Little Bee by Chris Cleave

When I started this book, I was encouraged by the attempt of author Cleave to present what has been happening to (young) women in various African countries (Nigeria here).  Most of the recent writings, at least the ones I have read, are presented from the point of view of males, often ones who have escaped death, tho not always the brutality of the various wars.

This one was promising at the outset. I liked the language, the voices of the two main characters, especially the main character Little Bee. And the story seemed promising and engaging.

But about a third of the way into this novel, Little Bee somehow seemed to veer off course, and by the end, I wondered what had happened to such a promising beginning.

Save your reading time and spend it elsewhere.

(For two reviews that are quite positive, on the other hand, Click Here and/or Click Here)

                                                                                                         

Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos

This book is several years old now (published in 2004) and is the first novel by this author. Her more recent novel, Sing Them Home, was chosen as one of the 10 Best Books of 2009 by Entertainment Weekly. And based on my reading of her debut novel, I plan to read her new one also.

Broken for You has some similarities to Little Bee in that the main characters are women, and the stories are about relationships and about what happens to the female characters.

Actually, the characters in Kallos’s book remind me more of many of the Anne Tyler characters, quirky and a bit wierd, not quite like any one you have met before but quite likable and engaging.

I won’t go into detail about the eccentricity of the characters, nor the plot that calls for a bit of ‘willing suspension of disbelief,’ but  Broken for You is charming and a book that I did not want to put down.

If you saved yourself time by not reading Little Bee, consider Broken for You.

And if any of you have read Kallos’s new book, please let us all know your thoughts about it by adding a comment below.