The Other Hand - Part 2

I finished the book.

Pause.

It ended the way it had to, I think. Otherwise it would have been too 'happy families'. What is it about Africa that these horrors take place, yet the world looks the other way? I guess money always leads the way. Desperate times etc etc etc.

Lawrence - I loved him when he came to stay. That he followed his heart and disregarded the protocols of the game. I'm trying to decide if his selfishness makes me think less of him. The plane tickets don't redeem him - I think they were a reaction to the guilt of getting Little Bee caught and deported, rather than a genuine wish to help her cause. I don't like people who only do things because of guilt, or because they're trying to avoid guilt, or because "it's the right thing to do" but we both know it isn't what they really want. Lawrence lives for Lawrence. He goes through the motions to please everybody else, but at the end of the day, the kernel of his actions is for himself. Very honest.

Sarah - naive? Overly simplistic? I can see myself taking on a crusade in a similar fashion, fully believing it will all work out, then being horrified when it didn't.

Charlie - in my mind's eye I saw him with brown hair. The blonde curls were a complete surprise but served to illustrate how far apart their lives and realities were, his and Bee's. I don't like it when everything is sacrified for children, when common sense takes a back seat to the children. I don't like the idea that their innocence will somehow teach us all a perspective-changing lesson. It's too preachy. So did Batman's suit come off on the beach because not even Batman could save the day anymore? The allegory was a little too perfect, the multicoloured children all playing happily together, oblivious to the real Baddies of their world.

Little Bee - Such maturity for one so young. She's what, 14? 16? Such insight into humanity. Look at the way she read Lawrence from the get-go. I'm rather glad she didn't take the coward's way out and take her own life. There's a point in the book, at the park I think, where she stops talking about how she'd kill herself in that location. Does she actually start believing she can live? Is this the lesson for us all, to focus on the beautiful things in life: "Because if you cannot read the beautiful things that have happened in someone's life, why should you care about the sadness?" I think it's more that we should be mindful of the evils in life but not be consumed by them, find the beauty, appreciate the special moments, and live that way - in the beauty not the sadness.

And tea - "Tea is the taste of my land: it is bitter and warm, strong, and sharp with memory. It tastes of longing. It tastes of the distance between where you are and where you come from." Is tea the taste of longing? I didn't think so. Isn't it supposed to be comforting? From Little Bee's perspective, I can see why not.