SYNOP: The publishers of Chris Cleave’s new novel “don’t want to spoil” the story by revealing too much about it, and there’s good reason not to tell too much about the plot’s pivot point. All you should know going in to Little Bee is that what happens on the beach is brutal, and that it braids the fates of a 16-year-old Nigerian orphan (who calls herself Little Bee) and a well-off British couple–journalists trying to repair their strained marriage with a free holiday–who should have stayed behind their resort’s walls. The tide of that event carries Little Bee back to their world, which she claims she couldn’t explain to the girls from her village because they’d have no context for its abundance and calm. But she shows us the infinite rifts in a globalized world, where any distance can be crossed in a day–with the right papers–and “no one likes each other, but everyone likes U2.” Where you have to give up the safety you’d assumed as your birthright if you decide to save the girl gazing at you through razor wire, left to the wolves of a failing state.

Oh my.  Where to start about Little Bee… I won’t give much of the central plot away.  But I will say that this is a polarizing book.  I believe that you will either love it or hate it.  I, unfortunately, fell into the hate category.  This books was like a train wreck I couldn’t look away from.  It was horribly depressing, parts of it were horrific and heartrending and some of it just plain inconceivable.  There is evil in the world in many forms — most of them human– and this book looks at how globalization and people themselves give so little value to human life or even to basic human rights.

There were a few parts that touched me, hence the “D” grade instead of the “F” I was very tempted to give it.  The writing itself was not very stellar.  It was stilted and quite a bit of it just didn’t seem real.  not real dialogue or reactions but then again, given the subject matter I guess it’s hard for me to say what would be “real.”

I plugged and slogged through this novel because I felt like I owed it to the people that things like this happen to all the time.  It did make me think and I always appreciate that in a book, but if depressing reading material isn’t your gig, stay far, far away from Little Bee.

Well, I’m in day one of a much needed vacation at the shore. I picked up my first book in almost 2 months and guess what? It’s a dud. I’ve always loved the original VC Andrews books. I practically went into hiding until I was done with the Flowers in the Attic series. But this ghost writer(s) that the family has employed leaves a lot to be desired. Secrets in the Attic (Secrets) was an impulse buy. The back blurb sounded intriguing enough and I thought “why not giver her another try?” I wish I had my $7.99 back.

The story is extremely slow. At page 77 I was asking myself why I was still reading. I liked the characters of Zipporah and Karen. It was easy to see teenage life through their eyes. But the author was trying so hard to build suspense that it just left me bored. There’s a twist and I’m not going to give it away, but for the love of all that is holy I’m glad I didn’t finish reading it straight out. I skimmed through the last several chapters and was really unimpressed. And there’s another one to follow this story! Ye-gads! Same tripe, different cover. I say pick up My Sweet Audrina or Flowers in the Attic (Dollanganger).