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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
This is a horrifying book, so know that before you start. Personally, I think maybe I should have read it at a different time of my life (I'm sending that Holocaust movie back to Netflix unseen!). Still, there's no denying its power. I suppose you have to be a great writer to write a really horrifying book.
There are no heroes in this book. All the characters are maddeningly and tragically human. Sarah, in particular seems unrealistically weak at times, considering her strength at others. The characters are put in extraordinary situations, and they act like, sadly, you or I would.
I will digress here: A long time ago there was a magazine called Co-Evolution that grew out of The Whole Earth Catalog, a distinctly 60's book that was practically our bible at the time. There was a story in Co-Evolution written by a man who worked at Mother Teresa's hospice in Calcutta. He said that what struck him most about his experience is how human beings are so relative in their outlook on life. He said they would take a beggar, filthy, with almost no clothes living in the gutter, his body racked with tuberculosis. They would take him into hospice, feed him, treat him and give him clean clothes. And then, the author said, within a couple of weeks, the previous desperate beggar would be complaining that his new shirt has a small hole in it.
In a way, I think this is one of the major themes of this book. It is the story of a poor Nigerian teenager running away from horror in her country, and a well-off English magazine editor with a small son grappling with an ill-conceived marriage. By pure chance their lives become deeply entwined. They each try to save the other, but their values remain fixed in the mind-set of their own village. For each, a set-back or a tragedy is defined from their set point of reference. It's not so much that the characters see this, but that we do. How can we reconcile Sarah worrying about her son's day care situation, when we know what Little Bee has seen? But we do it every day, we just don't see it up close as Sarah has. How can we worry so deeply about our own petty issues, and forget what thousands of "Little Bees" have experienced?
My only quibble with the book is that the son's "dialect" (I don't know what else to call it), is very strange. The language mistakes he makes just don't seem to me to be the kind of mistakes that children make. It's just a small distraction in an otherwise finely-crafted, if painful to read, book.
There are no heroes in this book. All the characters are maddeningly and tragically human. Sarah, in particular seems unrealistically weak at times, considering her strength at others. The characters are put in extraordinary situations, and they act like, sadly, you or I would.
I will digress here: A long time ago there was a magazine called Co-Evolution that grew out of The Whole Earth Catalog, a distinctly 60's book that was practically our bible at the time. There was a story in Co-Evolution written by a man who worked at Mother Teresa's hospice in Calcutta. He said that what struck him most about his experience is how human beings are so relative in their outlook on life. He said they would take a beggar, filthy, with almost no clothes living in the gutter, his body racked with tuberculosis. They would take him into hospice, feed him, treat him and give him clean clothes. And then, the author said, within a couple of weeks, the previous desperate beggar would be complaining that his new shirt has a small hole in it.
In a way, I think this is one of the major themes of this book. It is the story of a poor Nigerian teenager running away from horror in her country, and a well-off English magazine editor with a small son grappling with an ill-conceived marriage. By pure chance their lives become deeply entwined. They each try to save the other, but their values remain fixed in the mind-set of their own village. For each, a set-back or a tragedy is defined from their set point of reference. It's not so much that the characters see this, but that we do. How can we reconcile Sarah worrying about her son's day care situation, when we know what Little Bee has seen? But we do it every day, we just don't see it up close as Sarah has. How can we worry so deeply about our own petty issues, and forget what thousands of "Little Bees" have experienced?
My only quibble with the book is that the son's "dialect" (I don't know what else to call it), is very strange. The language mistakes he makes just don't seem to me to be the kind of mistakes that children make. It's just a small distraction in an otherwise finely-crafted, if painful to read, book.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book for many reasons. It would have earned five stars if not for the ending. A couple of notes: I read this book while sitting on the beach in Punta Cana and watching a security guard walk back and forth across the resort. I think it really brought home the scene in Africa. Second, I read the book on the Kindle, so I didn't have any issues with a cover or a flap that other reviewers discussed.
I loved the voice of Little Bee and was disappointed when the narration switched to Sarah. Although, I appreciated the different perspectives of the same event. I found myself frequently highlighting insightful sections of the story -- the discussion of words, for example and how they split into two separate meanings or reasons why people go to horror movies.
I also loved some of Bee's descriptions -- the coin in the opening pages, her family's screams in the gasoline, the chain links dangling in the barn. Ironically, I didn't highlight very many parts of Sarah's narration.
This story will make you think about immigration, refugees, and how much you're willing to sacrifice for someone else's freedom.
There are a few reasons why I didn't give the book the last star - namely, the ending. I won't spoil it for everyone, but it didn't make any sense to me in the context of the rest of the book.
I am looking forward to discussing the book at book club!
I loved the voice of Little Bee and was disappointed when the narration switched to Sarah. Although, I appreciated the different perspectives of the same event. I found myself frequently highlighting insightful sections of the story -- the discussion of words, for example and how they split into two separate meanings or reasons why people go to horror movies.
I also loved some of Bee's descriptions -- the coin in the opening pages, her family's screams in the gasoline, the chain links dangling in the barn. Ironically, I didn't highlight very many parts of Sarah's narration.
This story will make you think about immigration, refugees, and how much you're willing to sacrifice for someone else's freedom.
There are a few reasons why I didn't give the book the last star - namely, the ending. I won't spoil it for everyone, but it didn't make any sense to me in the context of the rest of the book.
I am looking forward to discussing the book at book club!
I am quite shocked at all the negative reviews on here. Okay, yes, the blurb is a little bit annoying, but thats what made me buy the book, I wanted a mystery. I love it when you read a book and you have no idea what is going to happen.
Surely, if the plot had been outlined on the blurb, people would be complaining saying that it was slightly too predictable. You had no idea where this plot was going, unravelling the story was what was so remarkable about this book.
It is one of my favourite books, it is thought provoking and emotional, and Chris Cleave takes you on a journey. He changes the way you think.
This, to use a cliche, is one of those books where when you're finished, you look up at the world and feel slightly different.
Me, I finished this book whilst on a bus. For the remainder of the journey I sat there, stunned.
This is a beautiful book, which deserves a bit more recognition.
Read it!
Surely, if the plot had been outlined on the blurb, people would be complaining saying that it was slightly too predictable. You had no idea where this plot was going, unravelling the story was what was so remarkable about this book.
It is one of my favourite books, it is thought provoking and emotional, and Chris Cleave takes you on a journey. He changes the way you think.
This, to use a cliche, is one of those books where when you're finished, you look up at the world and feel slightly different.
Me, I finished this book whilst on a bus. For the remainder of the journey I sat there, stunned.
This is a beautiful book, which deserves a bit more recognition.
Read it!
Oh my word, am I happy to be done with this one.
The dust jacket in this book insisted I not cheat and research its plot prior to having read it, and now that I have, it implores me not to reveal anything about its contents. I have to say that having read it with no knowledge of it beforehand other than that my sister read it and liked it, I have to agree with the dust jacket on this one. It was kind of wonderful reading something without having all these expectations, back-stories, and spoilers. So all I'm going to say is that it was good and let my 4 stars speak for themselves.
Love, love Little Bee's voice and little Batman. Eye opening and thought provoking book that reads like a memoir on a Nigerian girl's heartbreak in her own country and then detention / naturalization efforts in the UK. The strength of the story is the transcendental power of the acts of love by and for Little Bee and how she inadvertently awakens Sara from her selfishness. Many times I sigh and shake my head at best-sellers, but not this one. This one I get -- don't miss it.
Enjoyable read but hard at parts. I felt like he did really try to explore the refugee crisis but, especially in Little Bee’s chapters, I really had the feeling of reading a white mans interpretation of an African girl. Inconsistencies with her knowledge/character. I wished that I saw more of her cunning, like she showed with Lawrence. Sad ending but expected.
I was underwhelmed by this book. I kept waiting for "more to happen". While the basis for the relationship between the two characters is interesting, I felt that the story line never was developed well enough to go anywhere.
I enjoyed this book but I did not like the ending. I feel that it just stopped with no closure.
This is one of those books that transports you out of your safe first-world life and awakens you to the honest and sometimes terrifying reality of life in other places and cultures. I firmly believe it is important for us all to pick up stories like this from time to time so that we never become blind to or ignorant of the reality of the human beings living in our world.