About this title: From the author of the international bestseller "Incendiary" comes a haunting novel about the tenuous friendship that blooms between two disparate strangers--one an illegal Nigerian refugee, the other a recent widow from suburban London.
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Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Date Published: 2009-02-10
ISBN-13:9781416589631ISBN:1416589635
Description: Very Good. This is a paperback with different cover and publisher stickers. This book is the same isbn, but is a paperback. Save some $$$. Perfectly Good Reading Copy. Shelfwear from storage in box with other books. Great Copy. Ships Lightning Fast. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Date Published: 2009-02-10
ISBN-13:9781416589631ISBN:1416589635
Description: Very Good. Paperback ARC with plain cover and publisher stickers. This book is the same isbn, but is a paperback ARC. Save some $$$. Perfectly Good Reading Copy. Great Copy. Ships Lightning Fast. read more
Edition: Advance Reader's Edition
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9781416589631ISBN:1416589635
Description: Very Good+ 271 pp. Collectible ARC. Color illustrated softcover. Date of national publication in hardcover February 2009. Faint evidence of having been read. A clean, very gently used copy. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Date Published: 2009-02-10
ISBN-13:9781416589631ISBN:1416589635
Description: NEW. Hardcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9781416589631. read more
Binding: Spoken Word MP3-CD
Publisher: Tantor Media Inc
Date Published: 2009-04-14
ISBN-13:9781400161713ISBN:1400161711
Description: NEW. Spoken Word MP3-CD. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9781400161713. read more
Binding: Audio CD
Publisher: Tantor Media
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9781400161713ISBN:1400161711
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
"Books that don't match their descriptions are extremely annoying, and this one especially so. The book jacket says, "It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific." And the beach scene really is exceedingly horrific. Unfortunately, the comic relief I was led to expect never followed. I failed to be even slightly amused by this story of Little bee, a Nigerian refugee, whose life becomes entangled with a vacationing English couple.
That isn't to say this isn't a good book. After Little Bee's entire family is killed, her sister in an especially horrid way, Little Bee stows away on a ship sailing for England. What's funny? Upon her arrival she promptly enters a refugee camp where she spends two years. Nothing "extremely funny" happens to her there either. She is released, but has no papers, and sets out to find the couple she had met on the beach in Nigeria.
Upon arriving at the home of Andrew and Sarah, Little Bee finds their lives in turmoil. Andrew has committed suicide and three-year-old Charlie refuses to take his batman costume off. It's not funny. The rest of the story revolves around Little Bee's struggle to stay in London because her return to Nigeria would mean certain death. Nothing to laugh about here.
Events throughout vacillate between hopeful and hopeless and in the end the future for Little Bee is uncertain at best. While I found the book to be overwhelmingly sad and depressing, it offered a glimpse of another culture and world events. I appreciated that Sarah and Little Bee had a positive influence on things bigger than themselves."
"I saw the recommendation for this book in a magazine and was immediately curious about it. I have no regrets buying this book and i'm recommending it to my family and friends. I'm always wary by non- native Nigerians writing about the country or it's people. Reading it was like being transported into the life's of the characters....cann't reveal any info you just have to read it yourself."
"I gave this story a low rating due to the copy on the inside flap of the book jacket. The brief description was very mysterious and piqued my curiosity immediately. Sadly, it made the story seem to be something it was not. It seemed like I'd be reading a mystery with a wonderful ending. My joy was soon diminished as I began to realize what the story was headed. As I reached the end, I have to say I felt ripped off by false/no advertising. I won't fall for that again.
Though I did find the story very well written, deeply moving and quite heartbreaking, I felt the teaser copy did the book an injustice. If they'd done a fair job describing the novel, I'm not sure as many people would have read it, but at least the ones who did, would be able to appreciate the story more.
There are times when I want to know what horrible things go on in this world, so I seek out information and I try to do something about it. Yet, there other are times when I seek refuge from the world and I depend on being able to find a good story to read, to take me away to places my heart seeks. The last thing I want to feel after I spent $25 or $30 for a book, is to feel ripped off."
"Chris Cleave is nothing if not ambitious. In Little Bee, he not only takes on the issues of immigration, globalization, imperialism, and personal responsibility, but does so in the voices of two unforgettable women, one a solidly middle-class English fashion magazine editor, the other a 16-year-old Nigerian refugee. As you might imagine, Cleave doesn't deal with these issues in a pat way, nor does he allow his readers to do so. And although parts of this book are very, very difficult to read -- all the more so because they seem to come from out of the blue -- they don't seem cheap or manipulative.
Like a lot of readers, I'm trying to figure out whether the coy flap copy for this book, which practically tosses its curls before the readers' eyes and says that it can't give away a single plot point lest the whole book be ruined, is a brilliant bit of misdirection or a piece of cutesy-poo marketing gone awry. Being the cynic that I am, my money is on the latter. The copy makes the book sound like it's going to be one of those faux-whimsical Oprah-type tales, a la The Secret Life of Bees or Before Women Had Wings -- you know, the old "two timid women find each other and before you know it they've engaged in an orgy of personal growth like you wouldn't believe and become their bestest best selves." It's not, but I'm guessing some marketer figured he knew what sells.
I also can't figure out why the American publisher didn't release the book under its original British title, The Other Hand, which is a far better title, thematically and otherwise, than Little Bee."
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