This book has been chosen as a Great Read.
Author: Chris Cleave
Simon & Schuster, 2009.
Best eBook Deal: Diesel eBooks
| C4 Ratings.....out of | 10 |
|---|---|
| Language..... | 9 |
| Entertainment..... | 7 |
| Depth..... | 10 |
I haven’t read Incendiary, Chris Cleave’s first novel, but after reading Little Bee, his second, I intend to. Little Bee is one of those rare books that causes you to rethink how you see yourself and your world without being so heavy handed as to ask you to do so. I can’t say why without giving away the plot, so you’ll just have to take me at my word that I don’t mean that as a platitude. Cleave’s writing is eloquent yet uncomplicated; the writing is a pleasure to read and for a book that addresses some deep issues, is quite accessible. Anybody can and should read his book and enjoy his writing. Here’s a sample:
Three weeks and five thousand miles on a tea ship–maybe if you scratched me you would still find that my skin smells of it. When they put me in the immigration detention center, they gave me a brown blanket and a white plastic cup of tea. Andy when I tasted it, all I wanted to do was get back into the boat and go home again, to my country. 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.
I won’t spoil the plot, as the tangle of the characters’ lives is the crux of the book. Little Bee is a novel about a Nigerian refugee, self-named Little Bee, escaping to Britain. It is a novel about how one single moment, one action or inaction, can change the lives of many people, even those worlds apart. It is a novel about humanity. It is about the complacency and willful ignorance Westerners silently allow themselves at the expense of other humans just like them, in the name of comfort afforded by the imbalance of “global” economy. When confronted with these consequences of our lifestyle we’d rather sweep them under the rug like dust, or write a check to Unicef, or leave the world to politicians and businessmen because it’s easier.
At points Little Bee could rank amongst the saddest novels I can think of. Yet there is a warmth and optimism in Bee that shines through even the grisliest evil she experiences. Cleave’s ability to express this is evidence of a great writer. The book’s ending is heartrending, but somehow made me smile. “It is a good trick,” Bee would say.
This is not a 250 page guilt trip bemoaning Africa’s plight, however. Written in alternating narration between Little Bee and successful magazine editor Sarah Summers, it delivers complex characters and complex questions in a pleasurable and entertaining novel. At times the book is quite funny, and it contains one of the most adorable child characters I’ve read in a long while.
Just about every reader will like this book. It’s not a light read, emotionally, but is by no means a difficult read. The writing, plotting, and characterization are excellent. Little Bee is a book that will depress you and uplift you at once. If you like to read, read Little Bee.
Other books to read: What is the What (Eggers), The Burger’s Daughter (Gordimer), Things Fall Apart (Achebe), Waiting for the Barbarians (Coetzee)
