Little Bee

Little Bee

By Chris Cleave

Little Bee is the story of two women, one a refugee from Nigeria and the other a well-to-do working mother from England. The back of the book tells me not to give away any details- so I won’t. You’ll thank me later.

How can I give you an adequate description without many details? Let’s see- immigration laws, violence, western media vs. third world current events, ignorance, cowardice, bravery, selfishness, guilt, language, culture, strength, family, and hope.

Yes, I know these terms are extremely vague but it is the best I can do under the circumstances.

If you know the details, it will ruin the emotional journey of the book. I can be a total asshole, yes, but even I wouldn’t want to do that to you.

This book is definitely worth your time. I wasn’t sure what to expect because, like many of the books I review on this blog, it was a gift from my mom who doesn’t explain anything about the book- just generously gives it and waits for a review. She usually doesn’t set me up for disappointment (Confessions of a Shopaholic being the true exception).

Little Bee is touching and powerful and will leave you analyzing your own view of the world and of those who are displaced for whatever reason. It will leave you asking a lot of questions and perhaps facing hard realizations when you question what you would do- whose story is most like yours.

If I had to nit-pick, and you know I do, I found the ending to be a bit rushed. The entire narrative savors each moment but, suddenly, weeks fly by in just a paragraph. I understand that Cleave wanted to bring me to his big final moment but god damn.

Truthfully, I wrote about eight endings to this review, each declaring in some poetic way how this novel will affect you. Let’s let the book bring the beauty and I will just be blunt- READ LITTLE BEE!!!