Buzz about a little bee

The back of the next book I read had an intriguing plea to readers not to divulge the surprise ending when they were inevitably pursuaded to encourage others to read it. With a lead like that I couldn't help but wonder what the buzz was all about in Little Bee.

Title: Little Bee
Author: Chris Cleave
My start date: 12/22/10
My finish date: 12/27/10
Book count: 81

Well, the book was good, but I am not sure the ending was quite as "startling" as the publishers obviously thought it would be. Once again we have a book told from multiple perspectives, which seems to be the big thing lately. This time we were only working with two angles, the title character, Little Bee, who is a Nigerian refugee in England, and Sarah, a British journalist.

The story is very confusing until you get your bearings. This is due, in combination, to the cycling of perspectives and also to the only "peri-chronological" (I may have just made that word up, but I think it fits) nature of the story-telling. Events seem to flow in order, but sometimes that order is forwards into the future, others it seems to work backwards toward an event in the past. Other times it seems to flow sideways. Quite a jumble. However, once you get what they are working at, things seem to make sense.

I liked the character of Little Bee a lot. Cleave infused her with enough personality for the whole book. Which is good, because I was less impressed with the other lead, Sarah. (Pity, she has such a good name after all) A little of the slack, however, is also picked up in the unique character of Sarah's son, Charlie/Batman. The four-year-old spends the entire novel in a batsuit, convinced he is a superhero. Parents will find it precious and I just find it plain hilarious.

The ending was less surprising to me than promised. But I won't say anymore than that, as the back cover explicitly begs me not too. You will have to read it yourself I guess. And actually, the subject matter is important enough that I will say you should. Heavy, but vital. Or then again, since this novel is joining the ever-expanding ranks of books about to be on film...(sheesh, already) you could just wait and let Nicole Kidman tell it to you.

One more book to end the year!

Keep reading!
Sarah