BOOK REVIEWS Courtesy of Beaverdale Books
‘Little Bee’
By Chris Cleave
Simon & Schuster
Pub Date: 2/16/10
$14
271 pp
Author Chris Cleave is right — “Little Bee” is a special story that I must tell you about. The first thing I noticed about this striking novel is the narrator’s unique voice. The story begins as Little Bee, a 16-year-old Nigerian refugee detained in England, tells the reader, “Most days I wish I was a British pound coin instead of an African girl.” This intriguing opening promises a thoughtful, surprising, and unsettling novel, which is exactly what Cleave delivers.
The novel alternates between Little Bee’s story and that of Sarah O’Rourke, the British woman who, years before, had made an impossible decision on a Nigerian beach that saved Little Bee’s life and changed her own irrevocably.
All the characters, however minor, are clearly drawn individuals with their own stories. Punctuating the tragedy and horror that must accompany the tale of an African refugee are the antics of Sarah’s endearing four-year-old son, Charlie. He both lightens the novel’s mood and, in his innocence, asks heartbreakingly significant questions. The other refugee girls are beautiful, vivid characters who infuse life and humor into the novel.
Moving and provocative, “Little Bee” is a riveting and masterfully crafted novel that deftly juxtaposes Sarah’s and Little Bee’s utterly different experiences while establishing the desperate need for human connection. You will continue pondering the implications of this novel long after you have read the final page. CV — Review by Erica Narwold
