Have read this book for my book club and am looking forward to a great discussion. I’m at the end (exams and revision) of a Montessori 3 to 6 year old diploma course and your descriptions of Charlie are spot on and so funny! Louisa, Hello Chris, Good luck i wait your e-mail. I’m glad you’re enjoying it at the halfway point. All my thoughts circled around the story and I still have flashbacks when fragments of situations and incidents come back to my mind. hikayeniz ve duyarlılığınız mukemmel. Finally, here is a little bit about myself.I am Sudanese.I obtained the BA in English language & literature in 1995.I have been a teacher, Arabic/English interpreter and translator for a long time.I am here in UK to do an MA in teaching and linguistics. If I did not see your face on the back cover I would have bet you were a female..Your comparison to Sarah’s affair to that of being served an in-flight meal in a plane that is going to crash!!!! It evokes so many raw emotions and forces the reader to laugh, to cry and to review their own outlook on life. Have just finished reading The Other Hand – has left me truly stunned and speechless. Hi Chris! I cant wait to see what unique subject you will pick for your next novel, i dont know of any other person that writes like you do. Chris, First of all I wanted to thank you for your marvelous book! Mr. Perry dictates every detail of his son’s life including extra curricular activities, future plans, and specifically what others think of him. I got a glimpse of your book THE OTHER HAND during a radio house’s impact converge.I only skimmed through the chapter one and a few others.I have searched all bookshops around my locality as a child searches for a missing toy,yet to find this gripping book of yours.I want to read it.I know that its worth the comments ABOVE.What else ?I am dumbfounded as I only starved my taste buds.I MUST FIND IT…NO MATTER HOW LONG..I MUST READ IT…..I am an aspiring writer….hoping to exceed my expectations…ride on!your best is yet to come.keep walking on the paths of heroes.TAKE CHARGE. Also like many who I’ve now spoken to about the book, it opened my eyes and brought home to me the plight of refugees something I’m ashamed to say I’d never paid enough attention to. It meant the world to me. Chris, When’s the next one out? Keep up your good work. Thank you very much. The Other Hand is outstanding and a truly thought provoking story. Hi Gloria, thanks very much for reading the book. Angela. I have read the book and I think its wonderful. I will never forget the definition of scar that I read in your book. I love it. My curiosity tweeked, I began reading the first few pages Friday night and finished this Sunday afternoon. I think what was so friendly about Little Bee was that her humor came from a willingness to try to understand the next step in a world that is not built of next steps but of cosmic stuttering, miscopied strands of genes, and personal harmonies that are arranged inside our psyches the way that liver is plopped down in our guts. I ask people to imagine that they become a refugee. Brilliant. The book details the effects on the advocates of their relationships with detainees and their hard fought battles with government officials to process claims for asylum seekers,get around “yes minister red tape” and call to account the gross mishandling and negligence of the private companies in ädminstering” detention services. But I don’t know how else to say your novels mattered to me. Thank you! The very human suffering, the disarming, debilitating insights into our culture- you truly have created an absolute masterpiece of literature and since finishing your book (some 3 months ago now) whenever I look at my hand, I think about using the other one. He teaches them the works of the romantic poets such as Thoreau and Lord Byron and employs outdoor exercises to warn them of the dangers of conformity and the power of sports as a way which human beings push each other to excel. I was looking for a book written in English and I found yours in a book shop in a shopping mall of the city center of Madrid. 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. It is stirring, realistic and rare. Dead Poets Society explores the conflict between realism and romanticism as these contrasting ideals are presented to the students at an all boys preparatory school. Governments are good at de-humanising and objectifying outsiders-we had the myth of “‘queue jumpers” here. I think writing is like any other skill: you are born with some natural ability, and you increase that ability through dedicated training. In her moments of appreciation and joy, I smiled with her. In general, I think this story is a modern style to deal with some issues in a way that enables anyone to understand its theme in the way he/she likes it. The reason I don’t particularly read books, is because I find it difficult to connect to any writers and emerse myself into the story and the mindset of the characters. I started to read the other hand on Tuesday night, and I have just turned the final page (Friday). Purchased ‘The Other Hand’ about a month ago and tried to get into reading it. God bless you. It was uncanny. and felt compelled to search your site and many others for more info on this subject. Your writing is beautiful and the book was one of those rare ones I’ve been telling everyone to buy and read. The new English teacher John Keating (Robin Williams) begins his teachings with a fervent lecture on their imminent deaths, explaining to the students that their lives are fleeting so they should seize the day to make their lives count, to leave a legacy of “carpe diem.” He continues his teaching by instructing the class to rip out the pages of their books which describe a scientific way to determine the greatness of poetry. Little Bee is a star. Thank you Chris for a truly mind blowing book, there are people out there that care after all x. Best wishes, Chris. The administration is appalled and begins an investigation. Wow! Finally, you asked me about where I think my identity lies. Hi Chris I will talk with my publishers to see if my mistake can be fixed in future printings. I really enjoyed it. I read the book and I want to see it as a film as soon as possible. All the best for 2011, Jacinta, hello chris cleave! ı hope you read this message because this is very important for me. This book also opened my eyes to the deeply upsetting conditions of immigrant detention centers, and I will start researching this soon! 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!!! your wonderful book said that to me. Mr. Cleave thanks for sharing us such a impressing book . I forgot writing something. Suffice to say that it is a truly amazing book. The Batman child with his repetitive grammatical errors was overdone. I read it surprisingly fast as once I started reding it couldn’t put it down, although English is not my native language. . Regards from Turkey:), chris, not since reading -a fine balance, by rohinton mistry have i been so moved by a book. The Oil companies have a lot to answer for. Unfortunately it reinforceds ones ignorance of so many plights in the world. Of course someone has to be the next person. Fantatic novels, have read both incendiary and the awesome th other hand without drawing breath, i want to say where’s the next, but would potentially dislike any dilution of the outstanding quality to date….. A beautiful, beautiful book. And the really scary thing is that as young person I didn’t question anything. I would like to thank Chris for writing this great book. Firstly, I would like to give congratulations on your beautiful book. Time out for toast and tea. Best wishes from İstanbul!! And yet it impressed me thoroughly in the steady pace and manner at which it unwrapped itself (without resorting to gimmick). 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. I am a different person now to that which I was before I read your book. Thank you. As a novelist I’m always trying on other people’s lives for size. Finally, emotional growth. I could ill-afford the time but simply could not put this book down. I have had “Little Bee” in a stack of books here at the house for a while, sharing it with reader friends but only getting to reading it this weekend (07/24-25). We need more stuff All good wishes to you! Its design and planning is highly similar with ”The Other Hand”. Richard Cameron (Dylan Kussman), ultimately a realist concerned most with doing what is already determined to be right, signs the statement and encourages the rest of them to do the same. While reading, at one page I was laughing and at another I was crying. Many people don’t know about what is happening to immigrants and the people who know about it, are either scared of critisizing or they just don’t care about that. I wish you all the best. Thank you……I will surely enjoy it as the first page of chapter one gripped me…..I know your book will give me a kick…for me to begin my writing adventure on a million causes of tears in Nigeris. I will certainly keep reading! Why the different titles and cover photos? Will be getting a copy of ‘Gold’ asap and have recommended your books to many friends. I found the writing fantastic, easy, free flowing. Well done. Wish I had read it sooner!!! And thank you for responding to your readers – I love your encouragement for writers. 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 don’t believe, other than what we hear of or read about of illegal immigration from Mexico into our United States, I’ve ever read anything that focuses on immigration, illegal and otherwise, into your England. I have just finished The Other Hand and I wanted to let you know how much I ejoyed it. I fell in love with the characters and didn’t want to leave them. Incendiary is another novel. Thankyou for moving me and inspiring me further in my ambition. It is beautifully wrote, with empathy so unbelievable. while the translator translated the book because they think that trying to maintain fluency. When a replacement English teacher arrives, who happens to be a Welton alumnus, he brings with him a passion for teaching romanticism, thus opening a never-before-seen world to his students. Check out a book called ” Äcting from the Heart” publisher is Finch 2007 an anthology of stories written by advocates of asylum seekers in Oz and edited by two colleagues of mine. why did you need writing this book? I’m an English teacher and only wish I taught 6th Form and not Primary so that I could recommend this book to them as I have done to so many friends! My friends read your book and gave me the copy to read. Incredible, immersed in history in an absurd way !!!! The refugee experience – and more widely the immigrant experience – is transformative for the new arrival in terms of their identity. Erdim, Chris Gulsina. It means a lot to me. I’m passing my copy on to my sister and recommending it to all my friends. If you are in NYC, I’m doing an event in Brooklyn tonight & one in Manhattan tomorrow (details on the front page of this website), so do come along if you’re free. We also used a British pound coin to imagine it’s previous adventures. I’ll look forward to reading it. Hi Ruth – thank you very much. I am not a big reader but this year have got through 4 or 5 books, a bit of a late starter at 51, usually prefering autobiographies. Bravo and thank you for writing this wonderful book Chris! But I am left highly frustrated by the portrayal of those from developing countries, which suggests under-education. Thank you! How you know that a person can go through a day, make no sense of anything, demand no less than clarity, keep going on, hide, start over, be amazed that no one really has any clue that it isn’t that we endure the unbearable, but that it crushes us and we respond by trying to make sense of the details, get up again, go on, wait our turn. In this regard, but I’m not very hopeful. Fanaticism, I have no discovered, is like puppy love. I have just finished the book having neglected my son for the last 2 days because I simply could not put it down. A Very special book that will change the outlook and enhance the lives of many. i even learned how to hold the baby and feed her with just one hand so i cold hold the book in the other hand and carry on reading as i fed her. Learn how your comment data is processed. Other people in my group have been touched by your novel. An amazing, touching, beautifully written book. The story is predominantly viewed through the eyes of Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke), a newcomer to Welton, and his roommate Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard). I have laughed so much whenever liitle bee narrates it espescially when she says “how dare you” and the scene when queing for the phone at the detention centre. I’m surprised not to have received the book you promised me; “the other hand” I still searched in bookstands during literary festivals and book fairs but am yet to find it. I do think that the issue of identity is an interesting lens through which to view the 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.