The Other Hand by Chris Cleave
A Review of One of This Year's Best Kept Secrets
Jul 18, 2009 Claudia J. Beresford
“We don’t want to tell you what happens in this book. It is a special story and we don’t to spoil it.” These teasing words are to be found at the beginning of the book’s blurb and, in keeping with the wishes of the publisher, this article promises to keep the secrets of this story as best it can.
Why The Secrecy?
The topics faced are political and heavy going, which would usually mean boring in spite of the noble intentions behind it. Not so for The Other Hand. Disregarding the unfortunate events which coincided with the release of Cleave’s previous book Incendiary, the 7/7 London bombings occurred on the same day, Cleave was not deterred and proceeded with his next novel. Just as ambitious and challenging, Cleave does not flinch from difficult issues and documents the lives of his characters with complete honesty.
Having said that, the story is not wholly original and an ignorant eye could find that, after being shrouded in mystery, the book proves anticlimactic. What is original is both how the characters are written and how the plot is allowed to develop. The with-holding nature of the blurb is not there to disguise the frame on which the story is built, indeed the reader can disclose the theme easily from the very first sentence, but is designed to keep the mind open enough to discern the subtle differences which make this story so special.
Technique & Style
From the very first line, so beautifully poignant, the intelligence of this book is clear. Cleave manages to capture the voices of his main female characters with remarkable insight. There are few male writers who voice a woman’s thoughts so flawlessly it is hard not to be stunned. Ian McEwan is the first name that springs to mind for his writing of Briony in Atonement. Chris Cleave is definitely an author such as this. If the reader can tear herself away from the book, she will find it impossible to resist Googling the author’s name in order to disprove her suspicions that ‘Chris’ is perhaps short for ‘Christina’.
Just the first few pages of The Other Hand are worth its weight in gold. Written from the perspective of a young girl who has lived a life most of us would be incapable of imagining, the tone is both innocent and wise to the point of being heart-breaking. This style is used for the young voice of Little Bee and is interspersed throughout the novel. Unlike in many other books in which this technique is overused, Cleave does not let this become trite and the reader may hope for another moment, such as the one at the very beginning, in which they can experience a unique reflection on their own mind and life.
The narration is shared between the two women, a good idea, for the characters come from such very different worlds that one could hardly speak for the other. There is nothing unusual about these women, nothing heroic and they are certainly not flawless. Most importantly, Cleave does not make excuses for them nor does he mock them for being as normal as they are.
A Sense of The Plot
The plot progresses at a good pace but is not in a hurry to get to the end, allowing the reader time for thought. Flashbacks are used to good effect especially in the scene that counts; the beach scene mentioned in the blurb. The prose is understated and deliberately un-dramatic. It is the young Little Bee’s seeming indifference to the horrors in her life and her acceptance of the way things are which make them all the more terrible.
Towards the end of the book the reader is somewhat threatened with a seriously unsatisfactory ending; a happily-ever-after conclusion which would betray and infuriate any reader. Thankfully, the story doesn’t end there and we are rewarded with a close which supports the integrity of The Other Hand. This one is, in a way, happy, but deceptively so. The emotions felt by the characters at the time are ones of joy but stark in the reader’s common sense is the dismaying answer to the question of what will happen next.
Chris Cleave, The Other Hand, Sceptre 2008 (ISBN 978-0-340-96340-1) 351 pages
The Other Hand by Chris Cleave
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