Brick Lane - Hardcover

Ali, Monica

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 038560484X ISBN 13: 9780385604840

Publisher: Doubleday, 2003

Synopsis

'Focusing on a cross-section of the Bangladeshi community in Tower Hamlets, a community all but invisible to the rest of London, Ali's novel is warm, shrewd, startling, and hugely readable; the sort of book you race through greedily.' OBSERVER

About this title

Review:

With its gritty Tower Hamlets setting, this sharply observed contemporary novel about the life of an Asian immigrant girl deals cogently with issues of love, cultural difference and the human spirit. The pre-publicity hype about Brick Lane was precisely the kind to set alarm bells ringing (we've heard it so often before), but, for once, the excitement is fully justified: Monica Ali's debut novel demonstrates that there is a new voice in modern fiction to be reckoned with.

Nazneen is a teenager forced into an arranged marriage with a man considerably older than her--a man whose expectations of life are so low that misery seems to stretch ahead for her. Fearfully leaving the sultry oppression of her Bangladeshi village, Nazneen finds herself cloistered in a small flat in a high-rise block in the East End of London. Because she speaks no English, she is obliged to depend totally on her husband. But it becomes apparent that, of the two, she is the real survivor: more able to deal with the ways of the world, and a better judge of the vagaries of human behaviour. She makes friends with another Asian girl, Razia, who is the conduit to her understanding of the unsettling ways of her new homeland.

This is a novel of genuine insight, with the kind of characterisation that reminds the reader at every turn just what the novel form is capable of. Every character (Nazneen, her disappointed husband and her resourceful friend Razia) is drawn with the complexity that can really only be found in the novel these days. In some ways, the reader is given the same all-encompassing experience as in a Dickens novel: humour and tragedy rub shoulders in a narrative that inexorably grips the reader. Whether or not Monica Ali can follow up this achievement is a question for the future; it's enough to say right now that Brick Lane is an essential read for anyone interested in current British fiction. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

'... Surely, Brick Lane can't be that good. Actually, it's better.' -- Observer

'Ali's mastery of her material is impressive ... as a first novel, it is exceptional.' -- Literary Review

'As ambitious in scale as Smith's White Teeth ... a wonderful debut.' -- Sunday Telegraph

'In years to come, Brick Lane may be one of the Nation's Favourite Books.' -- Spectator

'Luminous ... uplifting ... important.' -- Daily Telegraph

'What makes this novel is its rich realism ... much in common with the early V.S. Naipaul.' -- New Statesman

'What's so remarkable about BRICK LANE is its assurance: the writing is laudably unfussy, the tone incredibly tender.' -- Time Out

'Written with the wisdom and skill few authors attain in a lifetime.' -- Sunday Times

About this edition

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 038560484X
• ISBN 13: 9780385604840
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416