'Little Bee' Book Review #6
- Tasha Doughman
- Oct 25, 2019
- 3 min read
I had recently decided that I wanted to begin a "bookstagram" for my book reviews. The thing was, I needed books to review. After searching online for a couple of days with a tight budget, I was able to find almost forty novels for $10! It was such a sweet deal. I didn't know where to begin! I ended up sitting down and reading the descriptions on all of them and created three piles: read, maybe and not interested. There are only five books I wasn't interested in! However, my next task was to figure out which title I would want to read first. Due to the mysterious description, I chose Chris Cleave's, 'Little Bee'.
I had never laid eyes on a book description so secretive about the content hiding behind the front and back cover. Maybe that is why it lured me in. This is the description:
"We don't want to tell you WHAT HAPPENS in this book. It is a truly SPECIAL STORY and we don't want to spoil it. NEVERTHELESS, you need to know enough to buy it, so we will just say this:
This is the story of two women. Their lives collide one fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice, the kind of choice we hope you never have to face. Two years later, they meet again-- the story starts there. . .
Once you have read it, you'll want to tell your friends about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens. The magic is in how the story unfolds."
Mysterious, am I right? Not only did that gain my attention- it was also the beautiful cover. Featuring a black silhouette standing sideways with wild hair, her eye is white with the head of a white woman with tame hair. Two women that the description mentioned. I honestly could not wait to begin reading this book so I got started right away.
Sadly for you, I will not be spoiling ANYTHING whatsoever. I am not quite sure exactly how I want to do this book review but I will think of something to make you want to read this brilliant book.
Each chapter alternated between two different points of views which really enhances the beauty of this book because you read two different perspectives on the same thing. I always find it amazing how a male author can write about a woman- in this case: women- so perfectly as well as beautifully. Cleave did a fantastic job with this book from all the secret history behind his words as well as letting us women know just how wonderful and vigorous we can be.
With one of the main characters, I had a love/hate relationship with her. For many things she had done and didn't do, I could understand even if I did not agree with it whatsoever. And personally, that is frustrating. It makes you want to reach inside the book and shake sense into a characters mind. Cleave also did a terrific job by not telling how they met right in the beginning of the book. For me, my head was filled with questions until the very last page. Eventually, it would play out so the truth unraveled itself in such an appealing way to answer whatever questions were lurking in the back of my mind.
Going off from that, Cleave also knows how to keep his audience on the edge of their seat even though I was laying down while reading this book. My heart was overwhelmed with emotions throughout this 266 page book consisting of eleven chapters. With this novel, I began annotating and I would write what I was feeling next to a paragraph or phrase because there were so many I was experiencing- it was, in fact, a mind-boggling piece to be involved with. Yet, I loved it oh, so much!
Personally, I wish this book would have been a little bit longer mainly because of how it ended. It left me mad and confused and most irritatingly, I still had so many unanswered questions! Honestly, I feel the need to write an email to him and get some closure on my questions or maybe, he will eventually write a sequel. Even if he doesn't, Chris Cleave's performed an incredible work of art and sowed his words and his characters upon my heart with his book, 'Little Bee'.
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