Did that really just happen?
...Was my reaction most of the time I spent reading this section. While Little Bee started out as tragic but intriguing, I found that each section of Little Bee got progressively more disappointing and the last chapter especially just ruined the book for me. Chapter 8 began with Little Bee taking a walk around London with Sarah, Charlie and Lawrence and somehow ends in a missing child (although only briefly), deportation and finally (get ready for it) Little Bee on a beach in Nigeria with soldiers aiming their guns at her and Little Bee laughing, accepting that she we die. What!? I hope you can understand now why I say my reaction during this was Did that really just happen?
Needless to say, I found Chris Cleave's ending to Little Bee, what could have been an inspiring, thought-provoking, beautiful story, completely dissatisfying. The ending disappointed me not because the novel didn't end happily, I can accept that, but because I felt there was so many deeper messages in the book that were untouched in the ending of the novel. I felt like Chris Cleave could have said more to conclude the book more seamlessly so the reader won't be turning the page expecting there to be more which was exactly what I did. Otherwise, I felt this book was very well written. The ending really did ruin the book for me.
Side note: I had a difficult time trying to track down a copy of Little Bee which, according to Indigo, was unavailable in basically every book store in Ottawa. I ended up having to purchase the book electronically and reading it on my iPhone, which was extremely annoying. I think I may have found the reason for this though. Little Bee by Chris Cleave also goes under the title The Other Hand. There are many possibilities for the significance of this title which, like much of the book itself, is mysterious and perplexing. Is the "other hand" Sarah's right hand which has all it's fingers intact or Sarah's left hand with one finger missing? Is it Andrew's hand which he wouldn't sacrifice one finger of to save a girls life? Or maybe it is none of these, maybe the title is supposed to be ambiguous.
Personally, I prefer the title Little Bee for this novel because it is straight-forward yet still symbolic. Little Bee created this name for herself at a time of danger, when it was unsafe to use her real one. Little Bee says about her new name "My troubles will find me very easily in this town if I keep my foolish name that I chose at the edge of the jungle"(Cleave, 220). She seems to think that if she changes her name, she will leave her troubles behind along with it, "With my new name, I will not even belong in Little Bee's story anymore" (Cleave, 220). The importance Little Bee placed on names in this novel, as if the title she gave herself could change who she was and erase who she was before, reminded me of the The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, when Gogol changed his name to "Nikhil" believing that he could become a new person because of this. At the end of the novel, Little Bee convinces Charlie to take off his Batman costume if she tells him her real name, both shedding the false identities they have hid under to reveal their true ones. Ironically enough, Little Bee's real name is Udu, which means peace in her language. Little Bee explains peace to Charlie by saying "'Peace is a time when people can tell each other their real names" (Cleave, 265). I like this because my grandmother and several other of my family members are named Eirini, which means peace in Greek.
What do you think of the alternate title of Little Bee and what it might mean? What did you think of the book? Did you find the ending as disappointing as I did? Comment to let me know.
Photo Citations:
Little Bee By Chris Cleave. 17 Aug., 2010. fridaymorningbookclub.com. WordPress.Web. 5 May, 2014.
Cute Little Bee. 20 Mar., 2012. storybird.com. Web. 5 May, 2014.
...Was my reaction most of the time I spent reading this section. While Little Bee started out as tragic but intriguing, I found that each section of Little Bee got progressively more disappointing and the last chapter especially just ruined the book for me. Chapter 8 began with Little Bee taking a walk around London with Sarah, Charlie and Lawrence and somehow ends in a missing child (although only briefly), deportation and finally (get ready for it) Little Bee on a beach in Nigeria with soldiers aiming their guns at her and Little Bee laughing, accepting that she we die. What!? I hope you can understand now why I say my reaction during this was Did that really just happen?
Needless to say, I found Chris Cleave's ending to Little Bee, what could have been an inspiring, thought-provoking, beautiful story, completely dissatisfying. The ending disappointed me not because the novel didn't end happily, I can accept that, but because I felt there was so many deeper messages in the book that were untouched in the ending of the novel. I felt like Chris Cleave could have said more to conclude the book more seamlessly so the reader won't be turning the page expecting there to be more which was exactly what I did. Otherwise, I felt this book was very well written. The ending really did ruin the book for me.
Personally, I prefer the title Little Bee for this novel because it is straight-forward yet still symbolic. Little Bee created this name for herself at a time of danger, when it was unsafe to use her real one. Little Bee says about her new name "My troubles will find me very easily in this town if I keep my foolish name that I chose at the edge of the jungle"(Cleave, 220). She seems to think that if she changes her name, she will leave her troubles behind along with it, "With my new name, I will not even belong in Little Bee's story anymore" (Cleave, 220). The importance Little Bee placed on names in this novel, as if the title she gave herself could change who she was and erase who she was before, reminded me of the The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, when Gogol changed his name to "Nikhil" believing that he could become a new person because of this. At the end of the novel, Little Bee convinces Charlie to take off his Batman costume if she tells him her real name, both shedding the false identities they have hid under to reveal their true ones. Ironically enough, Little Bee's real name is Udu, which means peace in her language. Little Bee explains peace to Charlie by saying "'Peace is a time when people can tell each other their real names" (Cleave, 265). I like this because my grandmother and several other of my family members are named Eirini, which means peace in Greek.
What do you think of the alternate title of Little Bee and what it might mean? What did you think of the book? Did you find the ending as disappointing as I did? Comment to let me know.
Photo Citations:
Little Bee By Chris Cleave. 17 Aug., 2010. fridaymorningbookclub.com. WordPress.Web. 5 May, 2014.
Cute Little Bee. 20 Mar., 2012. storybird.com. Web. 5 May, 2014.
I don't think "the other hand" is a better title, I think it somewhat reveals a part of the story just by reading the title. The title "Little Bee" makes you think the book is happy and after reading the first chapter it's definitely not what you thought it was. The title and cover pager is as mysterious as the book itself, I liked being surprised from thinking this book was about sunshine and bee's buzzing to actually being a terrifying story revolving around a day on a beach in Nigeria with no actual bee's in it at all; and I know "don't judge a book by its cover" but common who doesn't. I think this saying can also be used for Little Bee's character, on the outside she is an illegal immigrant from Nigeria named Little Bee but on the inside she is so much more than that, more than a name and a skin color. I really enjoyed this book and I'm surprised that I actually read this one, and I'm glad that I did. Even though the ending sucked because we really don't know what happened, I think he left it in the way he started it, a mystery. I really wish we knew what happened to everyone but not all books have a happy ending.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that this book was not what I was first expecting from seeing the title and cover and involved a few more guns, suicides and detention centres then I had anticipated. I as well enjoyed reading this story, and although some assumptions can be made about what happened to the remising characters, it would have been nice to have more closure at the end of the book.
DeleteIt's funny you say that because I actually found "The other hand" had more significance but now that I think of it, that's only because I mostly focused on Sarah and Bee's relationship in the sense that they were each missing something and hand-in-hand they'd complete each other once again. Now that you brought up that really interesting concept of the significance of a name, I realize so much flew by me. Loved reading that interesting observation, can't believe I missed it!
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought about the title "The Other Hand" from that perspective either, but it makes a lot of sense! Sarah and Little Bee's connection was a very important aspect of the story. Their lives were so different but it that way they were able to somehow complete each other. Both had made it their mission to help the other person, Little Bee by caring for Sarah and her son and Sarah by allowing Little Bee to stay with her and trying to help her stay in the country legally. I think both titles have deeper meanings and can be interpreted different ways. It would be very interesting to know what Chris Cleave meant when he titled the book and when he decided to re-name it.
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