Little Bee by Chris Cleave - Book Report/Review Example

Little Bee by Chris Cleave Review: Little Bee by Chris Cleave is a wonderful story that has juxtaposed love and drama. The story presents a unique concept. Little Bee is a girl of Nigerian origin who has somehow, learned how to sound like a Queen in the speech. The girl has lived as a refugee that has spent two whole years in the immigration detention center which is at a distance of some forty miles towards the East of London. Nigerian girls conventionally do not speak English. Taking this into consideration, it is indeed very interesting to learn that a Nigerian girl speaks English so fine and nicely as a Queen.

Little Bee has some very harsh and displeasing memories from the past. Little Bee has enemies in Nigeria whom she manages to escape and arrive in Britain. Little Bee intends to commit suicide if ever, those people from Nigeria approach her. The writer has not conveyed throughout the novel who exactly are Little Bee’s enemies nor have their interests been revealed. Her past is full of worries and is enough to put any normal human being into trauma for the whole life. However, Little Bee is not an ordinary person.

She is a woman with extreme courage and determination and does not cultivate her worries of the past on the cost of her future. She is stubborn and knows the art of boldly facing and dealing with the harsh realities of life. She takes pride in the fact that she survived through all the miseries that she was offered by her enemies in Nigeria. She says, “take it from me, a scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, I survived” (Cleave, 2008, p. 9). There was a very strong reason for Cleave to italicize the words “I survived”.

The woman derives her name “Little Bee” from the fact that she has survived through all the dreadful events that make part of her past. Little Bee and her sister actually adopt new names after they successfully escaped while the rest of the village in Nigeria was all ruined by the enemies. Little Bee learns to speak English by reading a lot of newspapers in her detainment. On the other hand, Sarah has all the pleasures of life. She has a loving whip-smart spouse, and a cute son. She derives satisfaction from an adulterous affair.

She has a career full of glamour. However, Sarah’s peaceful life suddenly comes to a halt when her spouse commits suicide after falling into depression because of the events that happened on the beach in Nigeria. After the death of her husband, Sarah is left with a three years old son. The life of Little Bee is entangled with that of Sarah by accident. Sarah happens to be the editor of the white British magazine. Sarah has residence in Kington-upon-Thames, while Little Bee has made an illegal stay in Britain.

Something awkward and terrible happens to Sarah because of which, she is unable to find how to feel. Little Bee has been known to Sarah quite briefly because of their encounter in numerous terrible events. Little Bee is in her real mid life while Sarah has been on the vacation. After something terrible happens to Sarah, Little Bee comes in her real life. Sarah was originally the mother of a young child and had a husband as well. Because of the incident of her husband’s suicide, Sarah has lost the meaning of her life.

The beauty of Cleave’s writing reflects in the way the two ladies assist each other. Sarah and Little Bee maintain a beautiful relationship. After reading the first ten pages of the book, I thought I could make a better use of my time reading some other book instead of this. Soon as I turned the eleventh page, I realized that secrets of the book had yet to be revealed. I adopted a warmer mood towards the book from that point onwards. I found it like tea, that when put into cold water, does not leave any color at all.

However, when the water starts to boil, it leaves its color until the whole water becomes colored. The color then becomes so strong that if a drop sprinkles on a white sheet, it stays there forever. Likewise, I don’t think I can ever forget this book. It demands consistency and patience from the reader and then entertains the reader with all its colors. Story of the book is quite dramatic, yet events have been put so nicely together that the reader hardly finds any deviance from reality. The plot is beautiful.

Even the cover of the book is no less enchanting. I wonder why Simon and Schuster have acceded not to summarize the book on its cover, as is conventionally done by all the publishers. Perhaps they wanted to maintain the secrets of the book to the maximum level, though I personally think such a book should not have summary printed on its cover so that the reader becomes surprised by the sudden discovery of wonderlands in the book. I find the book strange in many ways. While reading the book, I wondered if there was something awkward about the book or its writer, for it was the most depressing book I had read thus far while being the most optimistic book I ever came across.

Characters in the book do not always remain praiseworthy. At times, the reader starts to hate them for their idiotic manifestations. And then they suddenly take a dramatic turn and appear too wise and prudent to be blamed in any way. The book is full of emotions, drama, adventure, and humor. All of these combine to make it not only an excellent piece of literature, but also a beautiful piece of art. Comment of The Independent that is known for the value of its comments is imprinted on the back cover of the book, that reads, “A powerful piece of art…shocking, exciting and deeply affecting, superb…” (The Independent cited in Cleave, 2008).

Works cited: Cleave, C. (2008). Little Bee. NY: Simon & Schuster.