The Other Hand/Little Bee by Chris Cleave

On my list of books to read this summer was Little Bee by Chris Cleave, because the first time I came across it in a Target about a year or two back I knew that I wanted to read it. So this summer when I found a used copy at Hasting's I bought it without giving it a second thought.

The Other Hand, also known as Little Bee, is a 2008 novel by British author Chris Cleave. It is a dual narrative story about a Nigerianasylum-seeker and a British magazine editor, who meet during the oil conflict in the Niger Delta, and are re-united in England several years later. Cleave, inspired as a university student by his temporary employment in an asylum detention centre, wrote the book in an attempt to humanise the plight of asylum-seekers in Britain. The novel examines the treatment of refugees by the asylum system, as well as issues of British colonialism, globalization, political violence and personal accountability. (source: Wikipedia)


This book will immediately draw you in and leave you on the edge of your seat as the character's, Little Bee and Sarah, recall their memories and navigate the reader through their present struggles. I was a puddle for a good portion of this book and I'm okay with that. Because if there's one indication of a a writer's capability to keep a reader's attention, it's turning them into a massive blubbering mess. Cleave's writing is amazingly fluid and simultaneously addicting and his character's only become a part of you, right down to little Charlie who refuses to  take off his Batman costume. The innocence of Charlie is a sweet reminder that even though there is a myriad of bad things that happen in the world that there is still some good and hope for humanity out there, even if the murkiness of one's life is blinding. 


I highly recommend this book, though if you're already kind of depressed then you should prepare yourself with a box of tissues and maybe some chocolates because your heart will be ripped out, stomped on and then slowly put back together again. 


5/5 typewriters


xoxo

High Fidelity

Ladies and gents, this is the beginning of a series. A series in which I review ALL of the books that I've read this summer..this is just the beginning. It's Kind of a Funny Story will not be listed in this series though, since I reviewed it the day I finished it.


I've been on a British author's kick for a few weeks this summer, I've read A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby and Little Bee by Chris Cleave (which I intend to review very soon as well) and I've just started Atonement by Ian McEwan so the UK kick is starting to become a bit out of hand. But I'm perfectly okay with it, especially if I go to London next Spring Break with a theatre group from my school. But I digress, onward with the reviewing!

Rob Fleming is a London record store owner in his mid-thirties whose girlfriend, Laura, has just left him. At the record shop — named Championship Vinyl — Rob and his employees Dick and Barry spend their free moments discussing mix-tape aesthetics and constructing"top-five" lists of anything that demonstrates their knowledge of music.

Rob, recalling his five most memorable breakups, sets about getting in touch with the former girlfriends. Eventually, Rob's re-examination of his failed relationships and the death of Laura's father bring the two back together. Their relationship is cemented by the launch of a new purposefulness to Rob's life in the revival of his disc jockey career.

Also, realizing that his fear of commitment (a result of his fear of death of those around him) and his tendency to act on emotion are responsible for his continuing desires to pursue new women, Rob makes a symbolic commitment to Laura.

                               ............................................................................

At first when I started to get into the book I started feeling like I was reading the pages of a boyfriend's personal journal,  I mean the back cover even says, "Keep this book away from your girlfriend-it contains too many of your secrets to let it fall into the wrong hands."- Details magazine and that was just like bait to me. Of course a single girl would want to read a book from the perspective of a guy that has similar interests and whatnot. It just makes sense, and my sanity doesn't need to be questioned right now. 

I thought that the character development of the book was great, everyone was introduced in Rob's life in such a way that it felt like you, the reader, was just one of his friend's that he was telling the story too. The dialogue in the book was very true to life. I don't think that I've ever read an author that has swore as much Nick Hornby does, but I totally loved it because it made the story become more real and everything that Rob and Laura went through became that much more believable. 

I recently quoted a line from the movie that was changed from what it was actually wrote as in the book, ‎"Books, records, films--These things matter. Call me shallow. It's the fucking truth." -High Fidelity, and my mom called me a potty mouth..so in response I just told her to call Mr. Hornby that since he wrote the words and I was just quoting them for their relevance. You had to be there...

In conclusion, I highly recommend this book, whether your a guy or girl. Because you will learn something from it no matter your gender or what state your love life is currently in. 

4/5 typewriters!

It's Kind of a Funny Story. Indeed.

I literally just closed the book and I am bubbling over with excitement at how great it was. 

At some points I felt like I was being dragged through the mud when Craig felt like he was in the lowest points of his life and I felt like I was on the highest point of a roller-coaster when he experienced his high’s. 

I found that I could relate so well to Craig in so many different ways, especially with his social anxiety on top of the depression, I just never had wanted to take things as far as considering suicide. 

Ned Vizzini, thank you.