Carmen's Reviews > Little Bee

This book made me so anxious and upset I found myself yelling at the characters. Especially Lawrence. "Lawrence!" I screamed, banging the book down on the table. "You little sh*t! If you hurt her I swear! I swear, Lawrence!" Luckily, I was alone at this time. Otherwise, people might have been concerned.

LITTLE BEE is not a relaxing read. Like so many books I have been reading lately, this book is about TRUTH. And the truth is painful. The truth is anxiety inducing. The truth is that life is not always happy and that Bad Things Happen.

Little Bee is a Nigerian illegal living in the UK. This story chronicles the ups and downs of her life. Fleeing through the jungle from men who want to rape and kill her and her sister. Pleading with a white couple to save them. Listening to her sister get brutally gang-raped and then beaten to death, and after that listening to her get torn apart by dogs that are eaten her corpse. Stowing away on a ship where the captain hides her in his cabin so that his men "don't get any ideas." Being held in a prison, sorry - detainment center, for two years where if she wants a maxi-pad she's got to fill out a form to get one. Then being set free only because a girl she knows let a guard "do whatever he wanted to her" on at least 4 different occasions.

Things continue from there. This isn't a happy story.

Despite not being a happy story, despite all the trauma and tragedy Little Bee experiences, she keeps her sense of humor and her sense of wonder through it all. This adds a little hope and happiness to this tale of darkness and despair. That is what makes it bearable. Cleave's decision to include a prominent 4-year-old boy character does a lot to remind the reader that there is indeed goodness and happiness in the world.

Cleave chooses to narrate this book from two different female perspectives. I said this when I reviewed INCENDIARY and I'm saying it again: Cleave writes women flawlessly.

The other narrator is Sarah, a woman who's slowly learning and coming to terms with the fact that the world is a nightmarish place. She's the character who is changing and growing in this novel, coming face to face with evil and choosing whether to fight it or ignore it.

This brutal reality that we are presented with - the brutal reality that Little Bee has been conditioned to live in is shocking to most 1st-World readers. Everywhere she goes, the first thing she does is figure out how to kill herself in case things go south. She understands perfectly that there are a lot of things worse than death. Sometimes suicide is the answer. Sometimes death is blessed relief.

So many women - millions of women - live this kind of life. In a world where men are evil, men are rapists. Where being pretty is a curse because they'll notice you - not being pretty is a curse because then you are worthless. Life is pain. Life has no value. They'll kill your children and laugh while doing it. We close our eyes to these women's reality - and it's a current, modern reality - and in this book Cleave drags this painful truth into the light.

Difficult book to read, difficult reality to face - but I think Cleave's poetic writing and slight hints of occasional humor and hope really help not only to soften to blow, but to drive it home.