Name: Little Bee
ISBN: 9781416589648

Chris Cleave

Presents a tale of a precarious friendship between an illegal Nigerian refugee and a recent widow from suburban London, a story told from the alternating and disparate perspectives of both women.

A Novel

Little Bee

sash.

Laura Mauler

I HATE it when teenage characters are given the wisdom of 40-year-olds and we are expected to believe it. I've been a teenager, and I work with teenagers, and that is just not how their brains work. Little Bee's ability to read other people and make really selfless decisions is more fitting for an adult, and whenever it was brought to my attention that she is in fact only 16 it would take me out of the plot as I struggled with the dissonance. 

With that being said, I was really into this book the entire time. Wanting to find out how Sarah and Little Bee were connected, and then to find out the full story of their encounter, kept me on edge in a good way. The ending left me with mixed emotions, but ultimately I understand why it played out the way it did. 

Overall a very good read (minus the "wise teenager" syndrome").

Lara Engle

Little Bee is a surprisingly moving book. The chapters from Little Bee's perspective give a personal and heart-rending account of her experiences. Through her, the reader can greater understand and empathize with the refugee's plight. This book could have easily fallen into cliche and maudlin tactics, but it never loses its center. I've already handed my copy to a friend to share.

We don’t want to tell you too much about this book. It is a truly special story and we don’t want to spoil it. Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this: It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific. Once you have read it, you’ll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don’t tell them what happens. The magic is in how it unfolds. A note from the author I went to a concentration camp by mistake. As a student at Oxford University I’d take any paid work during the vacation, so one morning I climbed into a minibus with some other casual labourers, destination unknown. We passed through a razor-wire perimeter fence. Thin brown faces appeared in the morning mist. Fingers clawed the wire. The minibus dropped us into a crush of agitated people, pleading with us in half the languages on earth. Despair and confusion reigned. This terrible place was a removal centre for asylum seekers. We’d been hired to serve canteen meals to people being returned to the murderous regimes they’d fled. These were the people my country had decided it wouldn’t help. It was hard to look them in the eye. Everyone ate with plastic spoons. It would have been brave to provide people in their predicament with anything sharper. After detention in heartbreaking conditions, most would be forcibly deported to countries where many would be tortured and killed. Mass deportation continues to this day. It doesn’t take a genius to point out the parallel with the Holocaust. It doesn’t take a novelist to realise this isn’t terribly British. What was remarkable, though, was the stoicism and sheer grace of some of these doomed people. Years later, it was a humbling experience and a fierce delight to research this novel. The refugees I heard from brought me to unexpected discoveries: the beauty of Nigerian English and Jamaican English, the startling graveyard humour of refugees, and the moral courage of the many citizens who help asylum seekers, in defiance of their authorities. It’s an uplifting, thrilling, universal human story, and I just worked to keep it simple. One brave African girl; one brave Western woman. What if one just turned up on the other’s doorstep one misty morning and asked, Can you help? And what if that help wasn’t just a one-way street?

Caitlin Hooker

I enjoyed Sarah's chapters but found Little Bee's too slow. The ending though was a shocker.

Maria Flowers

I like the overall message of the story. It was indeed a very good story . But just like that girl that all the guys think is beautiful, you think she tries to hard. Just in that case, it's metaphors were too out there and were more shoved down our throats rather than taking time to figure it out ourselves. Now, I don't completely hate the book, I loved it's message and the themes present. The duo-first person narrative made for an interesting read. The book did go very slow until the end however. My opinion on Lawrence: I hate him. P.S. The Batman and the cloak is a truly wonderful metaphor.

Daisy (Bella Rose) (2SistersAndTheirBooks)

Initially, I think I was a bit put off because this was the first book I'd read in 2 years and it was not the type of book I was used to reading (usually romance, sci-fi, or fantasy). 

But to my surprise, Little Bee was beautifully written. Chris Cleave does an amazing job at depicting the story from alternating points of view: Little Bee's perspective as well as Sarah's. 

You get to see and hear Little Bee and Sarah's perspectives, even while they are in the same scene of the book. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking to read a book outside of their comfort zone.

Tameka Young

I'm usually a wordy mofo in my book reviews. This book is not worth the 19 days it took me to read nor all of hype that it gets. Disappointing to say the least.

Tayyibah S

This book was so absolutely heart-breaking. I literally can't even comprehend how the author was able to make such an insightful, intriguing, and heart-wrenching book. It defines modern illegal immigration in a story like way that informs but also entertains the reader. You'll probably be left in tears by the time you finish this book.

Charley Valdez

Phenomenal read! Really spoke about human conditions and the fight for one’s life. I can’t spoil anything but this really is an amazing book! Definitely recommend reading it!

Alexia

3.5 stars.

The premise was promising, but I feel there was something missing. Or should I say that there were three things that bothered me. 
One was that I would have left out the chapters with Sarah's view point, because I truly enjoyed the story when it was told by Little Bee in such beautiful writing, but I found myself utterly uninterested in Sarah. In fact, the most striking aspect for me was how well Little Bee's voice and culture was represented, coming from a white, male, English author. Bravo for that!
The second problem had to do with how Andrew is portrayed, for the reader not to like him (view spoiler)[so it is 'okay' for Sarah to cheat on him.  (hide spoiler)] Also, I believe the relationship aspect should have been left out because it didn't contribute to he story at all.
And my last criticism is related to Bee saying that she would have to explain things in a different manner to the girls back home when retelling her story. I get that it is supposed to denote a clash of cultures, but I took it as the author underestimating Nigerian people's reasoning capacity.
Nonetheless, I would recommend this book because of the refugee story and the beautiful writing.

Ella (taylor’s version)

amazing writing (might be biased since i met the author), amazing story, amazing relevance today.

*check trigger warnings before reading… very heavy*

Jeni Enjaian

I wanted so much to like this book. For one, Cleave does a masterful job telling so much with as few words possible. Cleave also chose an important topic full of distressing tales and a whole bunch of reality that must be addressed.
Ultimately though, I felt let down. When Cleave finally got around to telling exactly what happened on the beach I could barely understand it. Sarah told it from her perspective but it was a perspective disassociated from one who had actually experienced the event. She kept referring to herself as the white woman while interjecting "I" every now and then, just enough for confusion. Additionally, the depressing stories kept piling one on top of the other without relief. *mild spoiler* Even in the end when you think everything might just work out for the positive, Cleave leaves the characters in a horrible, ambiguous situation.
The story seems to lack purpose aside from beating the reader down with its depressing, heart-rending events.
It is well written but so depressing I can't possibly recommend it.

Barbara Rosas

This book breaks my heart, there's a before this book and after this book.

Amy Arthun Lorton 

Not my style at all. It was hard to want to pick this book up.

Janet Doré

On a recent trip to Germany, I labored over which book to read on the long journey home. Thirty minutes after perusing the limited English section in the local independent bookstore, I decided on Little Bee. It was the savvy marketing that got me...an artistic cover plastered with rave reviews by reputable publications, a tantalizingly mysterious description on the back cover, and an announcement of the upcoming movie. Wow...I scored. I fantasized about my upcoming reading adventure...wondering if this would make my all-time favorites list and I would never forget this moment in a German bookstore. Reality never quite lives up to the fantasy...

I can't quite put my finger on it, but I just couldn't emotionally connect with this book. Because it was purely character driven, I can only surmise that, to me, they lacked depth. And, when you can't connect deeply with the people telling the story and the book is just people telling their story, it's not a good thing. I also found the thoughts or conversations a bit implausible at times. I was able to finish it primarily because the author was artistic with words. But, in the end...I was left with far too many questions.

Little Bee A Novel

Reviews