The book... Little Bee by Chris Cleave.
The Meeting date... September 9, 2011
This partial summary from Wikipedia is to refresh your memory:
What we said...
Well, we talked about how stupid it was to have gone to the dangerous beach in Africa in the first place, and how stupid it was to go back especially with a four year old, how cute Charlie seemed to be as batman, how lame Andrew was not to have sacrificed his finger, and what kind of mother Sarah was or wasn't. None of us really liked Lawrence and wondered why Sarah hung on to him.
We all thought the book was very well written. It was a fast read and as you read, the plot always turned in unexpected ways. The author was able to pull you along and keep you wishing to find out what happens next.
The bonfire was great as usual...
I apologize to Ann Marie, I couldn't see that you were cut out of the photos on the far right edge..
We started thinking about what we could each be renamed as - as Little Bee described how her sister and she came to be renamed. But we never came to any conclusive results ... unless that happened after I left.
The Meeting date... September 9, 2011
Using alternating first-person perspectives, the novel tells the stories of Little Bee, a Nigerian refugee, and Sarah O'Rourke (née Summers), a magazine editor from Surrey. After spending two years detained in a British immigration detention centre, Little Bee is illegally released after a fellow refugee performs sexual favours for a detention officer. She travels to the home of Sarah and her husband Andrew, whom she met two years previously on a beach in the Niger Delta. Sarah is initially unaware of Little Bee's presence, until Andrew, haunted by guilt of their shared past, commits suicide. Little Bee reveals herself to Sarah on the day of Andrew's funeral, and helps her to care for her four-year-old son Charlie.
What we said...
Well, we talked about how stupid it was to have gone to the dangerous beach in Africa in the first place, and how stupid it was to go back especially with a four year old, how cute Charlie seemed to be as batman, how lame Andrew was not to have sacrificed his finger, and what kind of mother Sarah was or wasn't. None of us really liked Lawrence and wondered why Sarah hung on to him.
We all thought the book was very well written. It was a fast read and as you read, the plot always turned in unexpected ways. The author was able to pull you along and keep you wishing to find out what happens next.
The bonfire was great as usual...
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| This is what the I saw out the viewfinder so.... |
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| This is all of us (that came) minus Ann Marie (sorry!) and myself |
