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spookydook's review against another edition
4.0
Little Bee is not the usual book that I would pick up to read but Im glad I gave it a chance. Little Bee is a story of a Nigerian Refugee who met a English couple vacationing on a beach in Nigeria while being chased by hunters hired by oil companies to kill her, what happens that day goes on to haunt Little Bee as well as Sara and Andrew the English couple forever. Later Little Bee unites with Sara after spending more then 2 years in immigration detention outside of London. They go on to help each other understand what happened on that day at the beach. While this book didnt wow me, i truely enjoyed the good read. It kept my attention to the end.
abbywebb's review
2.0
Intrigued by the description insert, although it really wasn't descriptive. But I think that's what it seemed intriguing in the first place.
Alas, intriguing the story was not. A little slow, perhaps. A tad winding, maybe. Confusingly anticlimatic, definitely.
This was the story of two women: one widowed British mother of a 4 year old "Batman" child and one young illegal refugee from Nigeria. You think you could take two such characters and create an interesting and perhaps even thought-provoking story, but I think Chris Cleave missed the mark.
Oh yah, and when I expected funny and witty it was simply not. The cover jacket fooled me on this.
Not altogether terrible, but certainly not something to recommend to the local book club. Read it if you want, just don't come complaining to me if you end up drawing similar conclusions. This book is meant for some and not others. I fall in the latter category.
Alas, intriguing the story was not. A little slow, perhaps. A tad winding, maybe. Confusingly anticlimatic, definitely.
This was the story of two women: one widowed British mother of a 4 year old "Batman" child and one young illegal refugee from Nigeria. You think you could take two such characters and create an interesting and perhaps even thought-provoking story, but I think Chris Cleave missed the mark.
Oh yah, and when I expected funny and witty it was simply not. The cover jacket fooled me on this.
Not altogether terrible, but certainly not something to recommend to the local book club. Read it if you want, just don't come complaining to me if you end up drawing similar conclusions. This book is meant for some and not others. I fall in the latter category.
leannecoppola's review against another edition
2.0
Hmmm...I couldn't put this down, but it's a tough subject matter. At times very gruesome and nightmare material. Not sure if I can recommend this book.
tishywishy's review against another edition
4.0
Riveting novel. The characters are engaging and the story line is about as realistic as it gets. It highlights the ongoing human struggle to live freely, without fear, the consequences of our actions and what happens when those on the outside of those newspaper headlines are thrown into the lives of those whose needs are based on survival.
aideenwalshe's review against another edition
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
taymac_and_cheese's review against another edition
challenging
informative
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
lastpaige111's review
4.0
Do I EVER read anything that ISN'T DEPRESSING??
Gorgeous little book. Excellent assignment for high school juniors/seniors or even an intro to lit class at college level.
Gorgeous little book. Excellent assignment for high school juniors/seniors or even an intro to lit class at college level.
lawrierl's review
4.0
I clicked three stars, then four, then three and finally settled on four. I liked this book. The story was touching but it wasn't the gut buster that the book cover said it was going to be.
book_concierge's review against another edition
2.0
2.5**
This is the story of a Nigerian woman, hardly more than a girl, and the British couple who came across her on the beach, what they witnessed and what they wish to forget. When the book was published there was a great deal of hype about the great secret happening on the beach and none of the reviews gave away anything of the plot, leaving the potential readers to imagine all sorts of atrocities. What actually happened is revealed about mid-way through the book. It is both “not as bad as” and “worse than” what the reader might have imagined.
Cleave alternates narrators from chapter to chapter. The book begins two years after “that day on the beach.” Little Bee starts by recounting her days in the immigration detention center outside London, and her release from there. Sarah then picks up her story as a young widow. There is considerable flashback, but Cleave handles this device with skill and it does not strike the reader as choppy or disconnected. There ARE questions of course; the two narrators do not know everything about each other, so their stories each have some missing information and discrepancies between the two. None of this hurts the narrative, however.
On the other hand, Cleave does not do so good a job of differentiating the voices here. Little Bee has spent a great deal of time learning “the Queen’s English” because she believes it will help her gain asylum and release from the detention center. As a result, unless the reader remembers that the narrator changes each chapter, it can be confusing.
Little Bee is likeable, though she makes some odd choices and suffers great guilt as a result. Sarah, however, is a selfish woman who can’t seem to decide what she wants and leaves a path of destruction behind her as she careens through life. Over and over again she makes foolish decisions, and seems totally oblivious to how her actions impact others. But what really soured me on the book was that I felt Cleave couldn’t decide what kind of book he was writing. Is he writing an expose of big oil’s corrupt practices in the developing world? Is he writing a story of a broken marriage and how one partner tries to survive her guilt? Or is he writing a novel about a young girl’s journey from a horrific life towards a future full of potential? And what’s with the whole Batman business?
Flosnik’s narration on the audio book does help to differentiate the two women. However, she reads at a pace that is so S L O W that it drove me crazy. I’m sure that is part of the reason I didn’t like the book as much as many others.
The book closes with a Nigerian proverb: “If your face is swollen from the severe beatings of life, smile and pretend to be a fat man.” While there are few moments of very good writing, by the end of this book I am I pretending to be a fat man.
This is the story of a Nigerian woman, hardly more than a girl, and the British couple who came across her on the beach, what they witnessed and what they wish to forget. When the book was published there was a great deal of hype about the great secret happening on the beach and none of the reviews gave away anything of the plot, leaving the potential readers to imagine all sorts of atrocities. What actually happened is revealed about mid-way through the book. It is both “not as bad as” and “worse than” what the reader might have imagined.
Cleave alternates narrators from chapter to chapter. The book begins two years after “that day on the beach.” Little Bee starts by recounting her days in the immigration detention center outside London, and her release from there. Sarah then picks up her story as a young widow. There is considerable flashback, but Cleave handles this device with skill and it does not strike the reader as choppy or disconnected. There ARE questions of course; the two narrators do not know everything about each other, so their stories each have some missing information and discrepancies between the two. None of this hurts the narrative, however.
On the other hand, Cleave does not do so good a job of differentiating the voices here. Little Bee has spent a great deal of time learning “the Queen’s English” because she believes it will help her gain asylum and release from the detention center. As a result, unless the reader remembers that the narrator changes each chapter, it can be confusing.
Little Bee is likeable, though she makes some odd choices and suffers great guilt as a result. Sarah, however, is a selfish woman who can’t seem to decide what she wants and leaves a path of destruction behind her as she careens through life. Over and over again she makes foolish decisions, and seems totally oblivious to how her actions impact others. But what really soured me on the book was that I felt Cleave couldn’t decide what kind of book he was writing. Is he writing an expose of big oil’s corrupt practices in the developing world? Is he writing a story of a broken marriage and how one partner tries to survive her guilt? Or is he writing a novel about a young girl’s journey from a horrific life towards a future full of potential? And what’s with the whole Batman business?
Flosnik’s narration on the audio book does help to differentiate the two women. However, she reads at a pace that is so S L O W that it drove me crazy. I’m sure that is part of the reason I didn’t like the book as much as many others.
The book closes with a Nigerian proverb: “If your face is swollen from the severe beatings of life, smile and pretend to be a fat man.” While there are few moments of very good writing, by the end of this book I am I pretending to be a fat man.
iceangel32's review against another edition
3.0
This book gets a 3 out of 5 because I was able to put it down and not think about it or yearn for more. I can not pinpoint a reason for that. Maybe i was not to intrested in the subject matter or the book was too deep and meaningful when I could have used an easier read right now.
However the book was very well written. I liked the way we where able to read both women's perspectives, till the end. I wish that they gave Sarah more of a voice at the end.
Overall a good read of two women's lives that collided and how they were both forever changed =).
However the book was very well written. I liked the way we where able to read both women's perspectives, till the end. I wish that they gave Sarah more of a voice at the end.
Overall a good read of two women's lives that collided and how they were both forever changed =).