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aliencat7's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I enjoyed reading this book because it gave two perspectives of Bangladesh sisters during the period of one time line. One being an immigrant in England and adjusting to the culture there, and the other sister living in Bangladesh.
colleengeedrumm's review against another edition
3.0
Sometimes, when it seems that the world is against you, it is tempting to side with the world.
But was the good of aching for the world if she offered no balm to her own husband?
But was the good of aching for the world if she offered no balm to her own husband?
saracox's review against another edition
1.0
I tried my utmost to read this, but it really didn't grasp me. After two weeks and only 90 pages in I've decided to put it down and come back to it another time.
scandi_crush's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
tighills's review
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Really enjoyed this! Reccomended by grampy and a rally worthwhile read. Lots to learn about Bangladeshi diaspora in London and about the experience of multiple generations of immigrants. Conversation between sisters across continents. At points extremely funny and very very lovable main character, Nazeen.
kleovo's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
rmschultz's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
I read this book 18 years ago, and again just now. I only remembered that it was good. It took a minute to get into it, but I soon found it hard to put down.
maketeaa's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
reading brick lane as someone who has literally lived in the same area feels like realising that the colour your room is painted has actually been wallpaper all this time. monica ali is a master of description, of creating a universe out of the universe we already have, and inviting us into the culture-clashing, diasporic world of the bengali community of east london. it is in this arena that ali explores the family dynamics of a quintessentially bengali household in a country that is not their own. nazneen, the protagonist, a village girl who became the young bride of her husband, chanu, holds onto the very foundation on which she was born into this world -- it is all up to fate. but as she navigates her space in a country where she's confronted with challenges to what is almost a fatalistic approach to life, an approach that is inherently a patriarchal creation that discourages agency in married bengali women, nazneen realises that there is a space for her to navigate. from the sickness of her first child, to her small rebellions against her husband, to her affair with bengal tigers chairman karim, nazneen learns to conflate her trust in fate, her tawakkul, with the necessity to take action -- as said in one of my favourite lines in the book, 'allah provided a way, and she found it'.