Flying like a bee – Roland Schimmelpfennig

Review: Flying like a bee – Roland Schimmelpfennig

In Fly like a bee turns the main character into a bee. Suddenly he can fly and he uses it as an escape from reality. The main character’s home situation is not nice, and he has difficulty with that. From one day to the next he turns back into a human and divides his life into levels. For example, completing a school day, this takes him one level further, or putting on his pants, this gives him some experience to move further in a level.

Or actually, not the main character of the book, but you. Fly like a bee is written entirely in your perspective, a perspective that is not often found in books. It takes some time to get used to the writing style, but you can empathize with the story much better, which makes it much easier to understand. That is the intention, because Schimmelpfennig wants to convey a message with this book. The main character tries to escape reality by turning his life into a ‘game’, and nothing is as it seems. He is threatened on all sides.

The plot of Fly like a bee is very well thought out and well executed. The writing style is special because of the you-perspective, which gives it something of a literary quality, the story is a bit on the vague side, and a lot of details have to be filled in yourself. It feels a bit like Schimmelpfennig wanted to say too much in the 80 pages that he had time for.

After reading, the broad outline of the story and the main goal were clear, but as a reader you are left with a lot of questions. This book is also a children’s book, but due to the writing style and the intense topics it may not be entirely suitable for that target group. All in all, a special book by Schimmelpfennig, but not recommended for children. Nice as a varied snack, because the book is certainly special.