Little Bee by Chris Cleave Buy This Book Now

Suzanne
Rating:


Review
This book packs a punch.  Little Bee is a tenacious 14 year-old refugee seeking asylum in Great Britain.  Her story begins in an immigration internment facility with a delightfully written paragraph about how she wishes she were a British pound coin instead of a refugee.  I especially enjoyed her amusing reminiscences throughout the book about how she could never explain things in Britain to the people back in her Nigerian village because the cultural divide is way too wide.  She arrives on Andrew and Sarah O’Rourke’s suburban London doorstep like a ghost from the past, two years after they all had a terrifying encounter on a beach in Nigeria.  It was the kind of surreal situation where it’s impossible to know how you’ll respond unless you actually face it yourself.  A devastating and compassionate tragedy.  I’m glad I read it.

Best Line:
“You live in a world of machines and you dream of things with beating hearts.” (page 211)

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Kim
Rating:


Review
This interesting story begins with Nigerian born Little Bee in an immigration detention center outside of London, because she hopped a freighter from her homeland illegally.  She’s been held for nearly two years when she’s released, and she promptly makes her way to Andrew and Sarah O’Rourke’s house, and what a surprise that is for all involved, because the last time the three saw each other was horrifically memorable. Little Bee alternates narrating this story with Sarah, and they are both fascinating women from two completely different backgrounds.  I also enjoyed Sarah and Andrew’s son, Charlie aka Batman, mostly because of his fierce commitment to his costume and fighting “baddies”. This book has been on several bestsellers lists for a reason. Little Bee is wily and intriguing, and Sarah is both fallible and honorable as a person and a mother.  I’m also glad I read this book.

Best Line:
“A scar means, I survived.”