I also have recently finished an advanced copy and by fair this is the best book i have read this year! The author writes incredibly well as both a woman and a young girl and it is so frightening how he captures the thoughts and fears that can go through our heads (how Little Bee copes with living after leaving Nigeria). The subject was written with compassion and reality, making me utterly believe everything that was written. This is a brilliant powerful, sad and funny tale that deserves to touch many many many lives like it has touched mine.

Well done on such an amazingly beautiful book!!

I just finished my advanced copy, and I loved the book. You can read my review at:

http://bookgeeks.wordpress.com/2008/07/06/simon-as-review-the-other-hand-by-chris-cleave/

I recently finished reading a proof copy of The Other Hand and am still reeling in the deep sense of loss and grief that it has left me with. I found it to be an incredibly compelling read with some delightful and funny passages but also deeply disturbing. I would like to thank Chris for writing this great book. I love the two voices that are used and was pleasantly surprised by how well Chris was able to portray both a young refugee and a new mother who, like myself, is balancing career/motherhood/love. I would also like to thank Chris for bringing into the public eye the inhumane mandatory detention of refugees.

Roberta – many thanks for this. I don’t know if Loraine Bayley is Australian. I know she was (and likely still is) involved in the campaign to end arbitrary detention at the Yarl’s Wood detention centre. She is named in the transcript of a Bedfordshire County Council report into the February 2002 fire at Yarl’s Wood. She makes some very interesting points in the document. I have an electronic copy that I can forward to you if you can email me with your email address. My email is listed on this site. All best, Chris

Chris

I came across ‘The Other Hand’ being hyped heavily with a personal handwritten note in Borders. Picked it up, bought it, read it in 24 hours, irritating my wife by chuckling and snuffling. Searched for information on Chris Cleave (surely a woman! so much sensitivity) bought a copy for my brother, lent my copy to first one friend, then another, recommended it to anyone who’d listen.
What a fabulous book; how can anyone empathasise so closely and write so vividly about such disparate characters. A truly educational and eye-opening book, full of laughter and tears. thank you, I look forward to the next one and have ordered Incendiary. Thanks too for the generosity of this website.

I don’t read books too often, and when travelling to London on a horrible coach journey i needed to buy a book to pass the time. I was glued to the book, it seems to realistic! and it is a massive roller coaster journey! No book has ever effected me the way this book did! The day i finished the last chapter i cried for a good ten minutes haha!

Fantastic
x

A fantastic book, which I also want to share with friends from here, however in a Dutch or German …. Has it been translated already in these languages ?

I think this has got to be the best book I’ve read. So moving and wonderful. Half way through I had to stop reading for fear that I’d finish it and it would be over! Since then I’ve read it three more times and I only bought it about two weeks ago. I’ve turned into one of those losers! I love how there is no pretention involved what so ever and despite that Sarah and Little Bee have gone through so much, they still don’t feel sorry for themselves. I so want to turn this book into a play!! hands up Chris!

This book was recommended to me as I work with refugees and asylum seekers, many of whom have spent time in detention centres in the UK.

I have to say I am wholheartedly dissapointed with this novel, it places too much if it’s weight in sweeping generalisations and owes it’s empathy from a middle class white perspective – ie that which tries to understand yet fails misarably from a complete lack of real understanding, you can’t gain insight just from sociological books .
The books dipiction of Yevette confirms to the perpetuation of racist stereotyping of Jamaican women, confirmed on page 110 when it is said that “I do not think that Yevette is a human being. I think she is another species with a louder mouth”. Could you get any more racist one wonders, but alas, yes he does – the “patios” spoken by Yevette in the book is clearly not Jamaican, but is schooled directly from the mouth of Ali G. Jamaicans do not say “where I is at”, that is an Ali G-ism, Jamaicans do not say “pipple”, this sounds more Afrikaans than West Indian, and Jamaicans certainly do not say “zeen”, it’s “seen” with an S.
Chris Cleave has tried to make money out of the misery of peoples lives and has spent so little time with real pipple that he knows nothing of the pipple he talks about.

the only believable aspect to the book is when he talks from the perspective of a middle class white woman – the life he is used to. He obviously has never had much contact with Jamaicans and should have kept his unitelligent and malformed ideas about Jamaican women to himself and not perpetuated an outdated myth.

I fell in love with Little Bee from the pound coin beginning – she is refreshingly funny and speaks how she percieves which with age we forget to how to do.
I disagree with ‘anonymous’ who has accused the author of being a ‘racist’ – if anything this book has highlighted an issue that is brushed under the carpet and has personally made me more aware of refugees and their ’story’.
I chose this book for my book club and am quite confident that it will be a favourite – I mean who could not succomb to Little Bee and Batman!!!

Thank-you for a great read. Paula

Hi Hilda – this is so good to hear. Well, as one writer to another, I do have some advice since you ask. I think writing is like any other skill: you are born with some natural ability, and you increase that ability through dedicated training. And writing is one of those things – like skiing or swimming – that gets more fun the better you get at it. Therefore, if you love writing, my advice would be to write something nearly every day. It doesn’t have to be long. It just has to be interesting, or quirky, or make you smile, or think differently. Get up early, before everyone else does, when the house is quiet and you have half an hour all to yourself. Try writing in other people’s voices. Try writing from unusual points of view. Try to write something to make your friends laugh. If you feel able, it’s a good idea to show your writing to your friends and family. They will be your best teachers, because from their reaction you will know when you are getting it right or wrong. Another good way to learn is to read, and to read widely. Don’t only read books you like. Read books you don’t like, and try to pinpoint why you don’t like them. If you don’t like the ending of a particular story, write your own ending. Think about how other writers use techniques like suspense, and humor, and mystery. Look also at the style in which they write. Then think about how their techniques and their styles fit with the stories they choose to tell. This is how you learn the craft. But above all, listen to your own mind, and write the way you want to at any given moment. There is no “best” way to write. The stuff some people say about “finding your voice” is silly too, because your “voice” will change throughout your life, especially if you are a curious person who is open to the world. What readers enjoy – and what writers love about writing – are those moments when all the rules get thrown out of the window and something extraordinary appears on the page. Work hard, enjoy yourself, and never, ever give up. Good luck!

The Other Hand was chosen for a book group I belong to and I brought it to read on holiday. In a way I wish I hadn’t because it has affected me deeply. It has left me feeling I want to do something to make a difference but not knowing what or how. Like an exhibition I saw in Paris, it has made me look at the people around me with new eyes, trying hard not to stereotype or make judgements. I feel that it is a book that has expanded my experience, made me think and altered some preconceptions. Thank you.

I just wanted to write and tell you how much I am appreciating The Other Hand.

I am dismayed at the fact I have to work today, as I could so easily be reading it instead. I have to say, with complete conviction, that The Other Hand is by far the most engrossing novel I have ever read. And I have read a lot of novels. It is brilliantly shocking in such an understated way. The prose flows effortlessly into my mind and fills me to the core. I simply can not put it down (unless I have to). Little bee’s voice is one of astounding maturity for her age, and she is wiser than us. She is lovable and inspirational at the same time. I can not wait to find out how this incredibly intertwined plot of back flashes filling in the current situation will unfold in the end. As a writer myself, I have a huge amount of respect for the way you have written The Other Hand. It is complex but easy to read and understand, eloquent, and absorbing. And despite the controversial subject, it is tender and smooth.

I love it.

Thank you.

I’ve spent the morning unable to put down the last 170 pages of this amazing, compelling story. It’s comforting to read that others from my tribe have been deeply moved by it too…

There are so many provocative issues interwoven in the story, but for me, a common theme underlying them is ignorance. It’s about what happens to individuals, societies, governments and whole cultures when we fail to pay atttention – or worse, purposely “turn a blind eye” – to things that aren’t working or aren’t right and need fixing, whether that be the effects of rampant consumerism and corporate greed, our own relationships or the seemingly inconsequential daily choices we make. Perhaps its about the sickness (“the baddies inside” as Little Bee tells Batman) from ignoring the baddies out there, and the noble triumph of no longer doing so (when Sarah takes Little Bee’s plight on). And yet in the tragedy of the story, there is still goodness in life and hope for the future. Oh… this is late night red wine thinking in the middle of the day… just read it!!

Did you set out to raise awareness of the plight of refugees in this wonderful story?

I’ve never written to the writer of a book I’ve loved before. I feel that, as well as being a fantastic yarn, this book has some deep, deep things to say about the way our world is shaping up and which are seldom said. Most interestingly, I feel it’s done without using a cudgel or providing “subtitles for the hard of understanding” as I often accuse films and books of doing. Never does it try, as many books do, to be unnecessarily clever in the way its story is unfolded. And yet it impressed me thoroughly in the steady pace and manner at which it unwrapped itself (without resorting to gimmick). Your writing absolutely floored me in places and I found it utterly, powerfully convincing from both protagonists’ points of view. I would add that I have personally lost a partner to suicide under half-similar circumstances and feel this life-shattering circumstance was dealt with here in very honest and respectful terms. Thank you for bringing back my love of books.

I’ve just broken up for my holidays and wanted something to read-I bought this book, and am so glad that I did. It is extremely thought provoking. I couldn’t put it down.
I’m definately going to recommend this book to my friends, family and may even go out and buy ‘Incendiary’ to read next! Thank you for a beautiful book.

I don’t get round to reading much… bought this book at the airport and couldn’t put it down throughtout my holiday!! Daughter wasn’t too impressed with me as I’d forgotten she was there half the time!

I loved reading this book… brought many emotions out of me whilst reading it! I didn’t quite understand what happened at the end though… are we to assume Little Bee was arrested and the worst may have happened? Sorry to ask, but it’s like I said… I don’t read much so my imagination probably isn’t that good

Thank you Chris for an amazing book!

Hi Chris,
I have just finished ‘the other hand’ and loved it. Thank you. I felt rather foolish yesterday when I Googled you and realised that I occasionally read your column in The Guardian but failed to make the connection! Is the ending of the novel meant to be ambiguous? Is the sound of the sea simply drowned out by Little Bee’s laughter, of by something more sinister?

Kind regards,
Teresa

I, too, am disappointed that I have finished this amazing book! I had it finished within a week when a book usually takes me a good month or two!

Only one negative thing stuck out for me though and that was the ‘Queen of England’ references – I know these were made by Little Bee but through her reading and studies would even she not have learned that the Queen is Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland? A mouthful I know…

I walked into a bookstore in Dublin yesterday to purchase “one” for the weekend!. Whilst I was there I remembered that I had a book, “The Other Hand” on my shelf at home – I decided there and then to purchase only a birthday card.

When I approached the counter the guy behind the till showed me 2 books that were on special offer – one was Incendiary. How coincidental I thought – it was also by Chris Cleave. I told till guy that I was actually on my way home to read TOH and that if I liked it, I would certainly pop back and pick up Incendiary.

He paused knowingly however, gave me a moment and I handed him Incendiary to scan.

I started The Other Hand last nite. Gripped….so glad I don’t have to waste any time going back to the bookstore to pick up Incendiary!

Thanks a mill Chris

*Thank you* for writing the Other Hand. Most of the book’s subject was not new information for me, but thank you for writing it the way you did and making a heavy subject more personal and more accessible (and therefore, it almost feels wrong to say it, making the book more entertaining than if it were more documentary-style). Little Bee, Sarah and Batman felt very real as did their story and I will definitely recommend this book to friends and family.

Something I didn’t know before I read this book, was that many of the detention centers in the UK are privately run. Being Dutch myself, I was ashamed to read (in the book and through the links on this website) that a Dutch company runs several facilities in the UK. It feels wrong on so many levels that it is possible for private companies to make a profit out of running a detention facility. With our history of huge financial gains during the slave trade, it seems even more wrong for a Dutch company to now be making profits from detaining refugees. I’m sure it’s all perfectly within the laws and they’re complying by all the necessary regulations and standards, but it really is just wrong that there is a profit to be made from -basically- imprisoning refugees.

I have just finished the book having neglected my son for the last 2 days because I simply could not put it down. What a truely amazing read, heart-breaking and life affirming at the same time. Just one of those books you NEED all your friends to read immediately because you want to share the incredible story with them. It’s a long time since I discovered a new author and I am dragging my own little batman to the shops to buy anything else Chris has written.

Hi Chris,
My friends read your book and gave me the copy to read. It was a fantastic book which made me both laugh and cry. The ending was horrible although I expect we have all gotten used to Disney happy endings. It opens your mind to the terrors that these individuals face when they have already run from terrors to get here.
Possibly if we did not bury our heads or turn our backs a real difference to many lives would be made.
Thanks Chris

Thankyou for proving to me that I should read more. I am rarely motivated to finish a book but I was unable to forget this one. Little Bee will stay with me. Very moving.