Little Bee by Chris Cleave

This month we discussed “Little Bee” by Chris Cleve. Overall, everybody really liked it despite the dark subject matter at times. Some people were a bit disappointed in the end as they felt the ending was a bit too “Hollywood ending.” Many found it frustrating that Sarah would take her son to Nigeria despite how risky the situation was. Also, several indicated they would have liked to have known more about the oil company that initiated the slaughter of Little Bee’s village to begin with.

Additional highlights of our discussion included:

• Andrew was a coward. We could not believe he wouldn’t cut off his finger or at least attempt to buy the girls’ lives. Given his character, it was not surprising Sarah was having an affair. There was nothing he could do to redeem himself after that, although he could have tried harder.
• Little Bee was not to blame for Andrew’s death. Once the decision is made to commit suicide, not much anyone can do to help. He would have done it sooner or later, although she may have been a catalyst for it.
• It gave Little Bee a sense of control to plan her death in every situation she encountered and know how she would die. Given her sister’s horrific death, this was not surprising.
• When Little Bee died, she probably felt relief that she would finally be with her sister again.