The Other Hand [Paperback]

This is a book that from the blurb and cover comments seems to me to have been overly praised. The story begins quite promisingly telling the story of a young asylum seeker from Nigeria in an immigration detention centre in the UK. It is written in the first person from the perspective of two different voices: the Nigerian girl and a young British woman who is a fashion magazine editor who met the Nigerian girl whilst on a beach holiday in Nigeria with her husband. The British couple are drawn unwillingly into becoming part of her story to escape from those trying to remove witnesses to atrocities associated with claiming land on behalf of oil companies looking to exploit oil-rich land in the delta region where native Nigerians were living. I'll say no more about this to avoid a spoiler.
The opening uses the girl's voice in a comic fashion and so is a little reminiscent of Marina Lewycka's novel 'Two Caravans'. However, the comic observations quickly become a little overdone and oppressive for me. The book then changes tone and the use of comic observation vanishes giving the reader the feeling that the story has almost been taken up by a different writer.
Some of the characters and scenarios lacked credibility for me, including the key beach confrontation scene, which is of course the linch-pin of the novel. I also found the character of Lawrence unconvincing and some behaviours inconsistent, particularly those of the Nigerian girl who seems to graduate from innocence to develop something of a Machiavellian streak. The language and Batman fixation of her son also becomes grating. The story seems to waver badly halfway through and lapses into sentimentality. The ending is also rather inconclusive. In summary, a rather unconvincing story, which I'm sure could have been better. It was however fairly easy reading. Don't be too taken-in by the blurb or you will no doubt be disappointed.

NB. spoilers in this review!

I think the main flaw with this book has nothing to do with the story itself but the marketing techiques employed by the publishers. As other reviewers have mentioned, the blur could basically be summarised as: 'This book is sooo amazing we could not possibly do it justice in a blurb and you must buy it to find out' and it is precisely this which has led to the the negativity surrounding the book. It cannot possibly live up to hype like this. Any flaws (and all books have them) are grossly amplified in the reader's mind simply because of the arrogance of the back cover. This is only made worse by the gushing letter from the editor.

Take the letter away and stick a normal blurb on the back and what you are left with is a flawed, but rather wonderful, novel.

I don't like criticising good novels but in order to give a balanced review I will get the few faults out of the way first.
- the beach scene. Although compelling reading, this scene is destroyed by the lack of logic. It screams 'plot device', with the characters being pushed along a certain course of action by the author - a course of action they would definitely not take. If the killers were so desperate to get rid of witnesses to their crime - so much so to track them down over such a long period - they would not have let Little Bee live simply because of the actions of a stranger. This wouldn't matter greatly if the scene wasn't so crucial to the entire story.
- the ending. Awful, awful. Not only are we left hanging after following Little Bee for so long, but again there is a comprehensive lack of logic. Why why WHY would Sarah bring Charlie to a country she knows first hand to be extremely dangerous? Especially after coming so close to losing him. Which leads me onto my next point...
- Charlie. I'm sure he's a very realistic kid but the incorrect grammar/batman obsession becomes very irritating. The incorrect grammar can be hinted at occasionally for humour. Less is more.

Right, onto the good points (and they really are very good):
- the characterisation. Contrary to other reviewers, I thought this was excellent: the characters were sympathetic enough for us to care, flawed enought to be realistic. Except for the incidents mentioned above, I thought their actions were very realistic and consistent with their internal logic.
- the insight into a refugee's life. I have always been very sympathetic to assylum seekers, but this intensified my feelings. Everyone ought to read this book and then see if they are so judgmental of immigrants.
- the language. Contrary to virtually every other reviewer, I thought the language was beautiful and simple.
- the humour. Considering the subject matter, this novel is surpisingly witty and this helps to balance the rather grim scenes.

In summary, this book is compelling, moving, tragic, horrific, touching and funny. It is flawed like all novels, but please don't allowed the irritating marketing to ruin your perception of this beautiful story.

I realise now that some of the negative reviews of this book have actually been rather charitable. I ignored them at my peril. Bar the second and best written chapter in this literary travesty (the reason I've given it two stars instead of one), this novel is a poorly researched, stereotype-ridden, self-important and manipulative waste of time.

Cleave wanted to make a point about refugees and asylum seekers and chooses the most clumsy and heavy-handed way possible to do it. The moral: people in the west lead such shallow and selfish lives and those darkies way yonder have such a hard time of it. Ergo westerners should be more grateful for their lot and help out a bit and Johnny foreigner should always hope for a great 'white' messiah to come to their rescue.

Cleave unwisely picked a country like Nigeria, not somewhere relatively obscure thus if he got things factually wrong hardly anyone would notice. Judging by what Cleave said in the Notes section of the book he watched some news reports on conflicts over oil taking place in Nigeria's Delta states and had the temerity to try and give his own-half baked view on what can be a very complex issue. He chooses the wrong ethnic group and part of the country to set these scenes of immense conflict. He assumes Nigerians -despite re-iterating several times that it's an anglophone country- don't know how to speak correct English unless they read the Times or Guardian. This is inspite of the fact a good deal of us already speak Dickensian English without need of even setting foot in Blighty. Cleave claims he got the protagonist, Little Bee's, 'authentic' Nigerian speech patterns from close listening and reading a couple of books on Nigerian idioms. He clearly didn't do a good job. A pity then that he didn't visit the country or actually ask any Nigerians to verify some of the aspects of 'The Other Hand' as he would have spared us the insult and embarrassment on his part. According to Cleave's view of contemporary Nigerians, we spend a lot of time running through Jungles, not knowing what the sea looks like and being really surprised at big buildings. Strange that since Little Bee is meant to be Igbo and thus as with many if not most Nigerians, even those living in villages, the metropolis or the beach would not come as any big culture shock. Neither do we have problems understanding what the word 'efficiency' means or the workings of major motorways since Nigeria has quite a few of its own(!)It's a wonder he didn't have us swinging from tree to tree with the help of some well placed vines.

Good grief. Cleave's representation of middle class English women is scarcely less insulting. Sarah O'Rourke nee Summers is capricious and self-absorbed. She's also bored of her life as a successful editor, wife and mother. So it's no surprise - and we should therefore really sympathise with her - when she embarks on an affair with a bland married man, because her clinically depressed husband is an insomniac who shouts a lot and doesn't revolve his world around her. The characters in the 'Other Hand' are utterly unbelievable. They have ridiculously long-winded verbose conversations that beggar credibility. Cleave uses their dialogue as convenient plot devices instead of staying true to reality and doing justice to their characters. Sarah beds her lover very shortly after her husband kills himself in their matrimonial bed despite apparently feeling bad that she didn't try harder with her marriage. At one point in the book Sarah opines...

'You start off thinking you can kill all the baddies and save the world......and then you get a little bit older...and comfortable and you start wondering whether that badness you've seen in yourself is really that bad at all...'

Her lover then replies...

'Maybe that's just developing as a person, Sarah'

(Sarah) sighed and looked out at Little Bee.

'Well...maybe this is a developing world...'

Honestly and truly, I kid you not. The characters are this implausible. The dialogue is THAT lacking in subtlety. I really couldn't work out if Cleave wanted me to actually be this detached and contemptuous. He gave the characters no real depth or complexity...none that he didn't try and spell out for the reader himself instead of SHOWING us.

As an African, as a Nigerian, as a woman, as a citizen of Britain and as a reader I was insulted by this book on so many levels. I can't say the amount of times I wanted to dash it across the room but felt I had to finish it out of principle..especially if I planned to warn others.

Do not let the mysterious pre-amble or the suspicious-looking letter of encouragement from Cleave's editor fool you as it did me. This is no masterpiece. You shouldn't want to tell your friends about it unless you wish to point out what a farce it is. In the Notes section Cleave states... 'The novel's hits are down to the kind people who helped me; the misses are all mine'. If that be the case, he has a lot more to answer for than any number of good follow ups to 'The Other Hand' could compensate. I for one am not inclined to read anything else by Cleave if it resembles this drivel.