Little Bee

Summary (from the publisher): 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 afterwards 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.

Review: In the spirit of the summary of this book, I don't want to reveal too many plot details, but this book has been so talked about and such a best seller I feel most people know at least a bit about it already. Little Bee is told from two perspectives: Sarah, a middle aged wife and mother who is struggling in the aftermath of her husband's suicide, and Little Bee, a refugee from Nigeria whose family was butchered and who has had to live for two years in a detention center before escaping.

I take issue with the book jacket which says this book is "extremely funny." Aside from small sparks of humor, like Sarah's son who won't take off his batman costume, this book deals largely with grief, loss, death, and grave injustices. But the book jacket is correct: the African beach scene is horrific.

A huge theme of this book is a gulf in communication, largely between the cultures of the two women, but also between Sarah and her young son, and between her and her lover, and her coworkers. And also between Little Bee and pretty much every one in London, and also in her narration as she constantly describes how difficult England would be to describe to girls back home. 

I really appreciated how morally flawed every character of this book is - no one is perfect and they've all made mistakes. Yet they all have very redeeming qualities as well. And how fate and random chance play such a huge role in life, or at least the life portrayed here. I didn't expect any other conclusion, but I was still devastated by the conclusion of this book. This book should be a plea for help, for action, for people to jump out of their complacent lives in developed countries and do something for everyone like Little Bee. 

Stars: 4