Little Bee by Chris Cleave

Little Bee
by Chris Cleave
Pub. Date: February 10, 2009
Genre: Fiction
288pp

Synopsis from New York Times:
…immensely readable and moving …While the pretext of Little Bee initially seems contrived —two strangers, a British woman and a Nigerian girl, meet on a lonely African beach and become inextricably bound through the horror imprinted on their encounter—its impact is hardly shallow. Rather than focusing on postcolonial guilt or African angst, Cleave uses his emotionally charged narrative to challenge his readers' conceptions of civility, of ethical choice.

Why I Picked It:
This is one of those books that I've heard so many things about. I had just finished ROOM, and my sister in law told me I had to read Little Bee. Downloaded it to my ipod from the library the next day.

My Review:
I loved this book from the moment I plugged my earbuds in and went for a long run last weekend. Little Bee's way of speaking was immediately warm, witty, and I was enchanted with her language and storytelling. Her story is one that will remain with me... Urging me to learn more about her Nigeria. You cannot come away from a story like this unchanged. If you do, you have no heart.

It's both eye-opening and devastating. It's the story of how the lives of Sarah, a British magazine editor and Little Bee, a Nigerian teenager, collide. The resulting conflict is amazing and shocking. This story is told perfectly from the alternating perspectives of these two very different women, neither of whom can turn a blind eye to the tragedies taking place around them.

I'd tell you a little more about it, but that would take away from this book's magic. Read it - or better yet, do what I did, get the audiobook and have it read to you. It's beautiful, witty, brilliant, but may haunt you the way something truly special and genuine should.