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Journal Entry 1 by jawin from Launceston, Tasmania Australia on Friday, December 19, 2008
 Little Bee is a teenage illegal immigrant from Nigeria, released from detention with little more than a plastic bag and the driver’s licence of a British man she met in shocking circumstances on a Nigerian beach. Sarah, the middle-class wife of that man, is a magazine editor with the perfect chick-lit life: lovely house, high-achieving husband, endearing son and excitingly frivolous job.
The Other Hand is about the collision between Little Bee’s and Sarah’s lives. Neither the book’s jacket nor the publicity blurbs name the characters or reveal the plot.
This is the blurb:
"We don't want to tell you too much about this book. It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it. Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this: It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific. The story starts there, but the book doesn't. And it's what happens afterwards that is most important. Once you have read it, you'll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds."
I tried hard not to be put off by the blurb – it sounded like a cynical marketing ploy – but it did colour my view. I found the characters unconvincing and the story a bit too close to the sorts of articles which would have appeared in Sarah’s magazine. I was expecting something funny – but if there was humour, I missed it. The mystery around the events on the Nigerian beach was strung out too long. I really didn’t like the ending.
Everyone else seems to be raving about this, but it simply didn’t work for me.
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Journal Entry 3 by caldron from Brisbane, Queensland Australia on Sunday, January 04, 2009
thx to jawin
looking forward to this one ~ interesting commentary
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I really enjoyed this - admittedly the whole blurb thing was annoying but, meh - I was drawn into the story of Bee and ultimately fascinated by the (semi-spoiler alert) twists & turns of the narrative.
Elements were disturbing, but emotionally it was a very satisfying read.
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The Other Hand
