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Summary
“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
This book came highly recommended after I had posted it in my TBR pile on Instagram. S of course I chose to read it next. Holy cow am I glad that I did. As the summary was incredibly vague I didn’t know what to expect with this book. I did also just learn this book goes by two titles – Little Bee and The Other Hand. They are the same book, just a different name.
When I picked up this book, I certainly didn’t expect to have my heart ripped out, stomped on, feeling sick, feeling angry, and crying at parts.
I’ll start with a trigger warning – this book is about refugees, following one particular girl, Little Bee, and her experience. It covers suicide, rape, death, detention centers and the disgusting reality of trying to escape ones country in search of a better life.
* I’ll briefly touch on a few of the points in this review and put a [TW] at the beginning of that paragraph.
This was a difficult book for me to read honestly, but I felt that I had to, especially with all going on in the world and in America now. As I have a professional background in international affairs, I am no stranger to reading about these situations and the horrors that life holds. But something about reading it in a story where emotion is put into it and personal perspective, it becomes so much more.
From the first sentence and first few pages, I was hooked. It started with Little Bee wishing that she was a British Pound, showing the comparison between how someone like her with dark skin isn’t accepted and wanted while a British pound is. It’s such an incredible allegory an creatively done. But very stark. From page 1 I knew I was in for a wild ride.
The book isn’t directly based on real events – it doesn’t follow a real person. But it covers real situations that are occurring around the world and does pull on real events in a more broad sense. So while this story is about one person, it is translatable to the refugee experience that some have.
[TW] The rape scene (no spoilers) really ripped my heart out. It made me sick and angry, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it the rest of the day. It still gnaws at the back of my brain as I write this review. It’s something that’s going to really stick with me. But in that moment, I really understood the saying of ‘there are worse things than death’. It just really made me sick to the pit of my stomach as I thought about it, and then about stories I had heazrd out there in real life of these kind of situations.
I can’t really put into words – there are no words – to cover all of my emotions. It was really difficult to read.
[TW] Additionally, Little Bee went through the first half of the story continually looking for ways to kill herself if men came in because of the role that men had had in her life – beginning back in Nigeria and to life in the detention centers. No spoilers, but you didn’t really understand why she was so on top of finding ways to do that until halfway through and you learnt more about her experiences and story. But it was so upsetting to read about such a young woman always finding ways to end her life.
Now you may be asking yourself, “Why would you read a book like that, that made you so upset and angry?” Because we have to learn. Sometimes it is necessary to be uncomfortable to learn and be challenged. I had moments that I wanted to put it down, I won’t lie. Because it was a lot. But I knew that I had to read it, for Little Bee’s story, and for all the women and refugees out there who this wasn’t just a story for, but their existence. I owed it to them.
What it could have done better
I felt that there could have been more to her story. Not saying that there wasn’t a lot there, but there could have been more. She ultimately got so lucky and most of her situation turned out nicely once she got out of the detention center in the beginning. There were moments that I felt it was too easy and not realistic.
But I understand that a book of this size can’t always have too much put into it. There does need to be hope but also having that stark reality, which the ending did quite nicely. But I do felt that there could have been just a little bit more realism to the story. But since I don’t know the authors direct intention, with what was covered, it did a very nice job.
This is just my opinion though since I know of these real life stories and how messy they are – I just felt sometimes it was a little ‘easy’ for Little Bee in some of her moments. But part of her history and past made up for that. In a way the ‘easiness’ in the U.K. she had with the other main character kind of helped contrast the U.K. versus Nigeria so there may have been a deeper meaning as to why the author did what they did. So it’s just a tiny critique.
Overall, this story was incredible. It kept me reading and wanting to know what happened, it dropped parts of the larger story and you didn’t really get the full picture until towards the end. I thoroughly enjoyed it, found it eye opening, challenging, and is certainly a book that will stick with me for a long time.
I’d personally give Little Bee a 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Impactful Quotes
“Most days I wish I was a British pound coin instead of an African girl.”
“the-men-came-and-they…”
“However long the moon disappears, someday it must shine again.”
