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Litsplaining's Reviews > Little Bee
Little Bee
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by
Litsplaining's review
bookshelves: european-setting, traveling, coming-of-age, adult-fiction, african-american-literature, african-setting, faith, read-in-2014, audiobook, kickbutt-heroines, library-book, saw-on-youtube, thought-provoking, violent-reads, bad-endings, race-theme, emotional-reads, own-a-copy
May 26, 2013
bookshelves: european-setting, traveling, coming-of-age, adult-fiction, african-american-literature, african-setting, faith, read-in-2014, audiobook, kickbutt-heroines, library-book, saw-on-youtube, thought-provoking, violent-reads, bad-endings, race-theme, emotional-reads, own-a-copy
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. (view spoiler)
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. (view spoiler)
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.
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Reading Progress
May 26, 2013
– Shelved as:
to-read
May 26, 2013
– Shelved
May 26, 2013
– Shelved as:
european-setting
May 26, 2013
– Shelved as:
traveling
May 26, 2013
– Shelved as:
coming-of-age
Started Reading
January 7, 2014
– Shelved as:
adult-fiction
January 7, 2014
– Shelved as:
african-american-literature
January 7, 2014
– Shelved as:
african-setting
January 7, 2014
– Shelved as:
faith
January 7, 2014
– Shelved as:
read-in-2014
January 7, 2014
– Shelved as:
audiobook
January 7, 2014
– Shelved as:
kickbutt-heroines
January 7, 2014
– Shelved as:
library-book
January 7, 2014
– Shelved as:
saw-on-youtube
January 7, 2014
– Shelved as:
thought-provoking
January 7, 2014
– Shelved as:
violent-reads
January 7, 2014
–
Finished Reading
July 12, 2015
– Shelved as:
bad-endings
July 12, 2015
– Shelved as:
race-theme
July 12, 2015
– Shelved as:
emotional-reads
July 12, 2015
– Shelved as:
own-a-copy
Comments Showing 1-12 of 12 (12 new)
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message 1:
by
Litsplaining
(new)
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rated it 2 stars
Jan 08, 2014 03:03PM
You're welcome. Little Bee was honestly the best part of this novel.
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I didn't care for this one either Adira !!
My feelings exactly! Didn't enjoy this book at all.
Camie wrote: "I didn't care for this one either Adira !!"Taiba wrote: "My feelings exactly! Didn't enjoy this book at all."
Camie & Tabitha, I'm so glad I'm not alone in my thoughts about this book. I really expected more since everyone seems to love this book.
It's been a long time since I read it but I gave it only two stars too.
Taking this one off my list. Great review, Adira.
Rowena wrote: "Taking this one off my list. Great review, Adira."Thanks Rowena! I wish it had been a better read tho. It had a lot of promise.
I'm not sure why I had it on my list but I have to say I'm not a fan of this type of narrative (white saviour) in literature.
Rowena wrote: "I'm not sure why I had it on my list but I have to say I'm not a fan of this type of narrative (white saviour) in literature."It does get used too often in literature and film usually in the same way. I just remember wanting to read it based on the hype and the fact that no one would reveal what the book was actually about and swore up and down that you just HAD to read it to experience Chris Cleave's genius for yourself.
Adira wrote: "Rowena wrote: "I'm not sure why I had it on my list but I have to say I'm not a fan of this type of narrative (white saviour) in literature."It does get used too often in literature and film usua..."
At least you can say you read it:)
Adira, I'm so glad I read your review and can avoid this one. i don't want to spend 5 more minutes of my life reading or viewing white savior stories. ugh.
