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arianelaxo 's review for:
Little Bee
by Chris Cleave
Non-stop action, this book keeps you deeply enthralled. I was, however, challenged by what did not appear to be deep research by the white author on his Nigerian characters. Perhaps the timing of my reading this book immediately after finishing Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is part of what made this incredibly apparent to me. The depth of the Nigerian characters was limited to their experience in war, colored by very little other personal characteristics. This is typical of white western authors telling the single story of how awful conditions are in Africa - and it felt uncomfortable and apparent throughout.
While the story kept me captured, it made me question who gets to write stories about various cultures. The book I was reading had a review comparing it to "The Kite Runner" - yet how can anyone compare a white author writing about Nigerian refugees to Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini writing about what he knows, experienced, grew up with?
This book is an example of how we as readers can question intention, appropriateness, and representation when choosing authors to support and their books to read.
While the story kept me captured, it made me question who gets to write stories about various cultures. The book I was reading had a review comparing it to "The Kite Runner" - yet how can anyone compare a white author writing about Nigerian refugees to Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini writing about what he knows, experienced, grew up with?
This book is an example of how we as readers can question intention, appropriateness, and representation when choosing authors to support and their books to read.