Little Bee

It started off extremely depressing, which I expected when I found out what it was about. However I didn't know how horrible it would get... Graphically violent and truly scarring. HORRIBLE

Absolutely amazing book; his writing style is distinct and fluid, carrying you along as you see two sides of an absolutely incredible story. Worth every minute spent reading it, really. Your heart may strain, and you'll get impatient with your eyes not pushing you faster over the words, but please believe me when I say you'll reach the end of this book enlightened, impassioned, and awe-struck. What an incredible experience. (I read the UK-titled "The Other Hand" in Ireland.)

I don't want to give anything away, so I'll leave the plot details for you to discover, but I urge you to pick up a copy of Little Bee. Chris Cleave wrote a moving, beautiful book. His writing--and the voice of Little Bee--is poetic and remarkably uplifting considering the dark circumstances of Little Bee's life. The book starts as a mystery of sorts, until we learn Little Bee's story, and develops into an exploration of human relationships, love, friendship, grief, and survival. What strikes me the most is how incredibly human Sarah and Little Bee are, in spite (or because of) their flaws and scars. I'm telling my book club to read this next!

I picked up the book "The Other Hand" by Chris Cleave on a layover at Heathrow airport because I had finished my previous book. I was not familiar with the author and the admitedly somewhat gimmicky jacket summary intrigued me. I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into. It turns out that this book (titled "Little Bee" in the US after the name of the main character) is one of the most engaging books I've read in some time. The story unfolds quietly giving you snapshots into the lives of the different characters but without letting you in on the full plot. Some characters you barely get to admire before you leave behind as Little Bee moves on, others develop as the story goes (Sarah, for instance). I found both the premise and the characters to be engaging and am somewhat surprised by some negative reviews melting the story down to a UK/Nigeria Colonial War sort or moral. If that is all you take from this book then you have missed it, entirely. You've missed Sarah and her son, you've missed Yevette from Jamaica and the girl with no name... and you've certainly missed Little Bee. Again, fantastic book that I recommend to anyone looking for well-crafted prose with a personality.

"Little Bee" is the second novel by Chris Cleave and I will be purchasing his first novel as soon as I finish this review. Little Bee is a 16-year old refugee from Nigeria who is always looking for a suicidal option for "when the men come". Her character provides a unique and captivating narrative; by page three I cared about her, by page nine I knew she had terrible story to tell me and I dreaded it. Cleave's skillful pace brings us along in measured doses to the horrible thing that happened on a beach in Nigeria. What do a 4-year old boy who thinks he's Batman, his widowed, 9-fingered, mother Sarah, and his anguished father, have to do with Little Bee? Not only are we propelled to read what happened on that beach...we are compelled to know what will happen next. Alternating voices of Little Bee and Sarah circle around the beach story. This is great storytelling; skillful foreshadowing, the careful scattering of clues, building suspense and dread. Little Bee's plight overlays a rich and disturbing subtext of broader issues such as the unfathomable abyss between first and third world countries, the dark politics of oil, the labyrinthine plight of refugees and insight into UK detention centers. Cleave has given us a beautifully written, witty, heartbreaking, evocative, suspenseful and horrific novel.

~ Fantastic. Really - fantastic! Do not get discouraged by the slightly slow start, if you are patient, Chris Cleave will reward you with a story that you will think about all day. I had a difficult time staying away from this novel for very long, and it was easily one of the best books I've read in 2008. Living through oil related conflicts in Nigeria, Little Bee has seen things she should not have seen and has survived things she should not have survived, and now she is fleeing from soldiers that want her dead. While running she meets up with vacationing Sarah and Andrew O'Rourke, and a few soldiers, too. This collision of time and fate between Sarah and Andrew and Little Bee, is the foundation that this novel is built upon. A few years after the beach incident, Sarah and Andrew are both trying to forget about Little Bee as best they can. As Sarah explains on page 98, `There are countries of the world, and regions of one's own mind, where it is unwise to travel.' However, the real world and the scariest regions of their minds brake through all of Sarah and Andrew's resistance when Little Bee makes a ghostly appearance. Little Bee, is a story that entertains and raises awareness without being preachy and generously spares us the typical and predictable plot lines and the "why of course" ending. It was touching and funny and real. I very highly recommend this novel.