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The Other Hand

Chris Cleave (Goodreads Author)

3.71 · Rating details · 226,917 ratings · 21,377 reviews

From the author of the international bestseller Incendiary comes a haunting novel about the tenuous friendship that blooms between two disparate strangers—one an illegal Nigerian refugee, the other a recent widow from suburban London.

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Hardcover, 355 pages

Published by Sceptre (first published August 7th 2008)

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Feb 26, 2009 Michelle rated it did not like it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I wanted to like Little Bee. The reviews for it are exceptional. Book List starred it, Amazon named it among their “February Best of the Month” picks, O Magazine fondly mentions it. I mean come on, Library Journal labels it “the next Kite Runner” for goodness sakes! I couldn’t wait to be swept away. And I was… for the first couple of chapters. Little Bee’s character came on very strong and distinct. I felt like I could pick her out of a crowd and guess what she was thinking. But I gradually star I wanted to like Little Bee. The reviews for it are exceptional. Book List starred it, Amazon named it among their “February Best of the Month” picks, O Magazine fondly mentions it. I mean come on, Library Journal labels it “the next Kite Runner” for goodness sakes! I couldn’t wait to be swept away. And I was… for the first couple of chapters. Little Bee’s character came on very strong and distinct. I felt like I could pick her out of a crowd and guess what she was thinking. But I gradually started rolling my eyes and questioning plot details and characterization.

For example, Sarah’s mom and sister are briefly mentioned; they come to her house after the funeral, but she begs them to leave her alone. There’s no mention of their reaction to the fact that there is suddenly a Nigerian girl living at her house. ???

Also, according to the timeline description it seems that Charlie begins wearing the Batman costume before his father passes. It would make more sense if he began wearing it after the passing based on his reasons for wearing it. ???

And seriously, the cops caught Little Bee because she was at the scene of Charlie’s near disappearance? Seriously?

Sarah’s relationship with Lawrence is odd, Charlie draws conclusions unbelieving for a four year old, and the ending is rushed and unmoving. There’s just this hokey feel to it that I couldn’t get past.

This is the first time ever for me that I could tell that the author was not the same sex as his main characters, more so when it came to Sarah rather than Little Bee. The way Sarah thinks, the things she says, her observations, and even her interactions with her son just don’t make sense. It is clear that Cleave failed to unearth his female voice.

Speaking of voice, Little Bee’s chapters were much more convincing and enjoyable than Sarah’s. The entire book written from Little Bee’s point of view would have probably been a much better read.

I’m not giving this book only 1 star because it was too sad, or too graphic, or too haunting. It just fell flat. It wasn’t convincing. All the ends didn’t meet nor were all the i’s dotted, t’s crossed. It just didn’t do it for me, and it is most certainly NOT the next Kite Runner. Good grief, it doesn’t even compare. ...more

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Sep 30, 2008 Christopher rated it liked it

I would have ranked this higher, were it not for the ridiculous hype on the jacket and the annoying Editor's letter at the front; all of which tell me that is book will change my life, that it's a masterpiece. This book stands on its own without needing it.

I also pretty fundamentally disagreed with the assertion that "it's hilarious - although the scene on the African beach is horrific".

This is not a 'hilarious' book - it is one of the most challenging reads I have had this year. It tells the de ...more

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Feb 08, 2009 Eleanor rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Chris Cleave's ability to float effortlessly between two distinct ethnic voices (Little Bee, a refugee from Nigeria, and Sarah, a young widow in England) as their stories spin out and around and through one another was nearly mystical.

Years before this book opens, the lives of Sarah and Little Bee violently collided on a beach in Nigeria, and when sheer determination and courage bring them back together again every secret of their hearts is unfolded before our eyes.

I found myself reading and rer ...more

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Mar 17, 2010 Tina rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. **SPOILERS**
In a way I feel sorry for Chris Cleave ... I wonder how he felt after seeing what the publishing and marketing machine crafted as the back cover promo copy for his book. Really. Not that I would have liked the book more had they not been so brash and marketing machine-y, but I may have given it more of a fair chance.

“We don’t want to tell you WHAT HAPPENS in this book. It is a truly SPECIAL STORY and we don’t want to spoil it. NEVERTHELESS, you need to know enough to buy it, so we w **SPOILERS**
In a way I feel sorry for Chris Cleave ... I wonder how he felt after seeing what the publishing and marketing machine crafted as the back cover promo copy for his book. Really. Not that I would have liked the book more had they not been so brash and marketing machine-y, but I may have given it more of a fair chance.

“We don’t want to tell you WHAT HAPPENS in this book. It is a truly SPECIAL STORY and we don’t want to spoil it. NEVERTHELESS, you need to know enough to buy it, so we will just say this. This is the story of two women. Their lives collide one fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice, the kind of choice we hope you never have t face. Two years later, they meet again—the story starts there… Once you’ve read it, you will want to tell your friends what happens. The magic is in how the story unfolds.”

I cry foul. The story unfolds as other stories unfold. Nothing is surprising, nothing happens that you could not see coming chapters earlier. There is nothing new in this book ... not in terms of writing, not in terms of plot, not in terms of structure. I understand the publishing behemoth and the machinations it goes through to build a buzz. It’s just so full of itself sometimes that I want to scream into a pillow. And this was one of those times I wanted to scream into a pillow.

LITTLE BEE is remarkably average. It is a book ripe for Oprah book club picking … if there’s a heart sting to pull, the author makes a go of it. But instead of tugging at my heartstrings, the book makes a relentless grab, the threads unraveling until any feeling I was holding for the characters was gone and I was left feeling threadbare. I know horrible things happen in Nigeria and countless other countries. I just didn’t like the parade of clichés rolled out by LITTLE BEE in an effort to drive home the point.

No character was a surprise. Sarah is the young, strong, career-minded, wealthy, white, British woman who runs her own fashion magazine … struggling (ever-so-not-convincingly) with losing her former self as a "real" journalist . . . having a long-term affair with a man that began w/in 30 minutes of her meeting him . . . having a husband that kills himself after that "terrible choice" on that "fateful day" on the beach in Nigeria, where they were trying to "save their marriage" . . . having a son who ever-so-quirkily will only dress in Batman costume and insists on being called Batman (and who, at four or five, can’t seem to speak beyond the level of a 2-1/2 year old). I couldn’t stand her. Sarah comes to learn some very important life lessons from Little Bee, a Nigerian refugee and orphan. Little Bee escapes the horrors of Nigeria and a detention center and finds her way to the middle of an idyllic white setting, where Cleave puts her on a mission to absolve guilt and change lives.

Cleave tells the story in the voices of Little Bee and Sarah, in alternating chapters. For the first few of Little Bee’s chapters I enjoyed his writing and found his characterization strong. I never liked Sarah’s chapters; I never believed in her as a person. She was a woman full of stereotype written by a man who perhaps should have written from a man’s perspective. Women writing as men, men writing as women . . . it rarely works out very well. But Little Bee’s character is much more gender neutral, and I think that’s why it works better for Cleave. When Little Bee would talk of finding a way to kill herself in any situation, in case the men came, I believed it. When Little Bee talked of telling the story to the girls back at home, I imagined how hard it really would be to relate the events to someone in that distant land.

Overall, I found the book contrived and patronizing. As someone said in another review: "Little Bee's story is brutal and important, and yet it is filled with eye-rolling cutesiness and an unnecessary amount of predictable padding. Too sweet for this reader." I'd have to agree. Rumor has it the book's being made into a movie, which isn't surprising.

All that said, I know I will still recommend it to a number of my customers, because I know they will love it. And I guess that's the art of the handsell . . . recommending what fits a customer, not what you wish would fit him/her.

...more

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Mar 06, 2020 Adina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club, nigeria, british, historical-fiction

“A scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, ‘I survived’”

I have a problem with the compulsive acquisition of e-books and it is a bit out of control. I currently own 215 un-read books on my Kindle and I plan to do something about it. For now, I chose 10 of the earliest bought books and give them 20%. If I like them fine, if not I will not read further. No 2nd chances or let’s try a few more pages. Little Bee is the first book I chose and I am so happy I finally got to it after more than 4 y “A scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, ‘I survived’”

I have a problem with the compulsive acquisition of e-books and it is a bit out of control. I currently own 215 un-read books on my Kindle and I plan to do something about it. For now, I chose 10 of the earliest bought books and give them 20%. If I like them fine, if not I will not read further. No 2nd chances or let’s try a few more pages. Little Bee is the first book I chose and I am so happy I finally got to it after more than 4 years. LE: I also have around 100 un-read real books so do not think I have that problem solved.

I loved the experience of reading this novel although it was not always an easy feat, despite the ardent need to turn just one more page. It reads as a thriller in a way, that is one of the reasons the blurb tells the reader not to give away too much of the plot. And I won’t.

The novel is written from the point of view of two characters, a young Nigerien girl just released from a refugee detention center and an English woman, married and mother of a young boy Charlie. Their accidental encounter on a beach in Nigeria sets in motion tragic events. The clever use of gaps in narratives made me turn the page to find out more and the interest was also kept alive by the alternation between the two voices, very different from one another perfectly complimentary.

I read some critical reviews about the narrative voice of the young girl, Little Bee. They say that nobody talks like that and I agree. However, not many people talk like in most books, especially literary fiction. Let’s take another example, the much praised Ducks, Newburyport. The books consist of the interior monologue of a housewife in Ohio. I can bet on anything that there isn’t one person in the world that thinks like that. I was listening to Marlon James’ podcasts and at one point he says that Trashy Novels are the only books where dialogues actually are written as the people talk and I tend to agree with him.

Some quotes:

“Death, of course, is a refuge. It’s where you go when a new name, or a mask and cape, can no longer hide you from yourself. It’s where you run to when none of the principalities of your conscience will grant you asylum.”
“Horror in your country is something you take a dose of to remind yourself that you are not suffering from it.” ...more

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Feb 18, 2009 Laurie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, fiction

I generally pass on books written by a man in the voice of a woman. And a white man writing in a black woman's voice? No, thanks. But this book gives nothing away up front, and I was hooked before I could worry much about the writer's intentions.

The chapters alternate between Little Bee, a Nigerian refugee, and Sarah, an English suburban mom. They are drawn together under extraordinary circumstances, and I found myself regularly surprised by the turn of events. I didn't know how things were goin ...more

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Jan 05, 2010 Becky rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, bad-shit-and-atrocities, social-justice, reviewed

I had hoped this would be a really incredible gut-wrencher, heartbreaker of a book, but I feel like it didn't really live up to the potential it had. Like it was a little scattered and unfocused, so instead of showing us exactly what we should see, we are instead shown the things that lie around the thing that we should see, and we have to put the picture of the thing together on our own.

If this book had just been about the relationship of two women who share a horrible event in their history, I had hoped this would be a really incredible gut-wrencher, heartbreaker of a book, but I feel like it didn't really live up to the potential it had. Like it was a little scattered and unfocused, so instead of showing us exactly what we should see, we are instead shown the things that lie around the thing that we should see, and we have to put the picture of the thing together on our own.

If this book had just been about the relationship of two women who share a horrible event in their history, then this could have been a great book for me. But the 'issues' that were folded into this story left me feeling a little unsatisfied. One needs to be ballsy when dealing with these kinds of issues, if one is going to include them in their book. One needs to be willing to make it REAL, to make the reader ache for the characters that go through the things you show them. I've read a lot of gut-wrenching books. I was hoping that this would be one that would make me sit up and take notice... but it didn't.

I didn't really feel like I could identify with any of the characters. Little Bee was a bit of an anomaly, being where she's been and where she is now. I found it hard to really understand her, even though it's apparent that she's meant to bridge the gap between her world and ours and allow us to empathize for those enduring such cruelty. But I didn't GET her, even though I mostly liked her and had my fingers crossed that she'd be OK. Sarah wasn't much better for me, either. I could understand her better, but I didn't like her. I thought that she was incredibly selfish and uncaring in her "Suburban Early-30s Professional" life. The way she derailed Little Bee's story with her own petty concerns and tedious details (those about her career and Lawrence) annoyed me. I understand the point to the story, I do, I just didn't care because I didn't much like her. She did grow up and mature over the course of the book, but the damage was done.

All of this is not to say that this book isn't good. It is, but it's JUST good. It works out that way sometimes. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book - the writing is gorgeous, and there are so many lines that are quotable gems strewn throughout... but great novels are more than just pretty words. I had hoped to really experience this one, to be thrown into the lives of these women and see something amazing through their eyes. I didn't get that, but for the potential and the beautiful writing, this gets a two. If it had been gutsy, and been focused, it could have easily been a five star book. Too bad. ...more

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Sep 26, 2019 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, 21th-century, african, culture, historical, british, literature

Little Bee, Chris Cleave

The Other Hand, also known as Little Bee, is a 2008 novel by British author Chris Cleave. It is a dual narrative story about a Nigerian asylum-seeker and a British magazine editor, who meet during the oil conflict in the Niger Delta, and are re-united in England several years later.

Cleave, inspired as a university student by his temporary employment in an asylum detention center, wrote the book in an attempt to humanize the plight of asylum-seekers in Britain. The novel Little Bee, Chris Cleave

The Other Hand, also known as Little Bee, is a 2008 novel by British author Chris Cleave. It is a dual narrative story about a Nigerian asylum-seeker and a British magazine editor, who meet during the oil conflict in the Niger Delta, and are re-united in England several years later.

Cleave, inspired as a university student by his temporary employment in an asylum detention center, wrote the book in an attempt to humanize the plight of asylum-seekers in Britain. The novel examines the treatment of refugees by the asylum system, as well as issues of British colonialism, globalization, political violence and personal accountability. ...

Using alternating first-person perspectives, the novel tells the stories of Little Bee, a Nigerian refugee, and Sarah O'Rourke (née Summers), a magazine editor from Surrey.

After spending two years detained in a British immigration detention centre, Little Bee is illegally released after a fellow refugee performs sexual favours for a detention officer.

She travels to the home of Sarah and her husband Andrew, whom she met two years previously on a beach in the Niger Delta. Sarah is initially unaware of Little Bee's presence, until Andrew, haunted by guilt of their shared past, commits suicide. Little Bee reveals herself to Sarah on the day of Andrew's funeral, and helps her to care for her four-year-old son Charlie. Through a mutual reflection on their past, it is revealed that Sarah and Andrew were on holiday at the time of their meeting with Little Bee.

The trip was an attempt to salvage their marriage after Andrew discovered Sarah had been unfaithful to him, embarking on an affair with Home Office employee Lawrence Osborn. While walking on the beach one morning, they were approached by a then 14-year-old Little Bee, and her older sister Nkiruka.

The girls were being pursued by soldiers who had burned down their village and intended for there to be no witnesses left alive. The soldiers arrived and murdered a guard from the O'Rourkes' hotel, but offered to spare the lives of the girls if Andrew would amputate his own middle finger with a machete. Afraid, and believing the soldiers would murder the girls anyway, Andrew refused, but Sarah complied in his place. The soldiers took both girls away, leaving the couple in doubt as to whether the soldiers would leave one girl alive in response, as they promised. ...

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز بیستم ماه سپتامبر سال 2019 میلادی

عنوان: یودو، دختری از نیجریه؛ نویسنده کریس کلیو؛ مترجم الهه شمس‌نژاد؛ تهران انتشارات مروارید، ‏‫1397؛ در 326ص؛ شابک 989641916024؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان بریتانیایی - سده 21م

‬داستان زندگی دو زن است که در یک روز سرنوشتساز زندگیشان به هم گره میخورد.؛ یکی از آنها مجبور به گزینشی دشوار میشود، گزینشی که ای کاش کسی مجبور به آن نباشد.؛ دو سال بعد، دوباره یکدیگر را دیدار میکنند، و داستان از همانجا آغاز میشود.؛ رویدادهای این رمان در «انگلستان» و «نیجریه» می‌گذرد، و با وجود اینکه رویدادهای داستان واقعی هستند، اما آنها توسط شخصیت‌هایی خیالی روایت شده اند.؛ با این وجود این رمان از سوی منتقدان به عنوان اثری که برای بسیاری از پناهجویان داستانی آشنا دارد، معرفی شده است

نقل نمونه متن: «من زنی متولد شده زیر چراغ مهتابی توی اتاق زیرزمین بازداشتگاه پناهندگان، در چهل کیلومتری شرق لندن هستم.؛ اون‌جا هیچ فصلی احساس نمی‌شد.؛ همیشه سرد سرد بود، و کسی رو نداشتم تا بهش لبخند بزنم.؛ یه دختر افریقایی، کودک فقیری که در مرکز بازداشتگاه مهاجران و پناهندگان زندانی بود، و هرگز قصد فرار نکرد.؛ تنها کاری که کرده، زانوهاشو توی شکمش جمع کرده، و تا چونه‌ اش بالا آورده، و در خودش حلقه زده؛ و این زنی که از بازداشتگاه آزاد کردن، این موجودی که امروز هستم، یه گونه‌ ی جدید از انسانه.»؛ پایان نقل

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 21/05/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی ...more

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Feb 09, 2009 karen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: distant-lands

i can't say anything about the plot of this book because the dust jacket pleads with me not to and i am nothing if not obedient. (but you can read plot points in all the other reviews by rebels) i will say i loved it enough to order in and set aside his earlier book, which had never called out to me before. and this is my favorite cover ... ever.

come to my blog! ...more

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May 09, 2010 smetchie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to smetchie by: Jamie Chamberlin

Shelves: book-club, listening-is-just-different, cover-crushes

Have you ever met someone you idolized? (An artist or singer, maybe. Someone super talented or brilliant or famous.) But then when you met them in person you found out they were lame? What a rip-off!

That’s sort of how I feel about this book.

It's the story of two women and how their lives converge. Little Bee is a 16-year-old Nigerian refugee who has seen her entire village and family brutally murdered. Sarah is a 30-something suburbanite juggling career and family. The two women met once on a be ...more

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Feb 12, 2009 Jeanette (Again) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Jeanette (Again) by: TKE

Shelves: africa, europe-and-british-isles, four-star-fiction, all-fiction

This book WILL:

1)Make you laugh hysterically.
2)Disturb you mightily.
3)Make you think A LOT.
4)Make you examine your conscience,(provided you actually have one to examine). Especially with regard to immigration issues and the tendency of wealthier nations to throw money at every problem in the hopes of making it go away.

This book MAY:

1)Horrify you.
2)Make you angry.
3)Shock you.
4)Make you cry.

The basic story involves the relationship that develops between Little Bee, a Nigerian refugee girl, and Sa ...more

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Mar 13, 2010 Petra-X Off having adventures rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, reviewed

This is a book you should buy and not borrow from the library. Just to reward the author for such an amazing and exhilarating experience. Its as much like watching a film as it reading a book because the writing is so extraordinarily good (and clever). And this review is so dry because the author wants nothing of his book revealed. "The magic is in the way the story unfolds," he's said, and yes, it is.

And I am sooo going to enjoy hand-selling people this book in my shop. I will have so many hap ...more

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May 04, 2010 Laurel rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I would have to disagree with the back cover's claim that this book is "often hilarious." This book is anything but hilarious. While there are indeed moments of light reprieve through Little Bee's witty observations and Charlie's adamant insistence of keeping his Batman costume on at all times (to ward off the "baddies"), this book is much more often dark and disturbing.

Briefly, the book centers around a British couple with a troubled marriage who, while vacationing on the beaches of Nigeria in ...more

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Sep 21, 2009 Aimee rated it it was ok

Isn't it funny when novels from their origin countries are marketed in the ol' U. S. of A. under a different title because it will 'sell better'. I can just imagine the pain the author must feel when they find that the title that represents their book seems as if it's just not good enough for the American public. I can think of a few such occasions where such a thing has happened:

*Northern Lights, by Philip Pullman = The Golden Compass.

*Harry Potter and Philosopher's Stone, by J.K. Rowling = Har ...more

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Aug 24, 2018 Dorie - Cats&Books :) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Loved this book. Re-read today.

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Mar 13, 2017 Sharon rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own-read

I've had this book sitting on my bookshelf for a couple of years now and I don't know why I haven't picked it up before now. Covering a range of subjects this book is beautifully written in my opinion.

A terrific story of friendship between two people who were complete strangers. Reading about their lives takes the reader on a journey that will not only have you turning the pages, but it will also leave you wanting more. I have no hesitation recommending this book.
...more

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Aug 01, 2016 PattyMacDotComma rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: award-win-listed, chcc-library, africa, fiction-adult, politics-culture-social, favourites-adult

5★+
“Most days I wish I was a British pound coin instead of an African girl. Everyone would be pleased to see me coming. Maybe I would visit with you for the weekend and then suddenly, because I am fickle like that, I would visit with the man from the corner shop instead—but you would not be sad because you would be eating a cinnamon bun, or drinking a cold Coca Cola from the can, and you would never think of me again . . . It can cross deserts and oceans and leave the sound of gunfire and the bi ...more

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Jul 29, 2011 Elyse Walters rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, fiction, africa

Wonderful book. I don't know why I waited! It worked the way the author used 2 narrators to tell this story.

The little boy's character was a brilliant contribution --- Adults are no different (we just don't wear our Batman outfit every day). But aren't we always looking for ways to comfort ourselves? Ways to find inner peace? Ways to protect ourselves and those we love?

My respect for this author is HIGH! ...more

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May 26, 2013 Adira rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: books-about-europe, books-about-traveling, african-american-literature, coming-of-age, own-a-copy, books-read-in-2014, kickbutt-heroines, library-book, saw-on-youtube, books-about-africa

I didn't really enjoy this book. The vague synopsis on the back of the book built the story up to be something that it eventually did not live up to.

On it's back cover, Cleave promises the reader that the way his story unfolds will be "magic" and that you will want to tell all your friends about it. While he is partially right in the fact that I do want to share my thoughts with all my [goodreads] friends, it is not for the reason that he thinks I should.

The way that Cleave crafted his story f ...more

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Nov 30, 2011 Michelle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Amazing!Totally totally loved this book. Everyone should read this book but i warn you ... once you start its really hard to stop reading it!

My favourite from all Chris Cleave's books. ...more

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Mar 06, 2009 Sara rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

The first three pages of this book deserve 5 stars. Absolutely. Little Bee is an excellent narrator and they were positively engaging/hilarious/touching/curiosity-inducing.

After that, the story gets pretty heavy. That's not a problem, but it struck me as a uncomfortably incongruous with the cutesy publisher's note on the front book jacket flap. It's got a coy little tone with some stylized all-caps, teasing about spoiling for the story for us, the readers, who are about to go on a magnificent ad ...more

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Feb 06, 2011 Barb rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, book-club-reads, read-in-2011, most-disappointing, everyone-but-me-loves

A slice of literary brilliance sprinkled with what I can only think of as literary cow pies.

I can't figure out why Chris Cleave created so many beautifully written passages and then with the same keystrokes inserted such a horribly rendered and completely unnecessary character as Laurence into his story. I felt this juxtaposition of brilliantly imagined and horribly depicted (and or completely unbelievable) wove its way through the entire novel. I wonder if some of what I thought was ridiculous ...more

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Mar 16, 2009 dyh_nyc rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I loved the first half of the book, but had a hard time getting through the second half. Little Bee, a Nigerian girl who escaped her country after a series of horrific killings, ends up in England. The story follows Little Bee from her time in Nigeria to her difficult transition to England; as well as a British couple, whose lives become deeply entwined with Little Bee. A lot of the effectiveness of the book comes from the plot twists, so I'll leave the plot description at that.

In my opinion, t ...more

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Aug 27, 2008 Michelle rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: everyone

After reading Incendiary a while back I have been eagerly awaiting the publication of this book. It did not disappoint me. I started reading on Saturday morning and from page one I was totally hooked. I found it really difficult to put down, even when cooking. So many books around in my local book shop are "Summer Reads" so this was a refreshing change.

It's the story of Little Bee, a teenage refugee from Nigeria, and Sarah O'Rourke a British magazine editor. Horror makes their worlds collide and ...more

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Dec 06, 2013 Carmen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: I honestly don't know

Recommended to Carmen by: Caroline

Shelves: traditionally-published, fiction, he-says

This book made me so anxious and upset I found myself yelling at the characters. Especially Lawrence. "Lawrence!" I screamed, banging the book down on the table. "You little sh*t! If you hurt her I swear! I swear, Lawrence!" Luckily, I was alone at this time. Otherwise, people might have been concerned.

LITTLE BEE is not a relaxing read. Like so many books I have been reading lately, this book is about TRUTH. And the truth is painful. The truth is anxiety inducing. The truth is that life is not a This book made me so anxious and upset I found myself yelling at the characters. Especially Lawrence. "Lawrence!" I screamed, banging the book down on the table. "You little sh*t! If you hurt her I swear! I swear, Lawrence!" Luckily, I was alone at this time. Otherwise, people might have been concerned.

LITTLE BEE is not a relaxing read. Like so many books I have been reading lately, this book is about TRUTH. And the truth is painful. The truth is anxiety inducing. The truth is that life is not always happy and that Bad Things Happen.

Little Bee is a Nigerian illegal living in the UK. This story chronicles the ups and downs of her life. Fleeing through the jungle from men who want to rape and kill her and her sister. Pleading with a white couple to save them. Listening to her sister get brutally gang-raped and then beaten to death, and after that listening to her get torn apart by dogs that are eaten her corpse. Stowing away on a ship where the captain hides her in his cabin so that his men "don't get any ideas." Being held in a prison, sorry - detainment center, for two years where if she wants a maxi-pad she's got to fill out a form to get one. Then being set free only because a girl she knows let a guard "do whatever he wanted to her" on at least 4 different occasions.

Things continue from there. This isn't a happy story.

Despite not being a happy story, despite all the trauma and tragedy Little Bee experiences, she keeps her sense of humor and her sense of wonder through it all. This adds a little hope and happiness to this tale of darkness and despair. That is what makes it bearable. Cleave's decision to include a prominent 4-year-old boy character does a lot to remind the reader that there is indeed goodness and happiness in the world.

Cleave chooses to narrate this book from two different female perspectives. I said this when I reviewed INCENDIARY and I'm saying it again: Cleave writes women flawlessly.

The other narrator is Sarah, a woman who's slowly learning and coming to terms with the fact that the world is a nightmarish place. She's the character who is changing and growing in this novel, coming face to face with evil and choosing whether to fight it or ignore it.

This brutal reality that we are presented with - the brutal reality that Little Bee has been conditioned to live in is shocking to most 1st-World readers. Everywhere she goes, the first thing she does is figure out how to kill herself in case things go south. She understands perfectly that there are a lot of things worse than death. Sometimes suicide is the answer. Sometimes death is blessed relief.

So many women - millions of women - live this kind of life. In a world where men are evil, men are rapists. Where being pretty is a curse because they'll notice you - not being pretty is a curse because then you are worthless. Life is pain. Life has no value. They'll kill your children and laugh while doing it. We close our eyes to these women's reality - and it's a current, modern reality - and in this book Cleave drags this painful truth into the light.

Difficult book to read, difficult reality to face - but I think Cleave's poetic writing and slight hints of occasional humor and hope really help not only to soften to blow, but to drive it home. ...more

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Aug 12, 2010 alysa rated it did not like it · review of another edition

UGH, What can I say. I hated this book! If you want to read about the most depressing events of a human life than this one is for you. What an emotional downer this book is. It does nothing but show you the evil that can be present in human nature from extramarital affairs all the way to murder. The overall gist of the story is about a Nigerian refugee. Yes, it is a story that should be told, but I would rather read about just the facts in a news article than something I am reading for "pleasure ...more

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Jan 23, 2017 joyce g rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This story fills your heart so full in so many ways. Should be shared and loved.

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Apr 27, 2009 Laura rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Chris Cleave is nothing if not ambitious. In Little Bee, he not only takes on the issues of immigration, globalization, imperialism, and personal responsibility, but does so in the voices of two unforgettable women, one a solidly middle-class English fashion magazine editor, the other a 16-year-old Nigerian refugee. As you might imagine, Cleave doesn't deal with these issues in a pat way, nor does he allow his readers to do so. And although parts of this book are very, very difficult to read -- ...more

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Mar 22, 2011 Stephen rated it did not like it · review of another edition

This book needs to be detained and shipped home to a small English town in Devon..

A friend recommended this book to me so I really wanted to like it. Unfortunately, I could not.
I found it sappy, trite, unengaging, shallow, sappy and uninteresting. The only reason I finished it was in the hope it would get better. Fail!

I didn't care for the characters and times I found Sarah, Lawrence and especially Andrew to be creepy (partly because their portrayal is so plasticky). This was like a Mills and B ...more

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Mar 23, 2012 Caroline rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: he-wrote-it, literary-fiction

***SPOILERS HIDDEN***

What do a sixteen-year-old Nigerian refugee and a 32-year-old middle-class British mother have in common? Little Bee is an examination of deep loss, focusing most intensely on how these two characters are broken in different ways as the result of a single terrifying incident. The story is narrated in these dual voices, the distinction between them helped along very nicely by author Chris Cleave’s careful attention to Nigerian idioms when Little Bee is telling the story. Unfo ...more

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What's the Name o...: SOLVED. Adult fiction - Couple vacation in third world country. [s]	14	34	Jul 14, 2020 03:10PM
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About Chris Cleave

Chris Cleave

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Chris Cleave was born in London and spent his early years in Cameroon. He studied experimental psychology at Balliol College, Oxford. His debut novel, INCENDIARY, won a 2006 Somerset Maugham Award, was shortlisted for the 2006 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and is now a feature film. His second novel, LITTLE BEE, is a New York Times #1 bestseller with over 2 million copies in print. GOLD is his thir ...more

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Quotes from Little Bee

“On the girl's brown legs there were many small white scars. I was thinking, Do those scars cover the whole of you, like the stars and the moons on your dress? I thought that would be pretty too, and 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.” — 409 likes

“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'.” — 384 likes

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