AUDIO BOOK REVIEW: Little Bee by Chris Cleave

Publication Date: May 3, 2016
Format: Audio
Genre:  Literary Fiction
Narrators: Anne Flosnik

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio        
Length: 
10 hours 41 min
Buy: Kindle | Audio

Synopsis

The lives of a sixteen-year-old Nigerian orphan and a well-off British woman collide.

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.

Review: 

Its difficult to review this book without revealing too much.  I know that this book will stay with me for quite a while.  I wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading it, in fact I wasn't even sure I was going to stick with it but then I couldn't stop.  There are so many layers of feelings in this book.  There is injustice, there is hypocrisy, there is heroism, and naivety, sorrow and hope, trauma, grief and fear.  Its almost hard for me to wrap my head around everything that happened in this book.  It is a great book for a book club since there is so much to discuss and think about.  

The book is written in a duel narrative of a Nigerian refugee seeking asylum in Britain and a white British woman who is a magazine editor.  Their lives collided on a beach during the oil conflict in Nigeria several years before they meet again in Britain.  

After reading this book I've learned that the author actually worked in an asylum detention center in Britain and was lead to write the book to bring attention to the plight of asylum seekers.  Since there is so much going on in the United States regarding immigration and asylum seekers its a very timely read.  








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