| Wow. Oh. Eeek. Hmmm. Huh? Argh! | | | | promise - but unraveled in what seemed a rush to |
| Reading is usually a silent activity for me. But, this | | | | get all the ends tied up (maybe meet a deadline?) - |
| week while reading Little Bee, by Chris Cleave, that | | | | leaving a big, unrealistic, trite mess. |
| changed. I've heard of people throwing books before | | | | Examples: |
| and have never understood that emotion. But, while | | | | How could Sarah want to "laze about on the South |
| reading this novel, I became close to empathetic for | | | | Bank" because "these are the suburbs...Nothing ever |
| the range of emotions a book-thrower must | | | | happens here" two days after she buries her |
| experience. I don't normally post about books I don't | | | | husband? How unrealistic is that? |
| care for, but with the hype this book has received, I | | | | Who lets their lover into their house to stay the night |
| thought I might mention my point of view. Also, I | | | | with their confused and heartbroken four year old |
| should note that while perusing both Goodreads and | | | | little boy one day after that same little boy jumped |
| Amazon, there were a lot of great reviews for this | | | | into his father's grave screaming "GET HIM OUT, |
| novel - so please take this as my own humble rant. | | | | GET HIM OUT". Reminder: this is the same character |
| The developing situations in the novel were | | | | who had made a 'sacrifice' - without question - for a |
| astonishing and heartbreaking. The characters, while | | | | complete stranger to set this sad tale in motion. |
| kept at arms length a bit, were round and real. I fell | | | | And then in another unrealistic move, a policeman |
| in love with Little Bee and was awed by her | | | | takes Little Bee in for questioning when there is no |
| intelligent nativity, her enduring observations about | | | | reason. It was a convenient way to get her into |
| the UK - so different from her native Nigeria. She | | | | custody to start the process of what the reader has |
| was selfish in a preserving way, while maintaining | | | | dreaded all along - deportation. |
| compassion towards other detainees. I made my | | | | The conclusion is filled with each character going back |
| husband (reluctant reader in-training) pause his | | | | and forth, back and forth. Should I run away? Should |
| episode of "House" 3 times so I could tell him about | | | | I quit my job? Should I kill myself? |
| her horrific story. The unifying events on 'the beach' | | | | Oh Andrew. Just one finger and we could have |
| were so upsetting I couldn't sleep after I read it. I | | | | saved ourselves the hassle of this book. |
| even questioned in my mind "Would I do it?" and | | | | I feel bamboozled. Why didn't one of the people the |
| another... "Would my husband do it?" | | | | author thanked for reading his manuscript take him |
| And then, the next night, a shock. I was an | | | | aside and say, "Let's rethink the ending just a tad." I |
| unsuspecting Wiley Coyote, dropped from a cliff....a | | | | do wonder, with the success of Cleave's first novel |
| little poof and a small sound coming after a long and | | | | "Incendiary", if he wasn't rushed to finish this in time |
| confused fall. What happened? Where did the quality | | | | to take advantage of all the promotion. Just throwing |
| writing and story line go? Did another author take | | | | a bone, here. |
| over the story? Did a "House"-deprived hubby do | | | | Interesting (and terrible) to note is the awful events |
| something tricky? | | | | of last weekend (March, 2010) in Nigeria. Hundreds of |
| The falling action of Little Bee - or the time when the | | | | people were killed when their village was attacked by |
| 'conflict' of the novel should resolve itself - was | | | | machete-carrying band of religious men. While the |
| disappointing like no other book I've read in a long | | | | reasons behind the attack were different than for |
| time. The disappointment was made even greater | | | | the violence in Little Bee, it brought home the |
| considering the emotional toll the rising action took on | | | | struggles of the country. |
| the reader. The book had a tight plot - with so much | | | | |