"Little Bee" By: Chris Cleave Review

One of the book groups I belong to decided to read, 

"Little Bee" By: Chris Cleave in November. 

Boy, do I have a lot to talk about!

Synopsis from Barnes and Noble:

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.

My Thoughts:

      This book is honestly one of the most confusing, depressing, and just plain sad stories that I have read in a long, long time...if ever. The synopsis in no way resembles the book I just put down. The blurb makes you think it will be funny...or charming...or will leave you smiling. 

     The story starts out with a young Nigerian girl leaving a British detention center for refugees. She has the driver's license of an English man in her pocket. She leaves the center with some of the other refugees and gives the Englishman  a call to tell him she is coming to see him.

     The story then cuts to a middle class Englishwoman, the wife of the man on the license. Her husband has just committed suicide after hearing from the Nigerian girl.  The woman is missing her middle finger on one of her hands. That's all the information the reader is given. 

     The story drags on with random references to something that happened on the beach. Throughout the story it is revealed that the Englishwoman had cheated on her husband for most of their marriage and the events of the beach are tortuously released. I felt most of the characters were unlikeable and I just didn't care what happened to them. The story just kept revealing sad things and there was absolutely no resolution. The story just ends, no conflict resolution....nothing.

     I must have missed the appeal of this one. Oprah chose this book as one of the best books from 2009. In no way would I have finished this book if this wasn't a book club book. I would give this book 1 Star out of 5...I simply didn't care for it!