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Little Bee: A Novel
Little Bee: A Novel
Little Bee: A Novel
Audiobook10 hours

Little Bee: A Novel

Written by Chris Cleave

Narrated by Anne Flosnik

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

Millions of people have read, discussed, debated, cried, and cheered with Little Bee, a Nigerian refugee girl whose violent and courageous journey​ puts a stunning face on the worldwide refugee crisis​.

Little Bee will blow you away.” —The Washington Post

The lives of a sixteen-year-old Nigerian orphan and a well-off British woman collide in this page-turning #1 New York Times bestseller, book club favorite, and “affecting story of human triumph” (The New York Times Book Review) from Chris Cleave, author of Gold and Everyone Brave Is Forgiven.

We don’t want to tell you too much about this book. It is a truly special story and we don’t want to spoil it. Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this: It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific. The story starts there, but the book doesn’t. And it’s what happens afterward that is most important. Once you have read it, you’ll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don’t tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMay 3, 2016
ISBN9781508223948
Author

Chris Cleave

Chris Cleave is the author of Everyone Brave is Forgiven, Gold, Incendiary, and the #1 New York Times bestseller Little Bee. He lives with his wife and three children in London, England. Visit him at ChrisCleave.com or on Twitter @ChrisCleave.

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Reviews for Little Bee

Rating: 3.7827922516233765 out of 5 stars
4/5

3,080 ratings350 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I was entrenched in a week-long really cruddy mood when I started this book. I'd been trying to read inspirational and uplifting stuff and it was just irritating me more. My perversity must exceed even my estimation because after spending most of this book in tears, I feel much better.

    I surprised myself by reading this book in one day. I just couldn't put it down. The kids loved it because it meant they got to watch an hour and a half of Wild Kratts DVDs in the middle of the week.

    I always feel a little guilty when I read a book in such a short period of time because I hear the echo of all of the authors who, when interviewed, complain, "That book took me three years to write, and they finished it in a matter of hours?"

    I think it's a compliment, but perhaps I would feel differently if it was my book people were tearing through.

    Early in the book, the two main characters have a conversation in which one espouses the belief that the world is full of danger and if something can go wrong, it will, while the other insists that the world is basically beautiful and kind and we can generally count on getting what we need. The tension created by this question pulled me along. Which would triumph, optimism or pessimism, the baddies or the goodies? And what would the fallout be in the wake of this battle?

    Cleave did a beautiful job of showing the nuances of thought of the different characters, writing in the moments when two (or more) different thoughts exist in our minds at once, including our own perspectives along with our read of what others around us are thinking.

    And the imagery. Have I mentioned the imagery? From a woman traveling as a British pound note to a bead of sweat dripping from beneath a Batman mask, I felt like I was transcending the words and actually just experiencing this book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Devastating. Honest. Well written.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I devoured this book - can't remember when I've last read a book so quickly. Interesting, since I wouldn't necessarily call it a typical page-turner, but it definitely is structured to keep readers turning the pages. I thought the alternating voices of the two women worked well, although Little Bee's voice was stronger and more believable. I had some trouble understanding the motives of Sarah and Lawrence. But the book does a great job of making the reader feel the terror of being an illegal, and it's timely because of what's happening in Europe right now with all of the refugees from Syria, etc.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    the ending brought tears to my eyes!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The most interesting part for me is when Sarah and Charlie was with Little Bee, I can imagine how she felt when she was at that moment. Overall, I liked the story. Will try the other pieces of Chris Cleave.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The writing is brilliant. Cleave has a superb ability to capture personalities and make each one stand on its own merits. What held me back from 5 stars on this book was that the big secret was anything but.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The back of the book claims the story's magic is in the way it unfolds, but this book didn't move me the way I expected. Perhaps it was the way flashbacks were so subtly inserted into the chronology of the story. Perhaps it was the choice of dual narrators that weakened the character development. Perhaps it was the characters (Little Bee excepted) who had little to admire. This wasn't the magical story I hoped it would be.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Blurb............

    Shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and Costa Novel of the Year, this international bestseller has become a reading group classic.

    We don't want to tell you too much about this book. It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it.

    Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this:

    This is the story of two women.
    Their lives collide one fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice.
    Two years later, they meet again - the story starts there...

    Once you have read it, you'll want to tell your friends about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds.

    The book sets out to be deliberately opaque and mysterious...........ooh read this, don't tell anyone what happens it's so special, tell others about it but don't spoil it for them, etc etc etc.

    A fantastic, thought-provoking read that stays with you for weeks and months afterwards, invading your thoughts at unexpected moments?

    Or an extremely clever marketing ploy?

    Being a grumpy, miserable cynic and having read the book - I choose marketing ploy.

    Well then what to write...........A meets B and C, who are married to each other, at location X. D who is A's sister is present at the meeting, which is soon joined by E and another group we'll call the F's. A disagreement occurs. Fast forward a while, A contacts C, now in location Y. This upsets C greatly, and has a calamitous effect on him, B and her close friend G and her child H. The rest of the book introduces other minor characters that I shall refer to as I, J, K and L. (I might have missed out an M and a N, but none of these are major players, so don't worry too much.) The climax of the book involves A, B and H, along with some O's at location X.

    Had the blurb presented the book in a more traditional fashion, I'm no marketing guru, but I would guess a fraction of the copies actually sold would have been. One of the characters in the book, G actually espouses the same opinion. The topic under debate, doesn't typically interest people, until such time as the right wing tabloids want to beat the drum and whip up some populist fury.
    I would probably have passed it over.

    That said, it was enjoyable enough, but perhaps I needed to be wearing my magician's cloak to feel the magic.Well, I wasn't.

    3 from 5, must dash or I'll be late for Quidditch practise.

    I do have another Cleave book on my shelf, Incendiary, as yet unread. I'm unsure what ploy enticed me to buy the book, but I'll need to check the blurb on the back to refresh my memory. I'm also unsure if my purchase of Incendiary predates my purchase of The Other Hand, not that it matters too much.

    Seduced by the marketing fiends, I bought this new a few years ago.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A traumatized 14-year-old African girl arrives in England with her baggage of dread and hope only to spend two long years in a depressing detention center. "When I say that I am a refugee, you must understand that there is no refuge" (Pg. 46). But Little Bee is a survivor and has the emotional scars to prove it. She reaches out to the only Englishperson she knows -- a woman she shared a harrowing experience with on a beach in Nigeria -- and their lives are changed forever.This is a book about facing your fears and not letting go of those you love. It was well written; however, I believe the publishers did the author a disservice when they manipulated readers with the marketing gimmick of "keeping the secret." That cheap ploy almost kept me from reading a truly memorable book. Until the ending, that is, which I would like to forget. Caution...SPOILERS ahead...I was appalled when Sarah took her fragile 4-year-old son Charlie to a place that was clearly dangerous. And this was shortly after declaring that he was her entire world after almost losing him. Sheesh! I also thought it was a bit much that Charlie was used once again as a device to draw unwanted attention by the "baddies" to Little Bee. No wonder he felt safer in his Batman costume!Bottom line: This is a good book that could have been great.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A moving story. Not quite as compelling and life-changing as the back of the book makes it out to be, but still worth reading.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I really wanted to give this book two and a half stars. The story is fascinating and the writing very good - but I had difficulty being drawn into the story, mostly because of the two narrator style. The story is somewhat depressing, but I came to identify with the characters... even though it took till the last chapter to do so. I look forward to any future books by this author, I think he has great potential.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    One of the saddest and painful books I’ve ever read. It’s been a few years, but whenever I run across it, it wrenches me. I actually wish I’d never read it.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It was a good story, although it did not live up to the hype that was on the back cover. I did end up crying at the end though. Good story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is the tale of a Nigerian girl, Little Bee, and Sarah, an English woman, whose lives collide one fateful day on a beach in Nigeria. The story begins two years later in England, when Little Bee, who is in the country illegally, shows up on Sarah's doorstep. In alternating chapters, Little Bee and Sarah tell the tale of that day on the beach and it's life-changing aftermath.This is a disturbing story narrated by two compelling points of view. Cleave does a fantastic job writing from the perspectives of two different women, giving them distinct and seperate personalities. I particurlary enjoyed Little Bee's lyrical and poetic voice; she is the more evocative of the two narrators. This is one of those books that sucks you in from the very beginning and it's almost impossible to put it down until you've read the last page. I read it in one sitting. Highly recommended.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The story will haunt you long after you’ve put it down. Good read though.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    "We don’t want to tell you what happens in this book. It is a truly special story and we do not want to spoil it. Nevertheless, you need to know enough to buy it, so we will just say this:This is the story of two women. Their lives collide one fateful day,and one of them has to make a terrible choice, the kind of choice we hope you will never have to face. Two years later, they meet again — the story starts there…Once you have read it, you’ll want to tell your friends about it. When you do, please don’t tell them what happens The magic is in how the story unfolds."~~~~~~~~~~~~This is the text on the inside leaf of the dust cover for Chris Cleave’s book, Little Bee.Damn you publisher. damn you to hell. have a little faith in your reader base. i would have read this book anyway, the expectations set in the fold were misleading and cruel. you cant read a book like this under false pretenses. each time something happens, it is compared against the expectations set. and the book is left wanting, but not by its own merit, by your deceit.—-For everyone else out there, here is what it should read in the leaf fold of the dust cover:" Little bee, a refugee from Nigeria, knows only one man and one woman in London. Her story is sad as is the stories of the man and woman she knows. When she tells her story, you will listen. Not by force, but because the scar tissue from her tale is beautiful, if only you see it in the right light."If anyone tells you there is magic here, slap them, then keep reading.This is one of the saddest books I have ever read, but if you are prepared for this fact, you can certainly enjoy it. Little Bee is well written and grabs your attention from beginning to end. It is not magic.--xpost RawBlurb.com
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An event on a Nigerian beach has inextricably linked Little Bee with Sarah and Andrew O'Rourke, an English couple. The story opens with the asylum seeker, Little Bee, being mistakenly released without papers after being incarcerated in an English detention centre for two years. She sets out in search of the couple she met on the beach. Alternating between Little Bee's account and Sarah's the whole story unfolds. While written with compassion, Cleave has injected it with a mildly melodramatic quality that reveals his fervour. However, without judgement of either side, he illustrates powerfully what a refugee might be running from, what they suffer in the attempt, and the potential consequences. Cleave's portrayal of Little Bee is excellent. She retains her Nigerian way of thinking (always considering how she would explain a particular scene to her friends at home) while simultaneously trying to adapt to English life. She is charming and astute beyond her sixteen years. Cleave's first-hand knowledge of the subject matter was earned during his time studying at Oxford when he worked in a detention centre."Life is precious, whatever its country of origin."
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    An English woman and a Nigerian woman meet and their lives are forever entertwined in a gripping tale that will haunt ever after you have read this book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    An emotional story of a Nigerian girl who gets caught up in the local politics of her country, seeks Asylum in the UK and makes true friends there. The author Chris Cleave, obviously has emotions tied in to the plight of people seeking asylum from very corrupt regimes in the east. He brings it out in this fictional tale of this girl called "Little Bee". This book is very political.

    I liked this book because it introduced me to a world I am very far removed from. A world where a government cares more about themselves than their own people. A world where Human life truly has no value. Little Bee, a Nigerian girl lives in this world where the day to day goal is to survive, literally. She is the perfect example of the saying, "every day above ground is a good one". Without giving too many spoilers, here is a girl who escapes this world in part thanks to a pair of British Citizens, Sarah and Andrew, who make sacrifices of their own to better understand Little Bee's world. Sarah and Andrew are both British Journalists, who in very odd ways, give Little Bee goals to shoot for other than just survival. In the end, you as the reader will come to realize that those people seeking asylum into more Civilized countries have real life and death struggles. The story is a good one. I also got very attached to the characters. Chris Cleave had the ability to draw on my emotions over the characters...and this is a good thing, because it means he got me involved.

    What I didn't like about the book was how Chris Cleave presented the story. I could very easily say that the first half of the book was written like a person who had Attention Deficit Disorder. I don't mind a story line being out of sequence, but when you start straying from topics within paragraphs themselves in order to increase word count or to add descriptions that are nice but not really relevant to the story, it just gets me frustrated. Many times I would end up screaming at the book saying, "Yeah, Yeah, let's get on with it!"

    Then about mid way, the characters start to come together and the story gels a little better. The story is told from two perspectives. It is told in first perspective from Little Bee's point of view, and from Sarah's point of view. Both worlds start to come together by mid book. It was as if Chris Cleave started writing Little Bee at one point, put the story down for a while and then picked it up at a later point. The second half of the book shows more writing maturity than the first half.

    There are many different things I also felt were unfinished. What happened to Lawrence? Lawrence had a big emotional take when he found out Little Bee's secret. Yet, there was no description of Sarah's emotional state over the same secret. It was almost as if Chris Cleave had to hurry up and finish the story. I could go on forever describing the inconsistencies I have seen in this book. Changes that could have been made to make the story fuller...richer.

    Would I recommend this book? Sure. It's a good story. I just felt that it could have been told better. There was a lot of potential and I did get attached to the characters...very believable. For me, it just had too many frustrating moments where I felt the story was lagging behind. If you can get past the, "OK, I get it, let's move this along" attitude, you may find it a very enjoyable read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    LOVED this book. I read it at the beginning of the year - it's coming back to me in flashes but everything I think of is something I don't want to give away.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5


    Loved the book. Great writing and great story. Very funny in parts and lots to think about.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The Good: I read the whole book in one day, so it wasn't boring.The Bad: Most of my disappointment was due to the way the book was marketed. It created expectations that the book didn't meet.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is not a perfect book and perhaps people would especially find faults in it today, but I loved it. Both narrators are rendered beautifully. They are truly alive as characters. The writing is wonderful. The story is too real -- that the UK did this, and that it was hushed up, and that people died and people immigrated and it all just keeps getting swept away, and of course it is women who bear the greatest weight of that violence. Highly recommended.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Little Bee by Chris Cleave is a dual narrative story about a Nigerian asylum-seeker and a British magazine editor who originally meet in Nigeria then re-unite in England several years later. The story is both heart-warming and heart breaking. Little Bee is a young Nigerian girl just released from the refugee detention centre after having stowed away on a ship to escape the horrors and violence of her native country. Sarah, is a recent widow, her husband having committed suicide. She is the mother of a young boy. Along with a number of secrets that are slowly revealed, these two women are tied together by a violent incident on a beach in Nigeria, but although referenced to, this incident isn’t explained until much later in the book.The book totally drew me in as I followed each woman’s story. The author weaved political issues throughout the book and this, along with the women’s strength, resilience and courage made the book feel very real. At times charming and at others very dark, this is a story that I will remember for a very long time. First and foremost, Little Bee is the story of two women survivors set against the backdrop of political issues surrounding refugees and the accountability of globalization.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I was completely transfixed by this book. Read it as fast as I've read anything, drove my husband crazy for the two days it took me to get through it. But at the end, I can't remove the problem I have with european/American writers depicting 'Africa' as a dark, terrible place where everyone is either actively evil or complacently evil. I'm tired of that narrative. Though I do appreciate the author's willingness to step outside of the traditional white savor role.
    Anyway. Read it, maybe your politics don't interfere with your enjoyment of a good story the way mine do.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    There is a noble premise to this book, to raise awareness about asylum seekers to Britain, and to combat the sentiment of apathy that most people feel towards their plight.
    The premise is noble and the character of the Little Bee is sweet and fascinating. The way she superimposes her experience in Britain on remembrances of her Nigerian home is quite endearing.
    However, and I cannot quite put my finger on it, the book left me unsatisfied. Like many stories that are written by white people about Africa or about African people there is a certain flatness to them.
    The Africans are always the helpless people that surrender to their fate, no matter how many radical plans they make to escape it.
    Africans are either brutes or victims. Either sub-human monsters or near-saints, but perhaps this is just me. Little Bee comes quite close to a real-life humane and wise African girl, but the others in this book are not quite so engaging.
    Of course you will have to read the novel to judge by yourself, it is quite short and easy to finish in one or two sittings.

    The book is about Little Bee the Nigerian girl who finds herself a central character in the life of Sarah, a British editor of a funky women magazine, and mother to 4-year-old Charlie. The events of the novel takes place over a few weeks but move backwards to the memory of both women's lives and the fateful events that brought them together. It is narrated in the alternating voices of Sara and Little Bee.

    One thing that bothered me as a mother of a small child is the portrayal of the little boy, Charlie, a.k.a Batman. His speech manner is quite irritating and I think it is quite exaggerated because 4-year-olds in my experience are quite capable of uttering grammatical sentences. Sarah has her heart in the right place, but she is also neurotic to say the least, this is perhaps done on purpose to illustrate that sometimes the immigrant is far wiser than the full-blooded British citizen with his or her "values" whatever they are.
    Perhaps I would have given the book one extra half star but since the option is not available I am erring on the minus side, simply because the book did not deliver on it hyped up promise.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    adult fiction. the stories of two women magically unfold--I'm not supposed to tell you what happens, but it's very moving.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The first half of the book felt like a big long tease toward this "really bad event", and it was a long boring tease that offered up nothing other than the tease.The event was pretty awful, however by the time the reader finds out what has happened, the style of book has been established, and it just continues being really boring.The author is neither a Nigerian girl, nor a British women, and it is obvious. The characters are really cardboard (which doesn't make sense, given they both have horrific traumatising pasts that should affect them).When the woman ponders that her husband is still "thinking about what happened on the beach" a mere two years later, I have to imagine that the author has never suffered a traumatic event in his life.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I don't know why this was a bestseller.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was a World Book Night 2012 giveaway that I peddled outside a grocery store, so had to distill it to a sentence or less: first world meets third world in a gut-wrenching incident, but offers hope in a restorative way. So well-written, vivid scenes stay with me years later.