Saturday, May 01, 2010

Little Bee by Chris Cleave (2008)

I had a couple of hours to kill in the Minneapolis airport, so I hung out in the bookstore. It was fun seeing how many of the books I had already read, but then there was a knowledgeable sales clerk, who made some recommendations based on what I have liked before. This was one of the books she suggested.

This is an incredibly moving book, though very disconcerting. One more of the world's tragedies is presented. Little Bee is a Nigerian girl who lands in an immigration detention center in England. She looks up the only people she know in England and a relationship ensues. Little Bee is an amazing character. Her home world is in turmoil, with the oil companies destroying villages and the people that live in them. England is not open to asylum seekers. But Little Bee survives, with tenacity and a deep intelligence. She learns English from the papers, though makes some foux pas.

Sarah and Andrew are reporters, he is a serious investigative journalist, she manages a fluff woman's magazine to which she tries to bring some serious articles. They have a son Charlie, who will only answer to Batman and constantly wears a Batman outfit. My child too went through that phase, and I had a black hand towel pinned to a black turtleneck that was one of his favorite thing to wear.

A book to pass on to friends that care about injustice in the world.

No comments: