives me a chance to look into the harmonic life of terminally ill patients in the hospital. I have never imagined that the scene would be like that. Patients with different illness were free to roam the grounds and talked with each other, then became friends! The most surprising thing is that they were all volunteers for the experimental hospital treatment.
Besides, some plots of the story are really attractive. For instance, the pathos of Barney's love for Cassie and his struggles with the hallucinations induced by the treatments that were designed to block his knowledge and help him forget his true condition.
I appreciate the writer much as he can always describe the characters' feelings as well as their thoughts and facial expression clearly.
I think I will recommend this book to my friends as it is really a special story that could take the readers on a masterful and unforgettable flight they have never had before!

(by Leong Chui Ling)