A WONDERFUL READ. (Brick Lane - Monica Ali)

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Product:	Brick Lane - Monica Ali
Date:	21/10/06 (194 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Eye opening detail about another culture.

Disadvantages: Not any more books available by the author at the moment.

I am enthused by this book, which was the first by author Monica Ali, and I certainly look forward to more from this Author. Monica Ali was born in Bangladesh and one of the most amazing things about the way in which this book is written is that although the English is perfect, you can actually tell that it was written by a foreigner. Descriptions are not those one would expect from a British author, and enhance the style to such an extent as to give the story a certain kind of gracefulness that I have never found with another author.

The story revolves around Nazneen, born in Dhaka like the author, and brought to the UK to marry her chosen husband Chanu. The differences in cultures and the thought processes are what makes this book work exceedingly well. Nazneen finds herself living in Tower Hamlets and what follows is a story of hope, sometimes despair, a story of people and the complexity of their feelings. It's a story of how Nazneen finds who is truly wrapped inside all the perceptions of life that she had been taught as a simple village girl, and discovers herself.

The characters were exceedingly strong in the book and very well described, so that I actually got involved in wanting to know what would happen. Nazneen's husband Chanu is indeed a very complex character, and so well meaning. He is educated and basically kind and likeable, although intellectual and sometimes naïve in his approach to life in general. He reminds me of people that are so well educated but in fact have little common sense. I like him. He was a genuine person and really did not have a clue about wrong-doing at all. Nazneen, on the other hand, is a very strong character, even though her servile attitude upon marrying Chanu is deeply embedded in her upbringing. She actually hides great strength of character, though feels that it is not her place to question anything, and fits easily into what Chanu believes a wife's role to be.

There are moments in the book when you really do feel for the couple, and are pulled into their story so much that you want to read more. One night I only put about an hour aside to read the book and found that three hours later, I was so engrossed in the patchwork of ideas sewn together cleverly with words upon the page, that I was still as enthusiastic about reading the book as I had been when I started. It's beautiful, and a search into the past, contrasting two worlds, that of Bangladesh and that of the new life in the UK.

All through the book, the contrasts are made clear by correspondence that Nazneen has with her sister Hasina, who is still in Bangladesh, and about whom Nazneen worries. Other characters in the book as well are well described. The children that are brought up in western society, their itch for change in the way that their parents think, whilst respecting their parents as people, is amazingly described. In fact, each character within this very complex book is so well placed within the story that it is almost like a study of each one of the characters lives and how they interweave in order to produce a wonderfully colourful image, and a very mind opening one as well, which is another reason I would recommend the book.

I don't want to ruin the story by telling plot too much, as it really is a journey into the unknown for me as a reader, and it needs to be to you, if you decide to read it. What saddened me was the differences in the way the western world see people that come to the UK to live, and the way they really are. Perceptions of race are so influenced by press, and here, within the pages of the book come real characters with real stories that actually help readers to see things from another perspective.

Nazneen's thoughts whilst she was looking at the Tower Hamlet flats in a moment of reflection were rather special and I thought I would quote one little phrase which I found poignant and empathised with, when making a comparison between her life in Bangladesh and that new life in London.

“You can spread your soul over a paddy field, you can whisper to a mango tree, you can feel the earth beneath your toes and know that this is the place, the place where it begins and ends. But what can you tell to a pile of bricks ?”

I love this book and hope that the writer brings out a follow up, or a new story, because she has much to tell and a beautiful individual style that is refreshing and different. Will Nazneen find her true self ? Will she settle or return to Bangladesh ? Will her marriage be a contented one ?

You will have to read it to find out, and believe me, the journey is a worthwhile one.


Paperback: 496 pages
Publisher: Black Swan (22 April 2004)
Language English
ISBN: 0552771155


6 GBP from Amazon and worth every penny !

Rachel

Summary: A superb read that I loved.