Little Bee Book Review



The book I read is titled Little Bee. It was written by Chris Cleave. The main story of the book is about two ladies going through the hard times of life and how their lives intertwine. The main characters in the book are a Nigerian girl by the name of Little Bee, and a lady by the name of Sarah. The story is basically showing two different perspectives. Each chapter it flips to Little Bee then back to Sarah. I think it was an interesting to show two different sides of the story.


The story takes place in England in the year 2007. The main conflict is if Little Bee can stay in England, and maybe start to live a new life the same with Sarah, and her struggles. The start of the conflict is when Little Bee was let out of a refugee camp and she didn't know where to go. In the story events happen and she ends up at Sarah's house. Then Sarah decides to let Little Bee live with here. So then Sarah and Little Bee are trying to protect each other, and for Little Bee to not be taken away back to Nigeria since she's a refugee liked how the author wrote the book. He kept me guessing on what's going to happen next. It kept me wanting more and more. He didn't give anything away on how it was going to turn out.


The main characters of the book are a sixteen year old, Nigerien refugee girl. Sarah is a middle aged English widow. She has a son who is about four years old. His name is Brian and he's always in a Batman suit. Sarah also has a lover by the name of Lawrence. Both are writers. Sarah and Little Bee have a mother and daughter relationship. They both want to protect each other and they care for one another. Little Bee is like an older sister to Brian. She calms him down when he's having a fit, and she understands what he's feeling. Sarah loves her son, and Brian loves his mom. Sarah and Lawrence are lovers, they're relationship is kind of complicated. Little Bee and Lawrence both dislike each other. He doesn't think Little Bee is good for Sarah, to be living in her home. Little Bee thinks the same way of Lawrence. One meaningful moment happened between Little Bee and Sarah. It was Little Bee telling her about how her life was like in Nigeria and how she got to England. Another moment was with Lawrence and Little Bee, and they were sharing secrets with each other.

My favorite part of the story is when they go on a trip to London all together like a family. I like the setting and the way Little Bee was thinking. It was a good part of the story. In the book he had a lot of suspense. It kept me wondering what was going to happen next. I thought it was interesting on how the writer was showing the different stories and ideas in the two main characters perspectives. I thought the format was good, because it jumped from story to story. It kept me interested in the characters, and the storyline. I recommend the book from ages fourteen and up. It has a lot of adult themes so I decided fourteen would be the youngest age to go from, and after that it is good for any age up.


The purpose of the book is to let people know how life can get hard, but you just have to get through it, and how people are there for you. The story teaches the readers. It has some funny humor from Little Bee, since she's a young girl it'd make sense to crack jokes, or laugh, and be happy. This book was amazing. The imagery of the setting, the characters, and the storyline worked all together to make this great book.