Brick Lane
Monica Ali
Rated: 3.33 of 5 stars
3.33
· Steam/Spice level: 2 of 5
Behind closed doors [?]
· 39 ratings · 432 pages · Published: 02 Jun 2004
Ali's skillful narrative focuses on Nazneen's stifling life with her ineffectual husband, who keeps her imprisoned in a city housing project filled with immigrants in varying degrees of assimilation. But Ali reveals a bittersweet tension between the "two kinds of love" Nazneen and her sister experience—that which begins full and overflowing, only to slowly dissipate, and another which emerges like a surprise, growing unexpectedly over years of faithful commitment. Both of these loves have their own pitfalls: Hasina's passionate romance crumbles into domestic violence, and Nazneen's marriage never quite reaches a state of wedded bliss.
Though comparisons have drawn between Ali and Zadie Smith, a better comparison might be made between this talented newcomer and the work of Amy Tan, who so deftly portrays the immigrant experience with empathy and joy.
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Tagged as:
- multicultural 6
- contemporary 6
- south asian/desi 2
- muslim 2
- m-f romance 1
- age gap 1
- forbidden love 1
- other man/woman 1
- cheating 1
- secret relationship 1
- bad boys 1
- third person pov 1
- Add topics
- geography
- europe 1
- british isles 1
- united kingdom 1
- england 1
- content warnings
- nontraditional hea 1
- racism 1
- death / grief 1
- child death 1
romance tags
