Laila Haerian's Reviews > Little Bee
Little Bee
by Chris Cleave (Goodreads Author)
by Chris Cleave (Goodreads Author)
** spoiler alert **
Things that I really liked:
The real name of little bee was not revealed until the very end of the book and its meaning was so relevant to the whole story.
Little bee kept saying throughout the book how she found it difficult to explain the stuff to girls back home (mostly things she saw or experienced in England), at the end of the book when she saw white blonde Charlie playing happily with black Nigerian kids at the beach, she described it as "Beautiful" and felt that finally here was something she didn't need to explain to the girls back home since they would also find it beautiful.
Little bee was always feeling unsafe and imagining how she could kill herself in different situations if the men suddenly came, (sometimes she was imagining herself in funny situations like in a party with the queen of England). At the very end of the book, when “the men” finally got her, she felt calm and peaceful and that was because she found herself as a small price for her story and similar stories to be told and re-told.
One might think that the story was too much of a coincidence … but then I think all of the horrible stories in real life are somehow odd and unique in their own way!
Liked:
“We must see all scars as beauty. Okay? This will be our secret. Because take it from me, a scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, 'I survived'.”
"Little bee told me that her big sister was a very pretty girl. She was the kind of girl the men said could make them forget their troubles. She was the kind of girl the women said was trouble. Little bee wondered which it was going to be?"
"Tea is the taste of my land: it is bitter and warm, strong, and sharp with memory. It tastes of longing. It tastes of the distance between where you are and where you come from. Also it vanishes — the taste of it vanishes from your tongue while your lips are still hot from the cup. It disappears, like plantations stretching up into the mist. I have heard that your country drinks more tea than any other. How sad that must make you — like children who long for absent mothers. I am sorry."
"What is “yours” real name? He whispered. I smiled, "My name is Udo", Udo means peace. ... Peace is a time when people can tell each other their real names.
...
The soldiers were walking across the sand toward us now. They were walking slowly, with their rifles in their hands pointing down at the sand, … “
"If your face is swollen from the severe beatings of life, smile and pretend to be a fat man." (Nigerian proverb)
The real name of little bee was not revealed until the very end of the book and its meaning was so relevant to the whole story.
Little bee kept saying throughout the book how she found it difficult to explain the stuff to girls back home (mostly things she saw or experienced in England), at the end of the book when she saw white blonde Charlie playing happily with black Nigerian kids at the beach, she described it as "Beautiful" and felt that finally here was something she didn't need to explain to the girls back home since they would also find it beautiful.
Little bee was always feeling unsafe and imagining how she could kill herself in different situations if the men suddenly came, (sometimes she was imagining herself in funny situations like in a party with the queen of England). At the very end of the book, when “the men” finally got her, she felt calm and peaceful and that was because she found herself as a small price for her story and similar stories to be told and re-told.
One might think that the story was too much of a coincidence … but then I think all of the horrible stories in real life are somehow odd and unique in their own way!
Liked:
“We must see all scars as beauty. Okay? This will be our secret. Because take it from me, a scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, 'I survived'.”
"Little bee told me that her big sister was a very pretty girl. She was the kind of girl the men said could make them forget their troubles. She was the kind of girl the women said was trouble. Little bee wondered which it was going to be?"
"Tea is the taste of my land: it is bitter and warm, strong, and sharp with memory. It tastes of longing. It tastes of the distance between where you are and where you come from. Also it vanishes — the taste of it vanishes from your tongue while your lips are still hot from the cup. It disappears, like plantations stretching up into the mist. I have heard that your country drinks more tea than any other. How sad that must make you — like children who long for absent mothers. I am sorry."
"What is “yours” real name? He whispered. I smiled, "My name is Udo", Udo means peace. ... Peace is a time when people can tell each other their real names.
...
The soldiers were walking across the sand toward us now. They were walking slowly, with their rifles in their hands pointing down at the sand, … “
"If your face is swollen from the severe beatings of life, smile and pretend to be a fat man." (Nigerian proverb)
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Quotes Laila Liked
“I ask you right here please to agree with me that a scar is never ugly. That is what the scar makers want us to think. But you and I, we must make an agreement to defy them. We must see all scars as beauty. Okay? This will be our secret. Because take it from me, a scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, I survived.”
― Chris Cleave, Little Bee
― Chris Cleave, Little Bee
