Little Bee was a most special character. Her outlook on life is inspirational. Charlie, the little boy, is sweet though quirky. Facinating portrayal of genocide and mimigration policies in Britain. I "read" this on CD; the reader was outstanding and added to my enjoyment of this book. NOTE: the martketing of this book did it a disservice, imo. There is nothing in the story that needs to be kept top secret in order to avoid spoiling the book for others; this was misleading and did cause some disappointment among a few of the members of my group.

read this book. Rather than being about Elsa, the 100+ year old of the title, the book addresses briefly Elsa's philosophies, but the author (Elsa's granddaughter) then shares with the reader how she has applied these philosophies to her own (less than fascinating) life. Entire group agreed we'd have much preferred hearing more about Elsa's life, and much less about the author's. I in particular would have been interested in learning what brought about and how Elsa rose above the nervous breakdown to which the author very briefly alludes. Our group is fortunately as one of our members is 102, so we have our very own Elsa, and greatly enjoy hearing about her life.