“It can be argued that no writer had a clearer insight than Shakespeare, and he managed to achieve this in a world without refrigeration, Darwin, Freud, Bill Gates, emails, television or the mobile phone.”
-Sir John Mortimer
Two Basic Rules for Bibliophile Friday: Read a book. Write about it.
You can write as little as two words (Thumbs up! or Thumbs down!), you can write a short blurb, or you can go all out and give a summary and review. It all depends on how you’re feeling and how much time you have. Add your blog to Mr. Linky, below, and please leave a comment after you link.
Books suggestions or reviews are welcome for both kids’ and grown-ups’ books.
Keep it clean. Be honest.
Bibliophile Friday is the 4th Friday of every month, so get reading!
My book selection: Little Bee, by Chris Cleave
Recommendation: Harumph. It’s intriguing, it begs you to keep reading, and then it leaves you alone at the end, unsatisfied.
Summary:
Little Bee is the pseudonym of a 16-year old orphan from Nigeria who has witnessed brutality of the highest order. As we learn her story, it’s impossible to really imagine ourselves there; it’s more than disheartening to think that these things really happen. Through a strange set of circumstances, Little Bee ends up in England clutching the business card of Andrew, one-half of a British couple who’d taken an ill-fated vacation to Nigeria. Little Bee’s life intertwines with Andrew’s and his wife Sarah’s and the story expands and deepens with each turn of the page. Eventually, Sarah, a publisher, accompanies Little Bee back to Nigeria in hopes of exposing the horrors taking place there. It doesn’t end well.
My thoughts:
After such an intense story, I expected, and still long for, a more intense ending. Cleave wrapped this one up a little too conveniently for me after dragging me through such agony with Little Bee. It’s heart-wrenching, I’ll give him that. I’m often drawn to books with difficult themes but this one left me feeling a bit bereft at the end. I wanted more.
How about you? What are you reading?
