Little Bee, by Chris Cleave

I can't understand why the synopsis on this book is so shady. They don't want to to tell you what happens in this book.

"It is truly a special story and we don't want to spoil it."

So they tease you. And they tell you that you will WANT to tell others about it, but ask you not to tell them what happens because "The magic is in how the story unfolds."

No, it's not. It's a very good story, yes, but I didn't get any magic. It's your basic flashback/flashforward story, with little elements mentioned HERE that won't get explained until THERE.

I'm honestly really conflicted about spoiling this.........it specifically says don't say what happens. The rebel in me wants to blab it in all caps, in 72 point font. The good little girl wants to tell you to read it for yourself, because it is a good book.


Hmm.........ok, I'm going to spoil it. I'm going to spoil it because Chris Cleave is not the boss of me, and also as a little "fuck you" because I hate the way he ended it.

HERE IS WHAT HAPPENS!!!!

Little Bee is a Nigerian girl, young, probably teenager, who met a British couple on holiday 2 years before the book begins. She and her sister were fleeing men who killed everyone in their village (it was built on an oil field and the oil companies wanted the land) (this is the event that they hint at for half the book). (the meeting on the beach not the village massacre)

So the white couple (Andrew and Sarah) and black girls (Little Bee and Nkiruka) meet, and then the men come, and then the white couple are put in a terrible position by them, and guess what? Sarah cuts off a finger to save Little Bee!!! Andrew would/could not. This haunts him forever. Little Bee's sister is killed, Little Bee somehow sneaks aboard a ship heading to England, spends 2 years in a detention center, and finds Andrew and Sarah. Andrew kills himself. Little Bee is there. Takes her the rest of the book to tell Sarah that she was there, but that part is handled all crappily. It's like "and then I told her." That's it. Disappointing, really. Ok, Andrew's buried, Little Bee is staying with Sarah for like 3 days when a stupid mistake happens and the police catch Little Bee and she's sent back to Nigeria. Sarah and her son accompany Bee, because Sarah knows that Bee's government won't do anything to Bee in the presence of a white lady. Sarah's plan is to tell Bee's story, and tell the stories of as many other Nigerians as she can, until she has enough for a book, and enough to save Bee. It's a great plan.

It's doesn't work.

Bee is captured by soldiers on a beach.

Bee has some nice thoughts about some shit. I almost cried.

The end.

I still really like the book. Just hate the ending. I saw another book by Chris Cleave at Wal-Mart the other day, and it totally has the same kind of cover (tiny white silhouette inside larger black silhouette). No idea what it's about, but I think I'm going to buy it. I like the way he writes. Example: he begins the book with Little Bee dreaming about being a pound coin, and it's awesome.