"Little Bee" by Chris Cleave

From Goodreads: "This is the story of two women. Their lives collide one fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice, the kind of choice we hope you never have to face. Two years later, they meet again - the story starts there..."

This book is very much a departure for me, not only is it not a YA paranormal romance (I would classify it as a fictional narrative), but it is also a required reading for one of my classes (I am going to be honest with you I very rarely finish books for school, I start them, read a couple of chapters, get bored with them, and then Google their plot summaries- so the fact that I actually read this book in its entirety is quite rare and in that I have never reviewed a book for school before).  

While I did enjoy this book I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I would have liked to- the large number of people in my class who read it said that there was tears running down their faces the entire time while doing so and unfortunately that wasn't the case for me- I didn't find myself connecting to the story all that much because I don't feel that the emotions of the book were as developed as they needed to be (I mean, the plot of this story is quite heart-wrenching and therefore the emotions and the overall feel of the story should match it, no?)- everything was quite flat.

Another complaint that I heard from many people in my class was the change in perspectives (one chapter was told from Little Bee's point of view, the next Sarah's)- I personally didn't have a problem with that aspect of the book (but then again, I've read countless books in which that has occurred and I have had time to acclimatize to it). Though, I must admit that I did enjoy reading through Little Bee's than Sarah's- perhaps had the book been told only from Little Bee's perspective I would have enjoyed it more?

All in all, I think that the largest reason why I didn't enjoy this book is because I don't believe that I fit in the targeted audience (I being primarily a YA paranormal kind of gal, rather than a heartfelt Jodi Picoult or Nicholas Sparks- minus the romance- kind of person), therefore I believe that if this is your typical read you will very much enjoy this book!

Rating: 2/5