So we all survived our first novel and first official club - I think we did pretty well discussing and analyzing our pick for a good 40% of the time, wouldn't you say?!! There were some definite mixed opinions on our choice of "Little Bee," but many similar thoughts as well. Here's what I can recall from our club night at this point...(it had been a rough day and the bubbly went down real smooth!!!):
Unsure of:
- the way the author wrote in the voices of Little Bee's girlfriends from the refugee centre
- whether her situation was true to real life (being held in the centre for over two years with no sense of when you are to be freed)??
- many mixed feelings on the characters of Sarah, her husband Andrew and her son Charlie...are we supposed to like them, pity them, have any feelings towards them as a family?
- the viability of the part where Little Bee admits to having spent days/weeks in their back garden, frightening Andrew and being there when he hangs himself, able to help, but choosing not to
Consensus:
- we all loved whenever Little Bee spoke about her friends back home and how they would react when she described her new life: "Weh!?" (We all did pretty awesome "weh" imitations, if I recall correctly!)
- almost anything that Charlie said sounded annoying, not endearing!!!
- most preferred Little Bee as narrator over Sarah...her chapters seemed richer
- Almost everyone agreed on the probable outcome never mentioned at the end of the novel - the end of Little Bee after being taken from the beach by the police in Nigeria
- nobody liked the creepy other man in Sarah's life - yuck!
- as much as we dislike Sarah's character, most felt that they would not have been able to do what she did to save Little Bees life...my fingers hurt again just writing that
Anyways, I loved the first review on this site (Tell us what you really think lady?!!!): of course being the blogger of this site allows me the bias of looking for content that suits my opinions, so feel free to comment back ladies!
Nighty night xoxo
P.S. Did you know that that UK edition of the novel is called "The Other Hand"...thoughts?
What a great summary Renee!! Yes I had read that the name in the UK was different. I thought it was actually kind of a clever title, it made me think of turning the other cheek, or in this case the other hand. I wonder why they do that?? The Philopher's Stone was called the Sorcerer's Stone in the US...
ReplyDelete