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Dec 17, 2009

Nancy rated it:

Could it take me longer to read a book? I made myself read this book everyday so I could be done with it and properly hate it.

Look at what the NY Review of Books said:

"Ali succeeds brilliantly in presenting the besieged humanity of people living hard, little-known lives on the margins of a rich, self-absorbed society."

WHO IS THIS CRAZY NUT? You need to read a book like Brick Lane to understand "besieged humanity" or what it's like to live More...

12 comments like (39 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Nitya rated it:

I desperately wanted to like this book. Having lived the immigrant, foreigner, displaced person lifestyle for so long, I wanted this book to capture everything that it means to have lost links with my own personal history in the effort to fit into the culture that's welcomed me into it's monied bosom.

But Nazneen is not me. She's a village girl without education and more importantly, the confidence education brings to a traveller navigating a foreign world.

I snacked with More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Mar 22, 2008

Shannon rated it:

Nazneen is the eldest of two girls, growing up in a village in Bangladesh. Her younger sister Hasina runs away to marry the young man she is in love with, and not long after that, when she is eighteen, Nazneen is married to a man twenty years older than her and sent to live with him in London.

Her husband, Chanu, is kind and very talkative. They live in a dingy flat on an estate where she makes friends with some other Bangladeshi women. Her world is narrow and small, consisting of the More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

May 21, 2010

Paul rated it:

I don't know why they do it but they do it a lot -

Brick Lane : A Novel

And there I was expecting this oblong of printed material to be

Brick Lane : A Plate of Spaghetti

Anyway. Other reviews would have you believe that this book is terrifically boring, beaten only for tediousness by Some Variations in the Major Groups of Plankton of the Kamchatka Peninsula Littoral by R.K. Litkynshovskaya and P.I. Podgorna-Bialaczczka. So why did I really enjoy th More...

8 comments like (9 people liked it)

Jun 09, 2008

Dale rated it:

This book impressed me because of its immersiveness. Not only in terms of time and place, although that was very well handled, but mostly in terms of character. There are few modern human experiences that could be farther from my own than those of a woman born and raised in Bangladesh relocating to London after an arranged marriage to a man already living there. But I found the main character of Brick Lane, Nazneen, to be very relatable, to the point where I ended up totally immersed in her s More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 15, 2010

Fatima rated it:

$9.99 kindle
My favorite quotes from "Brick Lane" by Monica Ali

Amma said to her daughters: "If God wanted us to ask questions, he would have made us men" (53).

"Razia waved the lollipop in front of Raqib's [the toddler's:] face. He watched it devotedly. He became its disciple. For its sake, he would sacrifice everything" (65).

Hasina on corruption in Bangladeshi education: "University is also close down. All students h More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Suhaila rated it:

As young Obi Wan asked "more pathetic lifeforms?". Zadie Smith in "White Teeth" writes about the immigrant experience with more absurdity, and with a whole lot more life than this author. Brick Lane is a domestic drama from an immigrant's experience. The letters from the protagonist's wayward long-suffering sister were probably meant to act as a counterpoint to our heroines struggle against the oppressive shackles of her life. Instead I found the heroine a letdown and her More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 03, 2008

Chris rated it:

I hated this book. I found it impossible to get through and this at a time when I was utterly obsessed with novels based in and around women from India. I couldn't finish it and am continually surprised to see it so favorably reviewed and praised. Usually I'm in agreement about a great book, but this one I just don't share the feelings on.
Although i see that other Good Reads readers felt similiarly, which somehow makes me feel better.

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 20, 2008

Suzanne rated it:

This was a pleasure to read. The characters are memorable and the story line superb. It does have a Dickens-like quality not only because the story takes place in London's East End but because the author's words transport you...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 19, 2010

Harun Harahap rated it:

buku ni hasil bookswap kemaren..sepertinya punya Kang Amang..karena ada tulisannya dihalaman paling depan..kenapa tertarik buku ni??hmm..ga tau kayakna ni buku manggil2 nama gw..hehehehe..alasan..

ni buku bercerita tentang kehidupan sehari2 sebuah keluarga Bangladesh di sebuah kota di Inggris..Chanu sebagai kepala keluarga yang "berpendidikan" tapi banyak bicara..Nazneen sebagai istrinya yang harus menikahd alam usia muda dan diboyong ke Inggris dari Bangladesh dengan bermodal More...

12 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 07, 2008

Dini rated it:

Pinjaman dari Amang, yg dapat bukunya dari Monic. Setelah dapat wanti-wanti bahwa buku ini bikin bosan karena cuma berkutat pada masalah sehari-hari, saya pun mempersiapkan diri untuk bersabar membaca sampai tuntas. Meski ceritanya memang berpanjang-panjang dan awalnya terkesan membosankan tetapi semakin dibaca semakin penasaran bagaimana akhir kisah ini.

Nazneen, seorang gadis dari pedesaan Bangladesh dijodohkan dengan pria yang usianya dua kali lipat dari dirinya. Ia diboyong ke Lon More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 13, 2008

Sara rated it:

Our humble heroine, Nazneen, moves from her childhood rural village in Bangladesh to London for an arranged marriage and learns to love Western-style freedom among the misfits in her predominantly south-Asian housing estate. Or something like that. What makes the book a comfortable companion in the hour before bed is not so much our heroine's emergence into self-actualization (which begins rather late in the book, and feels like it was tacked on so that the author could sell the story to Hollywo More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 17, 2011

bookczuk rated it:

I know this book got a lot of good press, but I really wasn't that enchanted by it. I think that Monica Ali did a superb job in conveying the drabness of Nazneen's London world, her pompous and pitiful husband, and the narrowness of the society created by the Bangladeshi immigrants in the neighborhood...but I still didn't develop an affection or intimacy with any of the characters.

The tool of using letters from Nazneen's sister as a way of opening a window of fresh air into her stifl More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 16, 2008

Annaliese rated it:

It's a bit draconian to give a book that sells so well only one star, but that's my rating for a book I don't make it through. I read a full third of this book waiting for the protagonist (Nanzeen) to be interesting and it didn't happen. The one highlight was the small window into Bengali/Pakistani culture (before chapter 2 moves to Britain). It's a book about fate and how one acts as a follower in life. And the exceedingly slow learning process Nanzeen goes through when she starts to discov More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 28, 2007

Jessica rated it:

Brick Lane is the story of a uneducated woman from a small village in Bangladesh who moves to Brick Lane in London with her new husband after an arranged marriage. Like many other immigrant novels, this book touches on themes of culture clash and the struggle to adapt to the new country. The main character in "Brick Lane" initially feels that it is her fate to be the dutiful wife, living in her husband's shadow. She slowly begins to realize that she can be her own person.

T More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 23, 2010

Rossy rated it:

I read this book a couple of years ago on a Turkish trip. Though i had lost the book, the story stayed with me. Nazneen's journey was engrossing. I honestly couldn't put it down until i was finished.

While packing my books today for a move, i noticed that all the books i have kept were those i have read many times. I knew this was one of those books and so i went on a search to see if i could find the author. I have to say these were the most accomplished 4 hours i spent. I'll be pla More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 15, 2011

Vicky rated it:

I am a big fan of Anglo-Indian authors (in this case Bangladeshi)and this one is no exception. This is Ali's first novel and it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. It is such a human story, with well drawn and sympathetic characters, lyrical writing and a story that is as relevant now as it was in 2003. I would also like to recommend the movie version for the wonderful actors and beautiful cinematography. It is not often I like the movie version as much as the book, but in this case, I t More...

0 comments like

Aug 06, 2011

Chris rated it:

An account of Bangladeshi immigrant life in London, a failing arranged marriage, a passionate affair between a pious wife and Islamic activist, and bi-cultural collisions. Rivals Jhumpa Lahiri, Arundati Roy.

ALMOST one of the best books I've ever read. Monica Ali has a superb command of words. As I read, I kept saying to myself, I - nor anyone else - would ever think to construct that phrase quite the way she did!

However, the humor (while wry and excellent) is not as punch More...

0 comments like

Jul 28, 2011

Katherine added it

This was an eminently readable novel. As I read it (on a long train journey that took me through London) I found myself transported into the lives of the characters, sympathizing with them and finding new understanding for the intricacies and intimacies involved in being an immigrant, torn between two cultures, a past and a present, memories, loyalties and comforts... It was a very enjoyable book and I have no real criticisms of it, I'd certainly recommend it. It was eye opening, but also very r More...

0 comments like

Jul 27, 2011

Deb added it

A very good read, about two sisters, Nazneen and Hasina, from a village in Bangladesh. Hasina (the younger and more beautiful) elopes with a young man she loves, and loses the support of her family and community; Nazneen is shortly afterward married off to a much older man and joins him in London, where they live in the Bangladeshi neighborhood around Brick Lane. We learn about Hasina's life via her not-too-grammatical letters to her older sister; most of the story, though, is told from Nazne More...

0 comments like

Apr 25, 2011

Kathleen rated it:

A British woman from my book club recommended this book. I was visiting England at the time. Actually read it after my visit. A Bangladeshi woman, Nazneen, is 18 when she marries (arranged) Chanu (much older) who lives in London. Brick Lane is an area where many from Bangladesh have settled. Her life as a wife to Chanu who is portrayed as laughable (for me) (pity him? disdain him? would be interesting discussion) - one does pity Nazneen in this marriage. Her life as a mother - raising chi More...

0 comments like

Mar 09, 2011

Andrew rated it:

Not sure what to write about this. I enjoyed the story and it was well-written, but to me nothing special. Hated the ending – don’t worry, I won’t give it away, but the last line just sounded so corny I was quite shocked. The book as a whole is not simplistic, but the ending made it seem that way.

I think maybe this is one of those cases where the hype was so massive that the reality is bound to disappoint. It was an interesting depiction of a woman who moves to England in an arranged m More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 26, 2010

Andy rated it:

I've never felt much compulsion to read Brick Lane but found it on a recent second-hand shop search and picked it up cheap. Widely praised on publication I can understand why but it didn't do much for me. This may be as I read it while flying from Costa Rica to New Zealand (finishing it in LAX) so brain wasn't entirely working at full power. I found it difficult to keep my concentration on the story.

Immigration and alienation and a clash of cultures pervade as a young bride moves to More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 15, 2010

Jennifer rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

May 11, 2010

Kate rated it:

Wars occur. Deaths bring misery to families. Time moves on and the world changes. Amidst all this, love still occurs, no matter its fashion.
In Brick Lane, author Monica Ali presents the story of two Indian sisters as they seek love. Hasina elopes in a love marriage and seems to fall into love naturally while Nanzeen moves to London as part of an arranged marriage and waits for love to grow in her union. Throughout this modern-day love story, September 11 happens and the war on terrorism be More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 31, 2010

Annie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Dec 17, 2009

Jess added it

Nazneen was born in 1967 in a small Bangladesh village and at first appeared to be a stillborn but was saved by Fate, according to the tale of her family. It is Fate that she trusts to cope with life once her husband chooses her as his wife and brings her to London at age 18. It is her voice we follow through the struggles of living as an immigrant in a foreign world. She lives in a small apartment, many other tenants in the building are also Bangladeshi and Muslim, where her adult life unfolds More...

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Nov 10, 2009

Emily rated it:

This was less satisfying than I expected, and several days after finishing it, I still can't quite believe that it made the Booker short-list. The novel concerns a young Bangladeshi woman called Nazneen, who moves to a council flat in London in the mid-1980s after an arranged marriage to an older man named Chanu, who I think is meant to be sympathetic in a nebbishy sort of way, but who becomes loathsome to the reader by the time Ali gets to her second description of Nazneen cutting his corns. (A More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 24, 2009

Susan added it

[close:] Wildly embraced by critics, readers, and contest judges (who put it on the short-list for the 2003 Man Booker Prize), Brick Lane is indeed a rare find: a book that lives up to its hype. Monica Ali's debut novel chronicles the life of Nazneen, a Bangladeshi girl so sickly at birth that the midwife at first declares her stillborn. At 18 her parents arrange a marriage to Chanu, a Bengali immigrant living in England. Although Chanu--who's twice Nazneen's age--turns out to be a foolish blowh More...

0 comments like

Aug 31, 2009

Lily rated it:

The book centre’s around Nazneen, an 18 year old Bangladeshi village girl thrust into council estate living in London after an arranged marriage to 40 year old Chanu. Ali follows Nazneens’ development from confused, bewildered and displaced young woman into an even more confused and displaced wife and mother.

I found Brick Lane to be a book of 2 halves. The first half took me about 2 weeks to read, it was hard going, at times boring and I can understand why some people gave up on it More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)