Little Bee by Chris Cleave
I can't remember where I read about this book, but I am glad that I stumbled across it. Written in first person narrative from two different character's point of view (in alternating chapters), it is the story of a girl who flees Nigeria to England and faces deportation because she is an illegal immigrant. If that was the cruz of the story, it wouldn't be very interesting. What makes the story so compelling is the relationship between the 16 year old Nigerian girl and the 32 year old English woman who share the story. Little Bee is the name the Nigerian girl assumes when she decides to hope for a better life in England.
The plot revolves around a significant point: major oil companies have discovered crude oil in Nigeria--the only problem is that many small villages are located on the oil which makes it difficult for the oil companies to get to the oil. (In an afternote, the author explains that Nigeria is the world's 8th biggest petroleum exporting nation. Not coincidentally, it is also the second biggest African nation for asylum applicants to the U.K. because of the struggle for oil.) Little Bee is from one of those villages which is basically annhiliated by representatives of an unnamed oil company. She flees the horror of the killings and accidentally meets Sarah and her husband Andrew on a beach in the southern part of Nigeria. You learn what happened on that beach in flashbacks since the story begins two years later when Little Bee is released from a detention center in England and makes her way to Sarah's home outside London.
Cleave's writing allows each woman to have a distinct voice; Little Bee's voice is very lyrical and entrances you as a reader. I don't know how realistic the events of the story are since I don't know that much about the immigration laws of England. But as Cleave presents the events, they seem plausible enough to believe the story could happen as it does. I did not like the ending of the story--but I don't want to spoil it so I won't tell you why I didn't like it. This book isn't as fabulous as A Thousand Splendid Suns, but it did remind me of the two women from that story as I read about Little Bee and Sarah.
The plot revolves around a significant point: major oil companies have discovered crude oil in Nigeria--the only problem is that many small villages are located on the oil which makes it difficult for the oil companies to get to the oil. (In an afternote, the author explains that Nigeria is the world's 8th biggest petroleum exporting nation. Not coincidentally, it is also the second biggest African nation for asylum applicants to the U.K. because of the struggle for oil.) Little Bee is from one of those villages which is basically annhiliated by representatives of an unnamed oil company. She flees the horror of the killings and accidentally meets Sarah and her husband Andrew on a beach in the southern part of Nigeria. You learn what happened on that beach in flashbacks since the story begins two years later when Little Bee is released from a detention center in England and makes her way to Sarah's home outside London.
Cleave's writing allows each woman to have a distinct voice; Little Bee's voice is very lyrical and entrances you as a reader. I don't know how realistic the events of the story are since I don't know that much about the immigration laws of England. But as Cleave presents the events, they seem plausible enough to believe the story could happen as it does. I did not like the ending of the story--but I don't want to spoil it so I won't tell you why I didn't like it. This book isn't as fabulous as A Thousand Splendid Suns, but it did remind me of the two women from that story as I read about Little Bee and Sarah.
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