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Book Review of Little Bee (aka The Other Hand)

Little Bee (aka The Other Hand)
Bookfanatic avatar reviewed on


If you're feeling far too happy then read this book. It's going to bring you down a notch or two. Now if you're sensitive, please stay away from the book.

This book is hyped by its publisher. The blurb on the back of the book is coy. The shocking revelation is shocking indeed, but in a very bad way. The hype surrounding the book makes it seem like the shock is something good. It's not. It's deeply disturbing and gruesome. There's an entire section that I had to make myself read because it was crucial to the story, but it was really shocking. Having said that, I think the book opens the eyes of Westerners to the harsh realities of life in Africa. Little girls in America play beside washing machines and dryers pretending they are hiding from the predatory animals of Africa. Little girls in Africa play in their mud huts dreaming of places where there are washing machines and dryers. The author has a line like that and it really resonated with me. This is a good book for a book club, but it's not a book that I would read again. Reading it once was enough for me.