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Little Bee
We don't want to tell you what happens in this book. It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it.
Nevertheless, you need to know enough to buy it so we will just say this:
This is the story of two women.
Their lives collide one fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice.
Two years later, they meet again - the story starts there...
Once you have read it, you'll want to tell your friends about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds.
Nevertheless, you need to know enough to buy it so we will just say this:
This is the story of two women.
Their lives collide one fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice.
Two years later, they meet again - the story starts there...
Once you have read it, you'll want to tell your friends about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds.
271 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
About the author
Chris Cleave
19 books3,199 followersChris Cleave was born in London and spent his early years in Cameroon. He studied experimental psychology at Balliol College, Oxford. His debut novel, INCENDIARY, won a 2006 Somerset Maugham Award, was shortlisted for the 2006 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and is now a feature film. His second novel, LITTLE BEE, is a New York Times #1 bestseller with over 2 million copies in print. GOLD is his third novel. He lives in London with his wife and three children. Chris Cleave enjoys dialogue with his readers and invites all comers to introduce themselves on Twitter; he can be found at twitter.com/chriscleave or on his website at http://www.chriscleave.com
Q & A
What was your favourite childhood book?
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by CS Lewis
Which book has made you laugh?
Great Lies to Tell Small Kids by Andy Riley
Which book has made you cry?
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
What are your top five books of all time, in order or otherwise?
Mrs. Dalloway (Woolf)
Germinal (Zola)
Voyage au Bout de la Nuit (Céline)
The Road (McCarthy)
100 Years of Solitude (Garcia Márquez)
What is your favourite word?
"Nooba". It's a word peculiar to my family, although I can't remember where it came from or which of my kids coined it. To "do the nooba" is to muck around when you're supposed to be going to sleep. As in, "Stop doing the nooba, boo-boo, it's way past your bedtime." I like it because you can only say it with a smile.
Which fictional character would you most like to have met?
Sally Seton, Clarissa Dalloway's childhood companion, when we were all young.
Is there a particular book or author that inspired you to be a writer?
Definitely. In my teens it was Milan Kundera who made me realise how exciting it would be to write, and Primo Levi who made me realise how important it was, and Tibor Fischer who made me suspect the whole thing would be fun.
Q & A
What was your favourite childhood book?
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by CS Lewis
Which book has made you laugh?
Great Lies to Tell Small Kids by Andy Riley
Which book has made you cry?
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
What are your top five books of all time, in order or otherwise?
Mrs. Dalloway (Woolf)
Germinal (Zola)
Voyage au Bout de la Nuit (Céline)
The Road (McCarthy)
100 Years of Solitude (Garcia Márquez)
What is your favourite word?
"Nooba". It's a word peculiar to my family, although I can't remember where it came from or which of my kids coined it. To "do the nooba" is to muck around when you're supposed to be going to sleep. As in, "Stop doing the nooba, boo-boo, it's way past your bedtime." I like it because you can only say it with a smile.
Which fictional character would you most like to have met?
Sally Seton, Clarissa Dalloway's childhood companion, when we were all young.
Is there a particular book or author that inspired you to be a writer?
Definitely. In my teens it was Milan Kundera who made me realise how exciting it would be to write, and Primo Levi who made me realise how important it was, and Tibor Fischer who made me suspect the whole thing would be fun.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 22,635 reviews
February 9, 2019
I wanted to like Little Bee. The reviews for it are exceptional. Book List starred it, Amazon named it among their “February Best of the Month” picks, O Magazine fondly mentions it. I mean come on, Library Journal labels it “the next Kite Runner” for goodness sakes! I couldn’t wait to be swept away. And I was… for the first couple of chapters. Little Bee’s character came on very strong and distinct. I felt like I could pick her out of a crowd and guess what she was thinking. But I gradually started rolling my eyes and questioning plot details and characterization.
For example, Sarah’s mom and sister are briefly mentioned; they come to her house after the funeral, but she begs them to leave her alone. There’s no mention of their reaction to the fact that there is suddenly a Nigerian girl living at her house. ???
Also, according to the timeline description it seems that Charlie begins wearing the Batman costume before his father passes. It would make more sense if he began wearing it after the passing based on his reasons for wearing it. ???
And seriously, the cops caught Little Bee because she was at the scene of Charlie’s near disappearance? Seriously?
Sarah’s relationship with Lawrence is odd, Charlie draws conclusions unbelieving for a four year old, and the ending is rushed and unmoving. There’s just this hokey feel to it that I couldn’t get past.
This is the first time ever for me that I could tell that the author was not the same sex as his main characters, more so when it came to Sarah rather than Little Bee. The way Sarah thinks, the things she says, her observations, and even her interactions with her son just don’t make sense. It is clear that Cleave failed to unearth his female voice.
Speaking of voice, Little Bee’s chapters were much more convincing and enjoyable than Sarah’s. The entire book written from Little Bee’s point of view would have probably been a much better read.
I’m not giving this book only 1 star because it was too sad, or too graphic, or too haunting. It just fell flat. It wasn’t convincing. All the ends didn’t meet nor were all the i’s dotted, t’s crossed. It just didn’t do it for me, and it is most certainly NOT the next Kite Runner. Good grief, it doesn’t even compare.
For example, Sarah’s mom and sister are briefly mentioned; they come to her house after the funeral, but she begs them to leave her alone. There’s no mention of their reaction to the fact that there is suddenly a Nigerian girl living at her house. ???
Also, according to the timeline description it seems that Charlie begins wearing the Batman costume before his father passes. It would make more sense if he began wearing it after the passing based on his reasons for wearing it. ???
And seriously, the cops caught Little Bee because she was at the scene of Charlie’s near disappearance? Seriously?
Sarah’s relationship with Lawrence is odd, Charlie draws conclusions unbelieving for a four year old, and the ending is rushed and unmoving. There’s just this hokey feel to it that I couldn’t get past.
This is the first time ever for me that I could tell that the author was not the same sex as his main characters, more so when it came to Sarah rather than Little Bee. The way Sarah thinks, the things she says, her observations, and even her interactions with her son just don’t make sense. It is clear that Cleave failed to unearth his female voice.
Speaking of voice, Little Bee’s chapters were much more convincing and enjoyable than Sarah’s. The entire book written from Little Bee’s point of view would have probably been a much better read.
I’m not giving this book only 1 star because it was too sad, or too graphic, or too haunting. It just fell flat. It wasn’t convincing. All the ends didn’t meet nor were all the i’s dotted, t’s crossed. It just didn’t do it for me, and it is most certainly NOT the next Kite Runner. Good grief, it doesn’t even compare.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 30, 2008
I would have ranked this higher, were it not for the ridiculous hype on the jacket and the annoying Editor's letter at the front; all of which tell me that is book will change my life, that it's a masterpiece. This book stands on its own without needing it.
I also pretty fundamentally disagreed with the assertion that "it's hilarious - although the scene on the African beach is horrific".
This is not a 'hilarious' book - it is one of the most challenging reads I have had this year. It tells the desperately tragic story of three people - two English and one Nigerian whose lives coincide in the most terrible way.
Asylum and immigration in the UK are controversial topics in which media hysteria continually advocates that most asylum seekers are bogus. This book, which has been obviously extremely well researched, lays bare that lie; in a tight, devastating and tragic tale.
Yes, this is a book that carries a very strong message and yes, this is a book that deserves to be read. Just try not to get too angry about the hype surrounding it - the subject deserves better.
I also pretty fundamentally disagreed with the assertion that "it's hilarious - although the scene on the African beach is horrific".
This is not a 'hilarious' book - it is one of the most challenging reads I have had this year. It tells the desperately tragic story of three people - two English and one Nigerian whose lives coincide in the most terrible way.
Asylum and immigration in the UK are controversial topics in which media hysteria continually advocates that most asylum seekers are bogus. This book, which has been obviously extremely well researched, lays bare that lie; in a tight, devastating and tragic tale.
Yes, this is a book that carries a very strong message and yes, this is a book that deserves to be read. Just try not to get too angry about the hype surrounding it - the subject deserves better.
February 6, 2011
Chris Cleave's ability to float effortlessly between two distinct ethnic voices (Little Bee, a refugee from Nigeria, and Sarah, a young widow in England) as their stories spin out and around and through one another was nearly mystical.
Years before this book opens, the lives of Sarah and Little Bee violently collided on a beach in Nigeria, and when sheer determination and courage bring them back together again every secret of their hearts is unfolded before our eyes.
I found myself reading and rereading passages, just to fully appreciate the gravity of emotion packed in them. Little Bee's voice, particularly, is by turns wryly funny and wrenching. Nothing escapes her notice, a skill honed by the brutality she witnessed in her native country.
I put this book down after finishing it this morning with the distinct feeling that it will haunt me for a very, very long time.
Brilliant.
"...I ask you right here please to agree with me that a scar is never ugly. That is what the scar makers want us to think. But you and I, we must make an agreement to defy them. We must see all scars as beauty. Okay? This will be our secret. Because take it from me, a scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, I survived.... Sad words are just another beauty. A sad story means, this storyteller is alive."
Years before this book opens, the lives of Sarah and Little Bee violently collided on a beach in Nigeria, and when sheer determination and courage bring them back together again every secret of their hearts is unfolded before our eyes.
I found myself reading and rereading passages, just to fully appreciate the gravity of emotion packed in them. Little Bee's voice, particularly, is by turns wryly funny and wrenching. Nothing escapes her notice, a skill honed by the brutality she witnessed in her native country.
I put this book down after finishing it this morning with the distinct feeling that it will haunt me for a very, very long time.
Brilliant.
"...I ask you right here please to agree with me that a scar is never ugly. That is what the scar makers want us to think. But you and I, we must make an agreement to defy them. We must see all scars as beauty. Okay? This will be our secret. Because take it from me, a scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, I survived.... Sad words are just another beauty. A sad story means, this storyteller is alive."
December 9, 2023
Although almost fantasy like at times with the plot directions and some of the supporting cast, Cleave paints a bleak (true?) view of the British immigration system and an even better critique of how we in the West could be at the root of some of the violence in the Developing World through secondary and tertiary actions resulting from the demands of our global corporations. The hub of the book, and what makes it special, is that alternate chapters are taken from the points of view of Little Bee and Sarah, using their human (female) experience to really tell this story.
Is this book essentially about how the West itself creates the migration of refugees from the developing world.. or is it about the commonalities and friendship between an illegal Nigerian refugee and an English couple after suffering a linked traumatic episode! This feels like a book written by a middle aged man, in the voices of two women, where he had to truly empathise and learn to see the world through their eyes to make this book as good as it is. On this reread I had to increase my rating by a point to 9 out of 12, Four Star Read.
2021 and 2009 review
March 29, 2010
**SPOILERS**
In a way I feel sorry for Chris Cleave ... I wonder how he felt after seeing what the publishing and marketing machine crafted as the back cover promo copy for his book. Really. Not that I would have liked the book more had they not been so brash and marketing machine-y, but I may have given it more of a fair chance.
“We don’t want to tell you WHAT HAPPENS in this book. It is a truly SPECIAL STORY and we don’t want to spoil it. NEVERTHELESS, you need to know enough to buy it, so we will just say this. This is the story of two women. Their lives collide one fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice, the kind of choice we hope you never have t face. Two years later, they meet again—the story starts there… Once you’ve read it, you will want to tell your friends what happens. The magic is in how the story unfolds.”
I cry foul. The story unfolds as other stories unfold. Nothing is surprising, nothing happens that you could not see coming chapters earlier. There is nothing new in this book ... not in terms of writing, not in terms of plot, not in terms of structure. I understand the publishing behemoth and the machinations it goes through to build a buzz. It’s just so full of itself sometimes that I want to scream into a pillow. And this was one of those times I wanted to scream into a pillow.
LITTLE BEE is remarkably average. It is a book ripe for Oprah book club picking … if there’s a heart sting to pull, the author makes a go of it. But instead of tugging at my heartstrings, the book makes a relentless grab, the threads unraveling until any feeling I was holding for the characters was gone and I was left feeling threadbare. I know horrible things happen in Nigeria and countless other countries. I just didn’t like the parade of clichés rolled out by LITTLE BEE in an effort to drive home the point.
No character was a surprise. Sarah is the young, strong, career-minded, wealthy, white, British woman who runs her own fashion magazine … struggling (ever-so-not-convincingly) with losing her former self as a "real" journalist . . . having a long-term affair with a man that began w/in 30 minutes of her meeting him . . . having a husband that kills himself after that "terrible choice" on that "fateful day" on the beach in Nigeria, where they were trying to "save their marriage" . . . having a son who ever-so-quirkily will only dress in Batman costume and insists on being called Batman (and who, at four or five, can’t seem to speak beyond the level of a 2-1/2 year old). I couldn’t stand her. Sarah comes to learn some very important life lessons from Little Bee, a Nigerian refugee and orphan. Little Bee escapes the horrors of Nigeria and a detention center and finds her way to the middle of an idyllic white setting, where Cleave puts her on a mission to absolve guilt and change lives.
Cleave tells the story in the voices of Little Bee and Sarah, in alternating chapters. For the first few of Little Bee’s chapters I enjoyed his writing and found his characterization strong. I never liked Sarah’s chapters; I never believed in her as a person. She was a woman full of stereotype written by a man who perhaps should have written from a man’s perspective. Women writing as men, men writing as women . . . it rarely works out very well. But Little Bee’s character is much more gender neutral, and I think that’s why it works better for Cleave. When Little Bee would talk of finding a way to kill herself in any situation, in case the men came, I believed it. When Little Bee talked of telling the story to the girls back at home, I imagined how hard it really would be to relate the events to someone in that distant land.
Overall, I found the book contrived and patronizing. As someone said in another review: "Little Bee's story is brutal and important, and yet it is filled with eye-rolling cutesiness and an unnecessary amount of predictable padding. Too sweet for this reader." I'd have to agree. Rumor has it the book's being made into a movie, which isn't surprising.
All that said, I know I will still recommend it to a number of my customers, because I know they will love it. And I guess that's the art of the handsell . . . recommending what fits a customer, not what you wish would fit him/her.
In a way I feel sorry for Chris Cleave ... I wonder how he felt after seeing what the publishing and marketing machine crafted as the back cover promo copy for his book. Really. Not that I would have liked the book more had they not been so brash and marketing machine-y, but I may have given it more of a fair chance.
“We don’t want to tell you WHAT HAPPENS in this book. It is a truly SPECIAL STORY and we don’t want to spoil it. NEVERTHELESS, you need to know enough to buy it, so we will just say this. This is the story of two women. Their lives collide one fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice, the kind of choice we hope you never have t face. Two years later, they meet again—the story starts there… Once you’ve read it, you will want to tell your friends what happens. The magic is in how the story unfolds.”
I cry foul. The story unfolds as other stories unfold. Nothing is surprising, nothing happens that you could not see coming chapters earlier. There is nothing new in this book ... not in terms of writing, not in terms of plot, not in terms of structure. I understand the publishing behemoth and the machinations it goes through to build a buzz. It’s just so full of itself sometimes that I want to scream into a pillow. And this was one of those times I wanted to scream into a pillow.
LITTLE BEE is remarkably average. It is a book ripe for Oprah book club picking … if there’s a heart sting to pull, the author makes a go of it. But instead of tugging at my heartstrings, the book makes a relentless grab, the threads unraveling until any feeling I was holding for the characters was gone and I was left feeling threadbare. I know horrible things happen in Nigeria and countless other countries. I just didn’t like the parade of clichés rolled out by LITTLE BEE in an effort to drive home the point.
No character was a surprise. Sarah is the young, strong, career-minded, wealthy, white, British woman who runs her own fashion magazine … struggling (ever-so-not-convincingly) with losing her former self as a "real" journalist . . . having a long-term affair with a man that began w/in 30 minutes of her meeting him . . . having a husband that kills himself after that "terrible choice" on that "fateful day" on the beach in Nigeria, where they were trying to "save their marriage" . . . having a son who ever-so-quirkily will only dress in Batman costume and insists on being called Batman (and who, at four or five, can’t seem to speak beyond the level of a 2-1/2 year old). I couldn’t stand her. Sarah comes to learn some very important life lessons from Little Bee, a Nigerian refugee and orphan. Little Bee escapes the horrors of Nigeria and a detention center and finds her way to the middle of an idyllic white setting, where Cleave puts her on a mission to absolve guilt and change lives.
Cleave tells the story in the voices of Little Bee and Sarah, in alternating chapters. For the first few of Little Bee’s chapters I enjoyed his writing and found his characterization strong. I never liked Sarah’s chapters; I never believed in her as a person. She was a woman full of stereotype written by a man who perhaps should have written from a man’s perspective. Women writing as men, men writing as women . . . it rarely works out very well. But Little Bee’s character is much more gender neutral, and I think that’s why it works better for Cleave. When Little Bee would talk of finding a way to kill herself in any situation, in case the men came, I believed it. When Little Bee talked of telling the story to the girls back at home, I imagined how hard it really would be to relate the events to someone in that distant land.
Overall, I found the book contrived and patronizing. As someone said in another review: "Little Bee's story is brutal and important, and yet it is filled with eye-rolling cutesiness and an unnecessary amount of predictable padding. Too sweet for this reader." I'd have to agree. Rumor has it the book's being made into a movie, which isn't surprising.
All that said, I know I will still recommend it to a number of my customers, because I know they will love it. And I guess that's the art of the handsell . . . recommending what fits a customer, not what you wish would fit him/her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 10, 2020
“A scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, ‘I survived’”
I have a problem with the compulsive acquisition of e-books and it is a bit out of control. I currently own 215 un-read books on my Kindle and I plan to do something about it. For now, I chose 10 of the earliest bought books and give them 20%. If I like them fine, if not I will not read further. No 2nd chances or let’s try a few more pages. Little Bee is the first book I chose and I am so happy I finally got to it after more than 4 years. LE: I also have around 100 un-read real books so do not think I have that problem solved.
I loved the experience of reading this novel although it was not always an easy feat, despite the ardent need to turn just one more page. It reads as a thriller in a way, that is one of the reasons the blurb tells the reader not to give away too much of the plot. And I won’t.
The novel is written from the point of view of two characters, a young Nigerien girl just released from a refugee detention center and an English woman, married and mother of a young boy Charlie. Their accidental encounter on a beach in Nigeria sets in motion tragic events. The clever use of gaps in narratives made me turn the page to find out more and the interest was also kept alive by the alternation between the two voices, very different from one another perfectly complimentary.
I read some critical reviews about the narrative voice of the young girl, Little Bee. They say that nobody talks like that and I agree. However, not many people talk like in most books, especially literary fiction. Let’s take another example, the much praised Ducks, Newburyport. The books consist of the interior monologue of a housewife in Ohio. I can bet on anything that there isn’t one person in the world that thinks like that. I was listening to Marlon James’ podcasts and at one point he says that Trashy Novels are the only books where dialogues actually are written as the people talk and I tend to agree with him.
Some quotes:
“Death, of course, is a refuge. It’s where you go when a new name, or a mask and cape, can no longer hide you from yourself. It’s where you run to when none of the principalities of your conscience will grant you asylum.”
“Horror in your country is something you take a dose of to remind yourself that you are not suffering from it.”
I have a problem with the compulsive acquisition of e-books and it is a bit out of control. I currently own 215 un-read books on my Kindle and I plan to do something about it. For now, I chose 10 of the earliest bought books and give them 20%. If I like them fine, if not I will not read further. No 2nd chances or let’s try a few more pages. Little Bee is the first book I chose and I am so happy I finally got to it after more than 4 years. LE: I also have around 100 un-read real books so do not think I have that problem solved.
I loved the experience of reading this novel although it was not always an easy feat, despite the ardent need to turn just one more page. It reads as a thriller in a way, that is one of the reasons the blurb tells the reader not to give away too much of the plot. And I won’t.
The novel is written from the point of view of two characters, a young Nigerien girl just released from a refugee detention center and an English woman, married and mother of a young boy Charlie. Their accidental encounter on a beach in Nigeria sets in motion tragic events. The clever use of gaps in narratives made me turn the page to find out more and the interest was also kept alive by the alternation between the two voices, very different from one another perfectly complimentary.
I read some critical reviews about the narrative voice of the young girl, Little Bee. They say that nobody talks like that and I agree. However, not many people talk like in most books, especially literary fiction. Let’s take another example, the much praised Ducks, Newburyport. The books consist of the interior monologue of a housewife in Ohio. I can bet on anything that there isn’t one person in the world that thinks like that. I was listening to Marlon James’ podcasts and at one point he says that Trashy Novels are the only books where dialogues actually are written as the people talk and I tend to agree with him.
Some quotes:
“Death, of course, is a refuge. It’s where you go when a new name, or a mask and cape, can no longer hide you from yourself. It’s where you run to when none of the principalities of your conscience will grant you asylum.”
“Horror in your country is something you take a dose of to remind yourself that you are not suffering from it.”
December 12, 2020
This is a book you should buy and not borrow from the library. Just to reward the author for such an amazing and exhilarating experience. Its as much like watching a film as it reading a book because the writing is so extraordinarily good (and clever). And this review is so dry because the author wants nothing of his book revealed. "The magic is in the way the story unfolds," he's said, and yes, it is.
And I am sooo going to enjoy hand-selling people this book in my shop. I will have so many happy customers.
And I am sooo going to enjoy hand-selling people this book in my shop. I will have so many happy customers.
June 10, 2010
I generally pass on books written by a man in the voice of a woman. And a white man writing in a black woman's voice? No, thanks. But this book gives nothing away up front, and I was hooked before I could worry much about the writer's intentions.
The chapters alternate between Little Bee, a Nigerian refugee, and Sarah, an English suburban mom. They are drawn together under extraordinary circumstances, and I found myself regularly surprised by the turn of events. I didn't know how things were going to end until I was at the last page.
It'll be a movie---no doubt about that. It played like a movie in my head. I loved it, though.
The chapters alternate between Little Bee, a Nigerian refugee, and Sarah, an English suburban mom. They are drawn together under extraordinary circumstances, and I found myself regularly surprised by the turn of events. I didn't know how things were going to end until I was at the last page.
It'll be a movie---no doubt about that. It played like a movie in my head. I loved it, though.
December 16, 2015
I had hoped this would be a really incredible gut-wrencher, heartbreaker of a book, but I feel like it didn't really live up to the potential it had. Like it was a little scattered and unfocused, so instead of showing us exactly what we should see, we are instead shown the things that lie around the thing that we should see, and we have to put the picture of the thing together on our own.
If this book had just been about the relationship of two women who share a horrible event in their history, then this could have been a great book for me. But the 'issues' that were folded into this story left me feeling a little unsatisfied. One needs to be ballsy when dealing with these kinds of issues, if one is going to include them in their book. One needs to be willing to make it REAL, to make the reader ache for the characters that go through the things you show them. I've read a lot of gut-wrenching books. I was hoping that this would be one that would make me sit up and take notice... but it didn't.
I didn't really feel like I could identify with any of the characters. Little Bee was a bit of an anomaly, being where she's been and where she is now. I found it hard to really understand her, even though it's apparent that she's meant to bridge the gap between her world and ours and allow us to empathize for those enduring such cruelty. But I didn't GET her, even though I mostly liked her and had my fingers crossed that she'd be OK. Sarah wasn't much better for me, either. I could understand her better, but I didn't like her. I thought that she was incredibly selfish and uncaring in her "Suburban Early-30s Professional" life. The way she derailed Little Bee's story with her own petty concerns and tedious details (those about her career and Lawrence) annoyed me. I understand the point to the story, I do, I just didn't care because I didn't much like her. She did grow up and mature over the course of the book, but the damage was done.
All of this is not to say that this book isn't good. It is, but it's JUST good. It works out that way sometimes. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book - the writing is gorgeous, and there are so many lines that are quotable gems strewn throughout... but great novels are more than just pretty words. I had hoped to really experience this one, to be thrown into the lives of these women and see something amazing through their eyes. I didn't get that, but for the potential and the beautiful writing, this gets a two. If it had been gutsy, and been focused, it could have easily been a five star book. Too bad.
If this book had just been about the relationship of two women who share a horrible event in their history, then this could have been a great book for me. But the 'issues' that were folded into this story left me feeling a little unsatisfied. One needs to be ballsy when dealing with these kinds of issues, if one is going to include them in their book. One needs to be willing to make it REAL, to make the reader ache for the characters that go through the things you show them. I've read a lot of gut-wrenching books. I was hoping that this would be one that would make me sit up and take notice... but it didn't.
I didn't really feel like I could identify with any of the characters. Little Bee was a bit of an anomaly, being where she's been and where she is now. I found it hard to really understand her, even though it's apparent that she's meant to bridge the gap between her world and ours and allow us to empathize for those enduring such cruelty. But I didn't GET her, even though I mostly liked her and had my fingers crossed that she'd be OK. Sarah wasn't much better for me, either. I could understand her better, but I didn't like her. I thought that she was incredibly selfish and uncaring in her "Suburban Early-30s Professional" life. The way she derailed Little Bee's story with her own petty concerns and tedious details (those about her career and Lawrence) annoyed me. I understand the point to the story, I do, I just didn't care because I didn't much like her. She did grow up and mature over the course of the book, but the damage was done.
All of this is not to say that this book isn't good. It is, but it's JUST good. It works out that way sometimes. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book - the writing is gorgeous, and there are so many lines that are quotable gems strewn throughout... but great novels are more than just pretty words. I had hoped to really experience this one, to be thrown into the lives of these women and see something amazing through their eyes. I didn't get that, but for the potential and the beautiful writing, this gets a two. If it had been gutsy, and been focused, it could have easily been a five star book. Too bad.
August 12, 2020
Little Bee, Chris Cleave
The Other Hand, also known as Little Bee, is a 2008 novel by British author Chris Cleave. It is a dual narrative story about a Nigerian asylum-seeker and a British magazine editor, who meet during the oil conflict in the Niger Delta, and are re-united in England several years later.
Cleave, inspired as a university student by his temporary employment in an asylum detention center, wrote the book in an attempt to humanize the plight of asylum-seekers in Britain. The novel examines the treatment of refugees by the asylum system, as well as issues of British colonialism, globalization, political violence and personal accountability. ...
Using alternating first-person perspectives, the novel tells the stories of Little Bee, a Nigerian refugee, and Sarah O'Rourke (née Summers), a magazine editor from Surrey.
After spending two years detained in a British immigration detention centre, Little Bee is illegally released after a fellow refugee performs sexual favours for a detention officer.
She travels to the home of Sarah and her husband Andrew, whom she met two years previously on a beach in the Niger Delta. Sarah is initially unaware of Little Bee's presence, until Andrew, haunted by guilt of their shared past, commits suicide. Little Bee reveals herself to Sarah on the day of Andrew's funeral, and helps her to care for her four-year-old son Charlie. Through a mutual reflection on their past, it is revealed that Sarah and Andrew were on holiday at the time of their meeting with Little Bee.
The trip was an attempt to salvage their marriage after Andrew discovered Sarah had been unfaithful to him, embarking on an affair with Home Office employee Lawrence Osborn. While walking on the beach one morning, they were approached by a then 14-year-old Little Bee, and her older sister Nkiruka.
The girls were being pursued by soldiers who had burned down their village and intended for there to be no witnesses left alive. The soldiers arrived and murdered a guard from the O'Rourkes' hotel, but offered to spare the lives of the girls if Andrew would amputate his own middle finger with a machete. Afraid, and believing the soldiers would murder the girls anyway, Andrew refused, but Sarah complied in his place. The soldiers took both girls away, leaving the couple in doubt as to whether the soldiers would leave one girl alive in response, as they promised. ...
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز بیستم ماه سپتامبر سال 2019 میلادی
عنوان: یودو، دختری از نیجریه؛ نویسنده کریس کلیو؛ مترجم الهه شمسنژاد؛ تهران انتشارات مروارید، 1397؛ در 326ص؛ شابک 989641916024؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان بریتانیایی - سده 21م
داستان زندگی دو زن است که در یک روز سرنوشتساز زندگیشان به هم گره میخورد.؛ یکی از آنها مجبور به گزینشی دشوار میشود، گزینشی که ای کاش کسی مجبور به آن نباشد.؛ دو سال بعد، دوباره یکدیگر را دیدار میکنند، و داستان از همانجا آغاز میشود.؛ رویدادهای این رمان در «انگلستان» و «نیجریه» میگذرد، و با وجود اینکه رویدادهای داستان واقعی هستند، اما آنها توسط شخصیتهایی خیالی روایت شده اند.؛ با این وجود این رمان از سوی منتقدان به عنوان اثری که برای بسیاری از پناهجویان داستانی آشنا دارد، معرفی شده است
نقل نمونه متن: «من زنی متولد شده زیر چراغ مهتابی توی اتاق زیرزمین بازداشتگاه پناهندگان، در چهل کیلومتری شرق لندن هستم.؛ اونجا هیچ فصلی احساس نمیشد.؛ همیشه سرد سرد بود، و کسی رو نداشتم تا بهش لبخند بزنم.؛ یه دختر افریقایی، کودک فقیری که در مرکز بازداشتگاه مهاجران و پناهندگان زندانی بود، و هرگز قصد فرار نکرد.؛ تنها کاری که کرده، زانوهاشو توی شکمش جمع کرده، و تا چونه اش بالا آورده، و در خودش حلقه زده؛ و این زنی که از بازداشتگاه آزاد کردن، این موجودی که امروز هستم، یه گونه ی جدید از انسانه.»؛ پایان نقل
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 21/05/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
The Other Hand, also known as Little Bee, is a 2008 novel by British author Chris Cleave. It is a dual narrative story about a Nigerian asylum-seeker and a British magazine editor, who meet during the oil conflict in the Niger Delta, and are re-united in England several years later.
Cleave, inspired as a university student by his temporary employment in an asylum detention center, wrote the book in an attempt to humanize the plight of asylum-seekers in Britain. The novel examines the treatment of refugees by the asylum system, as well as issues of British colonialism, globalization, political violence and personal accountability. ...
Using alternating first-person perspectives, the novel tells the stories of Little Bee, a Nigerian refugee, and Sarah O'Rourke (née Summers), a magazine editor from Surrey.
After spending two years detained in a British immigration detention centre, Little Bee is illegally released after a fellow refugee performs sexual favours for a detention officer.
She travels to the home of Sarah and her husband Andrew, whom she met two years previously on a beach in the Niger Delta. Sarah is initially unaware of Little Bee's presence, until Andrew, haunted by guilt of their shared past, commits suicide. Little Bee reveals herself to Sarah on the day of Andrew's funeral, and helps her to care for her four-year-old son Charlie. Through a mutual reflection on their past, it is revealed that Sarah and Andrew were on holiday at the time of their meeting with Little Bee.
The trip was an attempt to salvage their marriage after Andrew discovered Sarah had been unfaithful to him, embarking on an affair with Home Office employee Lawrence Osborn. While walking on the beach one morning, they were approached by a then 14-year-old Little Bee, and her older sister Nkiruka.
The girls were being pursued by soldiers who had burned down their village and intended for there to be no witnesses left alive. The soldiers arrived and murdered a guard from the O'Rourkes' hotel, but offered to spare the lives of the girls if Andrew would amputate his own middle finger with a machete. Afraid, and believing the soldiers would murder the girls anyway, Andrew refused, but Sarah complied in his place. The soldiers took both girls away, leaving the couple in doubt as to whether the soldiers would leave one girl alive in response, as they promised. ...
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز بیستم ماه سپتامبر سال 2019 میلادی
عنوان: یودو، دختری از نیجریه؛ نویسنده کریس کلیو؛ مترجم الهه شمسنژاد؛ تهران انتشارات مروارید، 1397؛ در 326ص؛ شابک 989641916024؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان بریتانیایی - سده 21م
داستان زندگی دو زن است که در یک روز سرنوشتساز زندگیشان به هم گره میخورد.؛ یکی از آنها مجبور به گزینشی دشوار میشود، گزینشی که ای کاش کسی مجبور به آن نباشد.؛ دو سال بعد، دوباره یکدیگر را دیدار میکنند، و داستان از همانجا آغاز میشود.؛ رویدادهای این رمان در «انگلستان» و «نیجریه» میگذرد، و با وجود اینکه رویدادهای داستان واقعی هستند، اما آنها توسط شخصیتهایی خیالی روایت شده اند.؛ با این وجود این رمان از سوی منتقدان به عنوان اثری که برای بسیاری از پناهجویان داستانی آشنا دارد، معرفی شده است
نقل نمونه متن: «من زنی متولد شده زیر چراغ مهتابی توی اتاق زیرزمین بازداشتگاه پناهندگان، در چهل کیلومتری شرق لندن هستم.؛ اونجا هیچ فصلی احساس نمیشد.؛ همیشه سرد سرد بود، و کسی رو نداشتم تا بهش لبخند بزنم.؛ یه دختر افریقایی، کودک فقیری که در مرکز بازداشتگاه مهاجران و پناهندگان زندانی بود، و هرگز قصد فرار نکرد.؛ تنها کاری که کرده، زانوهاشو توی شکمش جمع کرده، و تا چونه اش بالا آورده، و در خودش حلقه زده؛ و این زنی که از بازداشتگاه آزاد کردن، این موجودی که امروز هستم، یه گونه ی جدید از انسانه.»؛ پایان نقل
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 21/05/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
June 21, 2020
i can't say anything about the plot of this book because the dust jacket pleads with me not to and i am nothing if not obedient. (but you can read plot points in all the other reviews by rebels) i will say i loved it enough to order in and set aside his earlier book, which had never called out to me before. and this is my favorite cover ... ever.
come to my blog!
come to my blog!
June 23, 2010
Have you ever met someone you idolized? (An artist or singer, maybe. Someone super talented or brilliant or famous.) But then when you met them in person you found out they were lame? What a rip-off!
That’s sort of how I feel about this book.
It's the story of two women and how their lives converge. Little Bee is a 16-year-old Nigerian refugee who has seen her entire village and family brutally murdered. Sarah is a 30-something suburbanite juggling career and family. The two women met once on a beach in Africa and something happened which changed both their lives, linking them forever. The story starts 2 years after the incident and is told from each woman's perspective, semi-alternately. In the beginning it’s mostly Little Bee. I was completely taken in. Her spirit is beautiful, stunning, overwhelming, almost too bright and painful to look at. Her story is told in richly detailed moments that take pages to get through. I got completely caught up in the world she’d created. I was there. I could see what she saw. And then, bit by bit, this gorgeous, lazy prose is interrupted by Sarah’s story. She’s confused. She’s apathetic. She makes idiotic decisions. She’s having the most lack-luster, extramarital affair ever. She kills the story incrementally. Her story is also told in detailed moments but I couldn’t wait for it to stop. There are glimpses of Little Bee in this middle section but it’s as if Sarah’s story has stripped her of all sparkle. Ugh!!
And then, miraculously, Little Bee is returned to us at the end of the book! She is delivered with her beauty unscathed and her voice is lovely as ever. By the time I was finished I had almost forgotten how Sarah ruined everything.
That’s sort of how I feel about this book.
It's the story of two women and how their lives converge. Little Bee is a 16-year-old Nigerian refugee who has seen her entire village and family brutally murdered. Sarah is a 30-something suburbanite juggling career and family. The two women met once on a beach in Africa and something happened which changed both their lives, linking them forever. The story starts 2 years after the incident and is told from each woman's perspective, semi-alternately. In the beginning it’s mostly Little Bee. I was completely taken in. Her spirit is beautiful, stunning, overwhelming, almost too bright and painful to look at. Her story is told in richly detailed moments that take pages to get through. I got completely caught up in the world she’d created. I was there. I could see what she saw. And then, bit by bit, this gorgeous, lazy prose is interrupted by Sarah’s story. She’s confused. She’s apathetic. She makes idiotic decisions. She’s having the most lack-luster, extramarital affair ever. She kills the story incrementally. Her story is also told in detailed moments but I couldn’t wait for it to stop. There are glimpses of Little Bee in this middle section but it’s as if Sarah’s story has stripped her of all sparkle. Ugh!!
And then, miraculously, Little Bee is returned to us at the end of the book! She is delivered with her beauty unscathed and her voice is lovely as ever. By the time I was finished I had almost forgotten how Sarah ruined everything.
February 23, 2009
This book WILL:
1)Make you laugh hysterically.
2)Disturb you mightily.
3)Make you think A LOT.
4)Make you examine your conscience,(provided you actually have one to examine). Especially with regard to immigration issues and the tendency of wealthier nations to throw money at every problem in the hopes of making it go away.
This book MAY:
1)Horrify you.
2)Make you angry.
3)Shock you.
4)Make you cry.
The basic story involves the relationship that develops between Little Bee, a Nigerian refugee girl, and Sarah, a thoroughly modern British woman. The chapters alternate between the two womens stories. This (male) author writes quite convincingly from female perspectives. Searchingly sensitive but not overwrought.
This is one of those books where it will be impossible to predict who will like it and who won't. There are some serious current issues addressed, both worldwide and unique to the United Kingdom. It's a VERY fast read, so give it a go. Whatever your opinion about it, you won't forget it!
1)Make you laugh hysterically.
2)Disturb you mightily.
3)Make you think A LOT.
4)Make you examine your conscience,(provided you actually have one to examine). Especially with regard to immigration issues and the tendency of wealthier nations to throw money at every problem in the hopes of making it go away.
This book MAY:
1)Horrify you.
2)Make you angry.
3)Shock you.
4)Make you cry.
The basic story involves the relationship that develops between Little Bee, a Nigerian refugee girl, and Sarah, a thoroughly modern British woman. The chapters alternate between the two womens stories. This (male) author writes quite convincingly from female perspectives. Searchingly sensitive but not overwrought.
This is one of those books where it will be impossible to predict who will like it and who won't. There are some serious current issues addressed, both worldwide and unique to the United Kingdom. It's a VERY fast read, so give it a go. Whatever your opinion about it, you won't forget it!
September 7, 2018
I would have to disagree with the back cover's claim that this book is "often hilarious." This book is anything but hilarious. While there are indeed moments of light reprieve through Little Bee's witty observations and Charlie's adamant insistence of keeping his Batman costume on at all times (to ward off the "baddies"), this book is much more often dark and disturbing.
Briefly, the book centers around a British couple with a troubled marriage who, while vacationing on the beaches of Nigeria in an effort to rekindle their relationship, encounter two young refugee girls fleeing from soldiers. What happens next I'm not supposed to say (according to the editor's note) as it would spoil the story too much. But the lives of these four people are irrevocably changed by the encounter, and in some pretty dreadful ways.
There are some truly wonderful moments in this book, and I particularly enjoyed the chapters told from Little Bee's perspective. Her voice felt genuine and alive, and I personally think the book may have been more powerful had it been told entirely from her point of view. The chapters told from the perspective of Sarah (the wife in the above-mentioned British couple) just seemed to fall flat for me in comparison.
Overall, a worthy read. I just wish the book hadn't built itself up so much, and had been more confident in letting the story unfold quietly on its own. Had it not hailed itself as a masterpiece, I think I would have been pleasantly surprised instead of somewhat disappointed. 3.5 stars.
Briefly, the book centers around a British couple with a troubled marriage who, while vacationing on the beaches of Nigeria in an effort to rekindle their relationship, encounter two young refugee girls fleeing from soldiers. What happens next I'm not supposed to say (according to the editor's note) as it would spoil the story too much. But the lives of these four people are irrevocably changed by the encounter, and in some pretty dreadful ways.
There are some truly wonderful moments in this book, and I particularly enjoyed the chapters told from Little Bee's perspective. Her voice felt genuine and alive, and I personally think the book may have been more powerful had it been told entirely from her point of view. The chapters told from the perspective of Sarah (the wife in the above-mentioned British couple) just seemed to fall flat for me in comparison.
Overall, a worthy read. I just wish the book hadn't built itself up so much, and had been more confident in letting the story unfold quietly on its own. Had it not hailed itself as a masterpiece, I think I would have been pleasantly surprised instead of somewhat disappointed. 3.5 stars.
September 21, 2009
Isn't it funny when novels from their origin countries are marketed in the ol' U. S. of A. under a different title because it will 'sell better'. I can just imagine the pain the author must feel when they find that the title that represents their book seems as if it's just not good enough for the American public. I can think of a few such occasions where such a thing has happened:
*Northern Lights, by Philip Pullman = The Golden Compass.
*Harry Potter and Philosopher's Stone, by J.K. Rowling = Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone.
*Cross Stitch, by Diana Gabaldon = Outlander
I'm sure there are reasons other than pandering to the fickle U.S. market and I'm being a cranky biddy, but whatevs.
Anyhoo, on with The Other Hand (or is it Little Bee)? This book is one of those - you know - it's one of those stories where a tragic event occurs and the real story is how people's lives intertwine and fall apart and lump in a heap together afterwards.
In this case the tragic event takes place on a Nigerian beach, where Sarah and her husband are white tourists enjoying a walk along the sand. In a few moments, they are faced with a choice: sacrifice a part of themselves to save the lives of two young Nigerian women, or leave them in the hands of the cruel and save themselves.
My version of this book doesn't have a blurb on the back. Instead it says that the publishers "don't want to spoil" the book by saying too much - so they don't say anything at all. It's such a marketing ploy - I was skeptical when I read that line, and now that I've read the book to see what all the fuss is about, I'm still skeptical. Non-blurbed books should only be reserved for the rarest of circumstances, where (a) the book is so ludicrously plotted but brilliantly written that it doesn't deserve being 'boxed in' by its own blurb, or (b) where the book is such an old classic that everyone young and old knows a version of the story in their head (even those who haven't been taught to read).
The Other Hand does not fit into either of these two categories, and I'm afraid that the book's mystery generated by a clever publishing scheme has only served to make me think of itas a greedy, money-making 'meh' book that to be frank, I've already forgot half of what I was going to write about it and this book review is feeling a bit of a chore - I wasn't passionate about this book at all.
Perhaps I am being a little too harsh though. Its a tightly-wound story...it's small, and efficient, and there are some pretty turns of phrase. I wasn't overly bored... Chris Cleave is not without talent... and my version has a pretty sparkly orange cover....
Really, I can't quite put my finger on why exactly I'm not won over by this book. I can think of flaws that may contribute to my point of view, but nothing major that I can put my finger on.
I think that perhaps, it may have something to do with this book not quite 'ringing true'. The event itself doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But again, I can't talk about it.
The intertwining of Little Bee's perspective and Sarah's perspective is interesting for the first half of the book, but it gets old. I think I found it kind of indulgent in the way it props Little Bee's Afrikaan-learning-proper-Queen-English against Sarah's glamorous sensible westernised personality, as if it's a book geared especially for middle-class women pretending they know how a Nigerian woman might think, and feeling better about themselves by showing empathy for Little Bee.
Actually, I've got the perfect way of explaining it - it's a book that would have a ready home on Oprah, I imagine. And that aint really a compliment - because these last 10 years or so Oprah has dug herself a hole of appealing to white middle-class women and in doing so has turned herself into one of them. It's a bit of a shame really all round...It's just so hard to explain why I get these feelings without spoiling the book. So I'll keep what needs to be kept secret, secret. You're owed that much.
I realise this is a totally higgledy-piggledy book review that could be very confusing but look at what I have to work with, people! A story that can't be spoiled and either way fails to live up to expectations! It's not really as bad as I may it seem - I'm just a bit furious with the publishers, really. It's not Chris Cleave's fault they made a boo-boo just to cash in.
Wow, harsh, Aimee, at least the author tried to write an awesome literary novel, eh? eh?
I feel a headache coming on...
2 stars for The Other Hand.
*Northern Lights, by Philip Pullman = The Golden Compass.
*Harry Potter and Philosopher's Stone, by J.K. Rowling = Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone.
*Cross Stitch, by Diana Gabaldon = Outlander
I'm sure there are reasons other than pandering to the fickle U.S. market and I'm being a cranky biddy, but whatevs.
Anyhoo, on with The Other Hand (or is it Little Bee)? This book is one of those - you know - it's one of those stories where a tragic event occurs and the real story is how people's lives intertwine and fall apart and lump in a heap together afterwards.
In this case the tragic event takes place on a Nigerian beach, where Sarah and her husband are white tourists enjoying a walk along the sand. In a few moments, they are faced with a choice: sacrifice a part of themselves to save the lives of two young Nigerian women, or leave them in the hands of the cruel and save themselves.
My version of this book doesn't have a blurb on the back. Instead it says that the publishers "don't want to spoil" the book by saying too much - so they don't say anything at all. It's such a marketing ploy - I was skeptical when I read that line, and now that I've read the book to see what all the fuss is about, I'm still skeptical. Non-blurbed books should only be reserved for the rarest of circumstances, where (a) the book is so ludicrously plotted but brilliantly written that it doesn't deserve being 'boxed in' by its own blurb, or (b) where the book is such an old classic that everyone young and old knows a version of the story in their head (even those who haven't been taught to read).
The Other Hand does not fit into either of these two categories, and I'm afraid that the book's mystery generated by a clever publishing scheme has only served to make me think of itas a greedy, money-making 'meh' book that to be frank, I've already forgot half of what I was going to write about it and this book review is feeling a bit of a chore - I wasn't passionate about this book at all.
Perhaps I am being a little too harsh though. Its a tightly-wound story...it's small, and efficient, and there are some pretty turns of phrase. I wasn't overly bored... Chris Cleave is not without talent... and my version has a pretty sparkly orange cover....
Really, I can't quite put my finger on why exactly I'm not won over by this book. I can think of flaws that may contribute to my point of view, but nothing major that I can put my finger on.
I think that perhaps, it may have something to do with this book not quite 'ringing true'. The event itself doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But again, I can't talk about it.
The intertwining of Little Bee's perspective and Sarah's perspective is interesting for the first half of the book, but it gets old. I think I found it kind of indulgent in the way it props Little Bee's Afrikaan-learning-proper-Queen-English against Sarah's glamorous sensible westernised personality, as if it's a book geared especially for middle-class women pretending they know how a Nigerian woman might think, and feeling better about themselves by showing empathy for Little Bee.
Actually, I've got the perfect way of explaining it - it's a book that would have a ready home on Oprah, I imagine. And that aint really a compliment - because these last 10 years or so Oprah has dug herself a hole of appealing to white middle-class women and in doing so has turned herself into one of them. It's a bit of a shame really all round...It's just so hard to explain why I get these feelings without spoiling the book. So I'll keep what needs to be kept secret, secret. You're owed that much.
I realise this is a totally higgledy-piggledy book review that could be very confusing but look at what I have to work with, people! A story that can't be spoiled and either way fails to live up to expectations! It's not really as bad as I may it seem - I'm just a bit furious with the publishers, really. It's not Chris Cleave's fault they made a boo-boo just to cash in.
Wow, harsh, Aimee, at least the author tried to write an awesome literary novel, eh? eh?
I feel a headache coming on...
2 stars for The Other Hand.
August 19, 2019
Waaaaay overrated!
February 1, 2021
2010 F.A.B. Bookclub pick # I.❤️. F.A.B.
This is a very sad story, told from two different points of view. There were parts of this book that I really enjoyed and other parts that just bugged me. It’s not a bad read, I just don’t know that I liked it enough to recommend it to anyone. It lacked an ending for me. Maybe that’s why I am not 100 percent on board with it. I like my stories to have a ending.
This is a very sad story, told from two different points of view. There were parts of this book that I really enjoyed and other parts that just bugged me. It’s not a bad read, I just don’t know that I liked it enough to recommend it to anyone. It lacked an ending for me. Maybe that’s why I am not 100 percent on board with it. I like my stories to have a ending.
December 12, 2020
5★+
“Most days I wish I was a British pound coin instead of an African girl. Everyone would be pleased to see me coming. Maybe I would visit with you for the weekend and then suddenly, because I am fickle like that, I would visit with the man from the corner shop instead—but you would not be sad because you would be eating a cinnamon bun, or drinking a cold Coca Cola from the can, and you would never think of me again . . . It can cross deserts and oceans and leave the sound of gunfire and the bitter smell of burning thatch behind.”
How can you resist an opening like that? First paragraph of the book, and we see how this girl’s imagination helps her escape her world. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with so much light-hearted, warm humour and so much tragedy, often in the same sentence.
Little Bee is the younger of two Nigerian sisters fleeing the horrors of the Nigerian oil wars. They hide and change their names, so they won’t be identified as coming from a particular village. Big sister becomes Kindness, while little sister becomes Little Bee. Little Bee is determined to speak and behave “English” so she can blend in later.
“See how nicely a British pound talks? It speaks with the voice of Queen Elizabeth the Second of England. Her face is stamped upon it, and sometimes when I look very closely I can see her lips moving. I hold her up to my ear. What is she saying? ‘Put me down this minute, young lady, or I shall call my guards.’”
British couple Andrew and Sarah O’Rourke, are holiday in Nigeria and cross paths with the sisters on a beach. What follows is the subject of the story, told sometimes by Little Bee and sometimes by Sarah O’Rourke, the wife. The story goes back and forth, often revolving around four-year old Charlie O’Rourke, who is obsessed with Batman (wears only alternating Batman costumes) and saving people from The Baddies.
What is so simple and straight-forward for Charlie is complicated for his parents, each of them changed in different ways from their time in Nigeria. Charlie thinks like Little Bee. He sees baddies everywhere and hides in the garden pretending he’s in the jungle. Bee, however, compares her childhood games with those of English kids.
“They hide in the gap between the washing machine and the refrigerator and they make believe they are in the jungle, with green snakes and monkeys all around them. Me and my sister, we used to hide in a gap in the jungle, with green snakes and monkeys all around us, and make believe that we had a washing machine and a refrigerator.”
When Little Bee seems so constantly wary of baddies, Sarah says:
“‘You’re young, Bee. You don’t know how the world works yet. All you’ve seen is trouble, so you think trouble is all you’re going to get.’
‘You have seen trouble too, Sarah. You are making a mistake if you think it is unusual. I am telling you, trouble is like the ocean. It covers two thirds of the world.’”
Sarah doesn’t know it, but Bee lives her life by always looking for the quickest exit . . . exit from life. The easiest way to kill herself quickly if she has to—and she assumes that she may have to at any time. She notes sharp objects, high bridges, ropes, poison cleansers and the like--the way professional drivers always know where their nearest escape route is in case of an accident.
She’s not depressed. She knows there are fates worse than death, and she intends to avoid suffering one.
The beach scenes are horrific, as the book jacket says, and it's terrifying to think that the world doesn't seem to be improving.
A character tells another that giving ten percent (of your income) “is the cost of doing business. Ten per cent buys you a stable world to get on with your life in. Here, safe in the West. That’s the way to think of it. If everyone gave ten per cent, we wouldn’t need to give asylum.”
Nothing about compassion, mercy, empathy, KINDNESS. Just money. The so-called Developed World needs to develop some moral backbone. If we did an audit of it, we’d say “Should Do Better.”
Superb, stunning, moving, heart-breaking. And extremely readable. People question why fiction is important. This is why.
“Most days I wish I was a British pound coin instead of an African girl. Everyone would be pleased to see me coming. Maybe I would visit with you for the weekend and then suddenly, because I am fickle like that, I would visit with the man from the corner shop instead—but you would not be sad because you would be eating a cinnamon bun, or drinking a cold Coca Cola from the can, and you would never think of me again . . . It can cross deserts and oceans and leave the sound of gunfire and the bitter smell of burning thatch behind.”
How can you resist an opening like that? First paragraph of the book, and we see how this girl’s imagination helps her escape her world. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with so much light-hearted, warm humour and so much tragedy, often in the same sentence.
Little Bee is the younger of two Nigerian sisters fleeing the horrors of the Nigerian oil wars. They hide and change their names, so they won’t be identified as coming from a particular village. Big sister becomes Kindness, while little sister becomes Little Bee. Little Bee is determined to speak and behave “English” so she can blend in later.
“See how nicely a British pound talks? It speaks with the voice of Queen Elizabeth the Second of England. Her face is stamped upon it, and sometimes when I look very closely I can see her lips moving. I hold her up to my ear. What is she saying? ‘Put me down this minute, young lady, or I shall call my guards.’”
British couple Andrew and Sarah O’Rourke, are holiday in Nigeria and cross paths with the sisters on a beach. What follows is the subject of the story, told sometimes by Little Bee and sometimes by Sarah O’Rourke, the wife. The story goes back and forth, often revolving around four-year old Charlie O’Rourke, who is obsessed with Batman (wears only alternating Batman costumes) and saving people from The Baddies.
What is so simple and straight-forward for Charlie is complicated for his parents, each of them changed in different ways from their time in Nigeria. Charlie thinks like Little Bee. He sees baddies everywhere and hides in the garden pretending he’s in the jungle. Bee, however, compares her childhood games with those of English kids.
“They hide in the gap between the washing machine and the refrigerator and they make believe they are in the jungle, with green snakes and monkeys all around them. Me and my sister, we used to hide in a gap in the jungle, with green snakes and monkeys all around us, and make believe that we had a washing machine and a refrigerator.”
When Little Bee seems so constantly wary of baddies, Sarah says:
“‘You’re young, Bee. You don’t know how the world works yet. All you’ve seen is trouble, so you think trouble is all you’re going to get.’
‘You have seen trouble too, Sarah. You are making a mistake if you think it is unusual. I am telling you, trouble is like the ocean. It covers two thirds of the world.’”
Sarah doesn’t know it, but Bee lives her life by always looking for the quickest exit . . . exit from life. The easiest way to kill herself quickly if she has to—and she assumes that she may have to at any time. She notes sharp objects, high bridges, ropes, poison cleansers and the like--the way professional drivers always know where their nearest escape route is in case of an accident.
She’s not depressed. She knows there are fates worse than death, and she intends to avoid suffering one.
The beach scenes are horrific, as the book jacket says, and it's terrifying to think that the world doesn't seem to be improving.
A character tells another that giving ten percent (of your income) “is the cost of doing business. Ten per cent buys you a stable world to get on with your life in. Here, safe in the West. That’s the way to think of it. If everyone gave ten per cent, we wouldn’t need to give asylum.”
Nothing about compassion, mercy, empathy, KINDNESS. Just money. The so-called Developed World needs to develop some moral backbone. If we did an audit of it, we’d say “Should Do Better.”
Superb, stunning, moving, heart-breaking. And extremely readable. People question why fiction is important. This is why.
February 15, 2019
Loved this book. Re-read today.
March 24, 2011
A slice of literary brilliance sprinkled with what I can only think of as literary cow pies.
I can't figure out why Chris Cleave created so many beautifully written passages and then with the same keystrokes inserted such a horribly rendered and completely unnecessary character as Laurence into his story. I felt this juxtaposition of brilliantly imagined and horribly depicted (and or completely unbelievable) wove its way through the entire novel. I wonder if some of what I thought was ridiculous and unrealistic was supposed to be humorous?
I loved Little Bee but I did not feel any affection for the adults in this novel and once they were introduced things went down hill dramatically, what came afterward seemed like it was written by a different author. There were far too many events that made no sense and did nothing but detract from the story.
My biggest complaint about this book is the potential that was wasted. If Cleave had stayed focused on Little Bee and had written the entire book in the same vein as the first few chapters narrated in her voice, this could have been a completely brilliant novel. Sadly I think I have to mark this as "most-disappointing for 2011" and admit that I feel ripped off even though I borrowed it from the library.
I can't figure out why Chris Cleave created so many beautifully written passages and then with the same keystrokes inserted such a horribly rendered and completely unnecessary character as Laurence into his story. I felt this juxtaposition of brilliantly imagined and horribly depicted (and or completely unbelievable) wove its way through the entire novel. I wonder if some of what I thought was ridiculous and unrealistic was supposed to be humorous?
I loved Little Bee but I did not feel any affection for the adults in this novel and once they were introduced things went down hill dramatically, what came afterward seemed like it was written by a different author. There were far too many events that made no sense and did nothing but detract from the story.
My biggest complaint about this book is the potential that was wasted. If Cleave had stayed focused on Little Bee and had written the entire book in the same vein as the first few chapters narrated in her voice, this could have been a completely brilliant novel. Sadly I think I have to mark this as "most-disappointing for 2011" and admit that I feel ripped off even though I borrowed it from the library.
May 18, 2017
I've had this book sitting on my bookshelf for a couple of years now and I don't know why I haven't picked it up before now. Covering a range of subjects this book is beautifully written in my opinion.
A terrific story of friendship between two people who were complete strangers. Reading about their lives takes the reader on a journey that will not only have you turning the pages, but it will also leave you wanting more. I have no hesitation recommending this book.
A terrific story of friendship between two people who were complete strangers. Reading about their lives takes the reader on a journey that will not only have you turning the pages, but it will also leave you wanting more. I have no hesitation recommending this book.
January 18, 2016
Wonderful book. I don't know why I waited! It worked the way the author used 2 narrators to tell this story.
The little boy's character was a brilliant contribution --- Adults are no different (we just don't wear our Batman outfit every day). But aren't we always looking for ways to comfort ourselves? Ways to find inner peace? Ways to protect ourselves and those we love?
My respect for this author is HIGH!
The little boy's character was a brilliant contribution --- Adults are no different (we just don't wear our Batman outfit every day). But aren't we always looking for ways to comfort ourselves? Ways to find inner peace? Ways to protect ourselves and those we love?
My respect for this author is HIGH!
July 13, 2015
I didn't really enjoy this book. The vague synopsis on the back of the book built the story up to be something that it eventually did not live up to.
On it's back cover, Cleave promises the reader that the way his story unfolds will be "magic" and that you will want to tell all your friends about it. While he is partially right in the fact that I do want to share my thoughts with all my [goodreads] friends, it is not for the reason that he thinks I should.
The way that Cleave crafted his story feels superficial to me.
Cleave's novel actually reads like a sensational, feel good film where the white woman goes out of her way just to save the black girl in hopes of expunging her own guilt of having lived a carefree life. I wanted to feel the magic that Cleave promised, yet I walked away from this book feeling like I had already seen the film version of Little Bee's story and it was 10x better.
This definitely isn't a book I'd read again. The story was a good idea in theory, but the author handled his subject poorly and his ending fell flat. The only scene that lived up to expectation was the beach scene and I won't spoil that for any possible readers of Little Bee.
On it's back cover, Cleave promises the reader that the way his story unfolds will be "magic" and that you will want to tell all your friends about it. While he is partially right in the fact that I do want to share my thoughts with all my [goodreads] friends, it is not for the reason that he thinks I should.
The way that Cleave crafted his story feels superficial to me.
Cleave's novel actually reads like a sensational, feel good film where the white woman goes out of her way just to save the black girl in hopes of expunging her own guilt of having lived a carefree life. I wanted to feel the magic that Cleave promised, yet I walked away from this book feeling like I had already seen the film version of Little Bee's story and it was 10x better.
This definitely isn't a book I'd read again. The story was a good idea in theory, but the author handled his subject poorly and his ending fell flat. The only scene that lived up to expectation was the beach scene and I won't spoil that for any possible readers of Little Bee.
March 17, 2009
I loved the first half of the book, but had a hard time getting through the second half. Little Bee, a Nigerian girl who escaped her country after a series of horrific killings, ends up in England. The story follows Little Bee from her time in Nigeria to her difficult transition to England; as well as a British couple, whose lives become deeply entwined with Little Bee. A lot of the effectiveness of the book comes from the plot twists, so I'll leave the plot description at that.
In my opinion, the most effective parts of this book were those told in Little Bee's voice, particularly in the first half of the novel. The cadence of her narrative was captivating. I found the second half of the book pretty dang boring. Didn't care much for it at all.
If it weren't for the second half of the book, I'd definitely recommend the book.
In my opinion, the most effective parts of this book were those told in Little Bee's voice, particularly in the first half of the novel. The cadence of her narrative was captivating. I found the second half of the book pretty dang boring. Didn't care much for it at all.
If it weren't for the second half of the book, I'd definitely recommend the book.
June 1, 2020
Amazing!Totally totally loved this book. Everyone should read this book but i warn you ... once you start its really hard to stop reading it!
My favourite from all Chris Cleave's books.
My favourite from all Chris Cleave's books.
March 19, 2009
The first three pages of this book deserve 5 stars. Absolutely. Little Bee is an excellent narrator and they were positively engaging/hilarious/touching/curiosity-inducing.
After that, the story gets pretty heavy. That's not a problem, but it struck me as a uncomfortably incongruous with the cutesy publisher's note on the front book jacket flap. It's got a coy little tone with some stylized all-caps, teasing about spoiling for the story for us, the readers, who are about to go on a magnificent adventure, within these very pages!
The characters are well-drawn, complex and flawed; and the plot is simple but anchored in questions of morals versus convenience, courage versus fear, first world questions versus third world realities, childhood versus adulthood, true identity versus concealing aliases.
I moved through it pretty quickly, as the characters constantly mention situations before the reader learns about them, I would rush ahead impatient to understand the back story. There are no pleasant back stories. It all works though, as does the convention of alternating narrators between Sarah Summers-O'Rourke and Little Bee. Little Bee had such a precise voice, such perfect phrasing, such a frank way of speaking.
I was also a pretty big fan of Cleave's pitch-perfect Jamaican accent for Yevette.
An interesting read, definitely an excellent way of juxtaposing two cultures and examining the limbo between survival and legality. If you aren't interested in the weight of this story, at least read the first two pages when you are browsing in the bookstore or the library. Just don't expect the book to go on in that vein.
After that, the story gets pretty heavy. That's not a problem, but it struck me as a uncomfortably incongruous with the cutesy publisher's note on the front book jacket flap. It's got a coy little tone with some stylized all-caps, teasing about spoiling for the story for us, the readers, who are about to go on a magnificent adventure, within these very pages!
The characters are well-drawn, complex and flawed; and the plot is simple but anchored in questions of morals versus convenience, courage versus fear, first world questions versus third world realities, childhood versus adulthood, true identity versus concealing aliases.
I moved through it pretty quickly, as the characters constantly mention situations before the reader learns about them, I would rush ahead impatient to understand the back story. There are no pleasant back stories. It all works though, as does the convention of alternating narrators between Sarah Summers-O'Rourke and Little Bee. Little Bee had such a precise voice, such perfect phrasing, such a frank way of speaking.
I was also a pretty big fan of Cleave's pitch-perfect Jamaican accent for Yevette.
An interesting read, definitely an excellent way of juxtaposing two cultures and examining the limbo between survival and legality. If you aren't interested in the weight of this story, at least read the first two pages when you are browsing in the bookstore or the library. Just don't expect the book to go on in that vein.
August 12, 2023
4.5⭐️ yes, I know the account of the Nigerian oil war as portrayed in this story is not perfectly accurate. I still love the story so much, it physically hurts my heart 😩😩💗
It's wickedly funny. Little bee, little bee, my heart. I want to give spoilers soooo bad but the writer asked nicely to not do that. I love that it's been 10 years and I still love it just as much as I did the first time. 🐝🐝🐝
my favorite quotes:
♡ "I was thinking, do these scars cover the whole of you, like the stars and moons on your dress? I thought that would be pretty too, and I ask you right here please to agree with me that a scar is never ugly. That is what scar makers want us to think. But you and I, we must make an agreement to defy them. We must see scars as beauty. Okay? This will be our secret. Because take it from me, a scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, 'I survived'."
♡ "Sad words are just another beauty. A sad story means, the storyteller is alive. The next thing you know, something fine will happen to her, something marvelous, and then she will turn round and smile."
♡ "This is always my trouble when I was learning to speak your language. Every word can defend itself. Just when you go to grab it, it can split into two separate meanings so the understanding closes on empty air. You are like sorcerers and you have made your language as safe as your money."
***
When I was 16 I read this book. I don't remember all the details but I remember the urge I felt to tell all my friends to read it immediately and how the book was so good it was painful, so I read it twice. 😭
It's time for my first reread of the year because I'm nothing if not a nostalgic little thing and masochist at heart.
It's wickedly funny. Little bee, little bee, my heart. I want to give spoilers soooo bad but the writer asked nicely to not do that. I love that it's been 10 years and I still love it just as much as I did the first time. 🐝🐝🐝
my favorite quotes:
♡ "I was thinking, do these scars cover the whole of you, like the stars and moons on your dress? I thought that would be pretty too, and I ask you right here please to agree with me that a scar is never ugly. That is what scar makers want us to think. But you and I, we must make an agreement to defy them. We must see scars as beauty. Okay? This will be our secret. Because take it from me, a scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, 'I survived'."
♡ "Sad words are just another beauty. A sad story means, the storyteller is alive. The next thing you know, something fine will happen to her, something marvelous, and then she will turn round and smile."
♡ "This is always my trouble when I was learning to speak your language. Every word can defend itself. Just when you go to grab it, it can split into two separate meanings so the understanding closes on empty air. You are like sorcerers and you have made your language as safe as your money."
***
When I was 16 I read this book. I don't remember all the details but I remember the urge I felt to tell all my friends to read it immediately and how the book was so good it was painful, so I read it twice. 😭
It's time for my first reread of the year because I'm nothing if not a nostalgic little thing and masochist at heart.
March 22, 2011
This book needs to be detained and shipped home to a small English town in Devon..
A friend recommended this book to me so I really wanted to like it. Unfortunately, I could not.
I found it sappy, trite, unengaging, shallow, sappy and uninteresting. The only reason I finished it was in the hope it would get better. Fail!
I didn't care for the characters and times I found Sarah, Lawrence and especially Andrew to be creepy (partly because their portrayal is so plasticky). This was like a Mills and Boon episode of the The Refugee. So sentimental that I puked in my mouth a little.
The Nigerian character, Little Bee - how can we believe you? It seemed like a cut and paste job of every cliche about African women. The men they come. The men this and the men that. My beautiful sister this, my "humble, innocent always knows how to make me feel better" sister that. The African man as the lecherous pig. I the noble African girl taking it all in with dignity and bravery. Dear god!!
Sarah the guilt stricken white woman who will fight for justice! Will protect the lost litle African girl.. Weh!!
Read this if you like cliched pompous English twits. Brave, strong African women that are totally contrived and unrealistic. Irritating kids that need a good smack (but not to have their grammar corrected every sentence. Sarah you deserve a smack on the bottom for that annoying habit.) Evil incarnate African men.
Oh, and the last thing, and possibly the most irritating device ever used. The little tease "of that day on the beach". It all changed that day on the beach. Looking back at that day on the beach. Trying to suppress the memories of that day on the beach. NO! Not clever! Bringing up "that day on the beach" twenty times before finally divulging what happened half way through the book did not pique my interest. In fact it made my want to draw a big circle on the wall and hit my head repeatedly against it.
A friend recommended this book to me so I really wanted to like it. Unfortunately, I could not.
I found it sappy, trite, unengaging, shallow, sappy and uninteresting. The only reason I finished it was in the hope it would get better. Fail!
I didn't care for the characters and times I found Sarah, Lawrence and especially Andrew to be creepy (partly because their portrayal is so plasticky). This was like a Mills and Boon episode of the The Refugee. So sentimental that I puked in my mouth a little.
The Nigerian character, Little Bee - how can we believe you? It seemed like a cut and paste job of every cliche about African women. The men they come. The men this and the men that. My beautiful sister this, my "humble, innocent always knows how to make me feel better" sister that. The African man as the lecherous pig. I the noble African girl taking it all in with dignity and bravery. Dear god!!
Sarah the guilt stricken white woman who will fight for justice! Will protect the lost litle African girl.. Weh!!
Read this if you like cliched pompous English twits. Brave, strong African women that are totally contrived and unrealistic. Irritating kids that need a good smack (but not to have their grammar corrected every sentence. Sarah you deserve a smack on the bottom for that annoying habit.) Evil incarnate African men.
Oh, and the last thing, and possibly the most irritating device ever used. The little tease "of that day on the beach". It all changed that day on the beach. Looking back at that day on the beach. Trying to suppress the memories of that day on the beach. NO! Not clever! Bringing up "that day on the beach" twenty times before finally divulging what happened half way through the book did not pique my interest. In fact it made my want to draw a big circle on the wall and hit my head repeatedly against it.
October 2, 2010
UGH, What can I say. I hated this book! If you want to read about the most depressing events of a human life than this one is for you. What an emotional downer this book is. It does nothing but show you the evil that can be present in human nature from extramarital affairs all the way to murder. The overall gist of the story is about a Nigerian refugee. Yes, it is a story that should be told, but I would rather read about just the facts in a news article than something I am reading for "pleasure." When I read I don't need to be depressed about the future of our world and the deprivation of human nature. So why did I read it? For my book club and I should have put it down. I only kept on because I thought there might be a silver lining or happy ending somewhere. Really, do not read this book unless you want to be totally depressed. There is not one shred of happiness in this book. And please, what mother in her right mind would take her 4 year old son to war torn Nigeria and bribe the military so she could go galavanting through the country with a criminal. Clearly it was not written by a women, to say nothing of a mother.
April 29, 2015
This book made me so anxious and upset I found myself yelling at the characters. Especially Lawrence. "Lawrence!" I screamed, banging the book down on the table. "You little sh*t! If you hurt her I swear! I swear, Lawrence!" Luckily, I was alone at this time. Otherwise, people might have been concerned.
LITTLE BEE is not a relaxing read. Like so many books I have been reading lately, this book is about TRUTH. And the truth is painful. The truth is anxiety inducing. The truth is that life is not always happy and that Bad Things Happen.
Little Bee is a Nigerian illegal living in the UK. This story chronicles the ups and downs of her life. Fleeing through the jungle from men who want to rape and kill her and her sister. Pleading with a white couple to save them. Listening to her sister get brutally gang-raped and then beaten to death, and after that listening to her get torn apart by dogs that are eaten her corpse. Stowing away on a ship where the captain hides her in his cabin so that his men "don't get any ideas." Being held in a prison, sorry - detainment center, for two years where if she wants a maxi-pad she's got to fill out a form to get one. Then being set free only because a girl she knows let a guard "do whatever he wanted to her" on at least 4 different occasions.
Things continue from there. This isn't a happy story.
Despite not being a happy story, despite all the trauma and tragedy Little Bee experiences, she keeps her sense of humor and her sense of wonder through it all. This adds a little hope and happiness to this tale of darkness and despair. That is what makes it bearable. Cleave's decision to include a prominent 4-year-old boy character does a lot to remind the reader that there is indeed goodness and happiness in the world.
Cleave chooses to narrate this book from two different female perspectives. I said this when I reviewed INCENDIARY and I'm saying it again: Cleave writes women flawlessly.
The other narrator is Sarah, a woman who's slowly learning and coming to terms with the fact that the world is a nightmarish place. She's the character who is changing and growing in this novel, coming face to face with evil and choosing whether to fight it or ignore it.
This brutal reality that we are presented with - the brutal reality that Little Bee has been conditioned to live in is shocking to most 1st-World readers. Everywhere she goes, the first thing she does is figure out how to kill herself in case things go south. She understands perfectly that there are a lot of things worse than death. Sometimes suicide is the answer. Sometimes death is blessed relief.
So many women - millions of women - live this kind of life. In a world where men are evil, men are rapists. Where being pretty is a curse because they'll notice you - not being pretty is a curse because then you are worthless. Life is pain. Life has no value. They'll kill your children and laugh while doing it. We close our eyes to these women's reality - and it's a current, modern reality - and in this book Cleave drags this painful truth into the light.
Difficult book to read, difficult reality to face - but I think Cleave's poetic writing and slight hints of occasional humor and hope really help not only to soften to blow, but to drive it home.
LITTLE BEE is not a relaxing read. Like so many books I have been reading lately, this book is about TRUTH. And the truth is painful. The truth is anxiety inducing. The truth is that life is not always happy and that Bad Things Happen.
Little Bee is a Nigerian illegal living in the UK. This story chronicles the ups and downs of her life. Fleeing through the jungle from men who want to rape and kill her and her sister. Pleading with a white couple to save them. Listening to her sister get brutally gang-raped and then beaten to death, and after that listening to her get torn apart by dogs that are eaten her corpse. Stowing away on a ship where the captain hides her in his cabin so that his men "don't get any ideas." Being held in a prison, sorry - detainment center, for two years where if she wants a maxi-pad she's got to fill out a form to get one. Then being set free only because a girl she knows let a guard "do whatever he wanted to her" on at least 4 different occasions.
Things continue from there. This isn't a happy story.
Despite not being a happy story, despite all the trauma and tragedy Little Bee experiences, she keeps her sense of humor and her sense of wonder through it all. This adds a little hope and happiness to this tale of darkness and despair. That is what makes it bearable. Cleave's decision to include a prominent 4-year-old boy character does a lot to remind the reader that there is indeed goodness and happiness in the world.
Cleave chooses to narrate this book from two different female perspectives. I said this when I reviewed INCENDIARY and I'm saying it again: Cleave writes women flawlessly.
The other narrator is Sarah, a woman who's slowly learning and coming to terms with the fact that the world is a nightmarish place. She's the character who is changing and growing in this novel, coming face to face with evil and choosing whether to fight it or ignore it.
This brutal reality that we are presented with - the brutal reality that Little Bee has been conditioned to live in is shocking to most 1st-World readers. Everywhere she goes, the first thing she does is figure out how to kill herself in case things go south. She understands perfectly that there are a lot of things worse than death. Sometimes suicide is the answer. Sometimes death is blessed relief.
So many women - millions of women - live this kind of life. In a world where men are evil, men are rapists. Where being pretty is a curse because they'll notice you - not being pretty is a curse because then you are worthless. Life is pain. Life has no value. They'll kill your children and laugh while doing it. We close our eyes to these women's reality - and it's a current, modern reality - and in this book Cleave drags this painful truth into the light.
Difficult book to read, difficult reality to face - but I think Cleave's poetic writing and slight hints of occasional humor and hope really help not only to soften to blow, but to drive it home.
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