Little Bee: A Novel

I was NOT blown away as the quote on the cover claims you will be. Poorly, poorly, poorly written. Did I mention it was poorly written? Oh my, Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, what a PITIFUL character. She cannot cry when her husband dies but watch out thereafter - waterworks city! Nothing makes sense in this book. How she meets Lawrence, how they run into her husband - can't they see him coming? Are they...more

I was NOT blown away as the quote on the cover claims you will be. Poorly, poorly, poorly written. Did I mention it was poorly written? Oh my, Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, what a PITIFUL character. She cannot cry when her husband dies but watch out thereafter - waterworks city! Nothing makes sense in this book. How she meets Lawrence, how they run into her husband - can't they see him coming? Are they that drunk that Lawrence cannot take his hand off her waist? What the ... ? And let's just jet on over to Nigeria and interview folks about the war over there with a 4-year old ... shouldn't be a problem. Just drivel and horse putooey.   hide

This was this month's book club title. I'm not sure I would have picked this up on my own (I was afraid it would be a Book of Negroes knock-off). And this book is yet another example of why I need to belong to a book club. The story is compelling, the characters are fascinating and the story-telling brilliant. My friend Sarah is dissatisfied with the ending, but I think it works. Despite the...more

This was this month's book club title. I'm not sure I would have picked this up on my own (I was afraid it would be a Book of Negroes knock-off). And this book is yet another example of why I need to belong to a book club. The story is compelling, the characters are fascinating and the story-telling brilliant. My friend Sarah is dissatisfied with the ending, but I think it works. Despite the importance of the immigration/refugee issue raised here, the book is not preachy. Definitely worth reading.   hide

Wonderful-Cleave is a brilliant author. Incendiary (his first) was written by a working class woman in the form of a letter to Bin Laden after her husband and son were killed when a football match was bombed. Terrorism, class realities in England, guilt and sex and more all woven into an utterly gripping novel. Cleave is brilliant at winding things up too- quite unexpected...more

Wonderful-Cleave is a brilliant author. Incendiary (his first) was written by a working class woman in the form of a letter to Bin Laden after her husband and son were killed when a football match was bombed. Terrorism, class realities in England, guilt and sex and more all woven into an utterly gripping novel. Cleave is brilliant at winding things up too- quite unexpected endings. Little Bee is even better-wow! Writing stellar, emotion nuanced, social instincts well honed...I began it at noon-and despite having to work- finished it in a big gulp just now. Ought to read it again-loved the language and what a well conceived character Little Bee is. Quite one of the best I have read in quite a time...this from a woman who has no life and reads and reads and reads. ;-)   hide

I really enjoyed reading this one. I especially liked that Little Bee was portrayed as a realistic survivor of trauma. She wasn't just magically OK one day, but at the same time her world didn't stop spinning. She kept moving forward, even if it was on autopilot. That said, whomever was in charge of the marketing copy for this book should be smacked. The back of the book leads the reader to...more

I really enjoyed reading this one. I especially liked that Little Bee was portrayed as a realistic survivor of trauma. She wasn't just magically OK one day, but at the same time her world didn't stop spinning. She kept moving forward, even if it was on autopilot. That said, whomever was in charge of the marketing copy for this book should be smacked. The back of the book leads the reader to believe that he or she is going to be greeted with a twisty-turny plot based book, not the rather intimate character study this book is. True, things happen. But asking people not to tell what happens in this book is no different from asking people not to tell the ending of any book. A decent person already knows not to do that, so saying you don't want to say too much about what happens sets me up to expect a twist ending and be, on some level, disappointed when it doesn't appear.   hide

A thought-provoking book about a Nigerian orphan, Little Bee, and the ways in which her life becomes intertwined with a British magazine editor and her family. The backdrop to Little Bee's story is political--oil companies, corrupt governments, immigration--but the heart of it is in her relationships with the people and places she loves. The narration switches between characters; the most...more

A thought-provoking book about a Nigerian orphan, Little Bee, and the ways in which her life becomes intertwined with a British magazine editor and her family. The backdrop to Little Bee's story is political--oil companies, corrupt governments, immigration--but the heart of it is in her relationships with the people and places she loves. The narration switches between characters; the most moving parts of the book are, hands down, narrated by Little Bee. She is a survivor, deeply marked by the horror and the beauty she has experienced. At one point in the story, she says, "...I listened to stories of all kinds. Not all of them were sad. There was horror, yes, but there was joy in them too. The dreams of my country are no different from yours--they are as big as the human heart." The writing is beautiful, and if you are looking for solid character development and poetic language, you will find it here. My only complaint, and the reason I did not give the book a higher rating, is a plot twist that gets the characters where they need to be for the end of the story, but in a way that doesn't make a lot of sense.   hide

This book has some very tragic loss in it, at times I wasn't sure I wanted to get through it. However I was so fascinated to know what happened to these characters I kept going and I'm glad I did. An illegal Nigerian refugee ends up in London, intertwined with a family she met once upon a time. A story about how relationships can help in healing. A fairly quick read.

I picked this book up on a lark at the bookstore the other day, because I thought the description on the back was so intriguing yet completely unrevealing: "We don't want to tell you what happens in this book. It is truly a special story and we don't want to spoil it." So I couldn’t resist. I found the story moving, poignant, gripping, hard to put down (literally & figuratively). It puts a...more

I picked this book up on a lark at the bookstore the other day, because I thought the description on the back was so intriguing yet completely unrevealing: "We don't want to tell you what happens in this book. It is truly a special story and we don't want to spoil it." So I couldn’t resist. I found the story moving, poignant, gripping, hard to put down (literally & figuratively). It puts a real & human face on globalization, oppression, refugees, illegal immigration and police violence. One of my favorite lines is when Sarah says she wishes she were the kind of person who could not care so deeply about such grave matters – she wishes instead that she were "a woman who cared deeply about shoes and concealer." The book is fiction but based on some very real & disturbing atrocities in Nigeria (and in the UK).   hide

I was deeply, deeply moved by this book. It took me on a rollercoaster ride through my own fears. At times I had to put it down; I wasn´t able to face what could possibly come next. I strongly suggest reading this book for numerous reasons, the first of which I consider to be for it´s beauty, and the second would be for it´s apt protrayal of the greedy, comfortable ignorance of the "civilized"...more

I was deeply, deeply moved by this book. It took me on a rollercoaster ride through my own fears. At times I had to put it down; I wasn´t able to face what could possibly come next. I strongly suggest reading this book for numerous reasons, the first of which I consider to be for it´s beauty, and the second would be for it´s apt protrayal of the greedy, comfortable ignorance of the "civilized" world. There is a before and after which occurs after having read this book. You´ll see, it´s a real keeper...inside your heart where it counts.   hide

This is a five star read - I gave it four stars because it's just wrapped up too conveniently and niftily. I'm not generally a fan of cause-fic - even though there's quite a lot of very good cause-fic out there (example: Kingsolver's brilliant "Pigs in Heaven", which actually shares many plot twists and which discusses many similar issues). Cleave's writing is so crisp and good - he's found such...more

This is a five star read - I gave it four stars because it's just wrapped up too conveniently and niftily. I'm not generally a fan of cause-fic - even though there's quite a lot of very good cause-fic out there (example: Kingsolver's brilliant "Pigs in Heaven", which actually shares many plot twists and which discusses many similar issues). Cleave's writing is so crisp and good - he's found such a great voice for his characters - that, even though it's pretty clear what's going to happen (yeah, there are some great twists, but the ultimate progression is foreshadowed very early on), you want to read more. Great writing, the two main characters were brill, the other characters seemed like add-ons. Still - 4 Stars!   hide