On December 12, 2018 we were hosted by Betsy who had her home
decorated for Christmas. Sarah, Madeleine, Donna, Kathy, Doug, Carol B. and I attended.
We were welcomed with a cider, cinnamon, and champagne
drink which we enjoyed. We were then treated to soup, salad and quiche whilst
we discussed her book "Little Bee " by Chris Cleave who is a Brit.
Little Bee is an asylum seeking 16 year old Nigerian young girl who is placed in
a British detention center in London where she stays for 2 years. The story is
told from two female points of view and we thought the male author did
a fantastic job of seeing things perfectly from the African young girl as well
as the British lady Sarah who becomes involved with her due to a horrifying experience
whilst vacationing in Nigeria. Little Bee's village is wiped out by "baddies"
and her sister is raped and murdered brutally because of the presence of oil underneath
the village. Sarah saves Bee's life by cutting off her finger and from that point their
lives become intertwined.
It is indeed a dark story which is so terribly sad, yet it written in an ironically
humorous way.We all had a chance to pick parts that we found humorous.
We agreed that there may have been some holes in the story but with what
is happening at our own Southern border it was a timely read. Perhaps
it may have shed some light on asylum seekers and given us some pause for
thought on the situation.
by Tim O'Brien. We agreed to meet on January 16th. We hope Carol
will host but will send out information closer to the time.
