Brick Lane

by Monica Ali | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0552771155 Global Overview for this book
Registered by veganknitter of Bolton, Greater Manchester United Kingdom on 10/5/2005
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5 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by veganknitter from Bolton, Greater Manchester United Kingdom on Wednesday, October 5, 2005
I read this ages ago, lent it to my mum who didn't think much of it and have just prised it from the clutches of my sister, who hadn't even started it.

I was very disappointed with this book - it's overlong and the letters from Nazneen's sister were dreadful. As someone commented on Amazon.co.uk, why would she write in broken English in her native tongue?

Both the sisters were incredibly dreary, in contrast to Nazneen's friend, who is feisty and funny.

The end was unsatisfactory as well, in my humble opinion.

To summarise, worth a read but don't believe the hype.

(And if you haven't read White Teeth yet, read that instead!)

Journal Entry 2 by veganknitter from Bolton, Greater Manchester United Kingdom on Monday, October 24, 2005
Offered as part of the "Much Sought After Book w/twist" Book Relay as on 49 wishlists allegedly

RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to katyan in Finland.

Enjoy!

Journal Entry 4 by katyan from Detroit, Michigan USA on Wednesday, November 23, 2005
This book came to me yesterday, I was sooo happy! Thank you veganknitter! I hope to read this soon!

From the back cover:

"Nanzeen's inauspicious entry to the world, an apparent stillbirth on the hard mud floor of a Bangladeshi village hut, imbues in her a sense of fatalism that she carries across continents when she is married off to Chanu. Her life in London's Tower Hamlets is, on the surface, calm. For years, keeping house and rearing chilren, she does what is expected of her. Yet Nanzeen walks a tightrope stretched between her daughters' embarrassment and her husband's resentments. Chanu calls his elder daughter the little memsahib. 'I didn't ask to be born here,' says Shahana, with regular finality.

Into that fragile peace walks Karim. He sets questions before her, of longing and belonging; he sparks in her a turmoil that reflects the community's own. While Nanzeen journeys along her path of self-realization, her sister Hasina, back in Bangladesh, rushes headlong at her life, fisrt making a 'love marriage', then fleeing her violent husband. Woven through the novel, Hasina's letters from Dhaka recount a world of overwhelming adversity."

"Monica Ali was born in Dhaka in former East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1967 and left with her family during the civil war in 1971. She grew up in Bolton and studied politics, philosophy and economics at Wadham College, Oxford. She worked in publishing, design and branding before having children, and started to write whenever her son and daughter 'could be persuaded to synchronize their naps'. Her first novel, Brick Lane, is published by Doubleday in the UK."

I read this book as a part of my Book from every country in the world-challenge (Bangladesh).

Bangladesh from above

I'll let this book continue its journey as a bookray.

Here's the ray order
(The book is quite big, so feel free to use the cheapest way of shipping!)

ruzena, Finland (pref. ship Finland)
suefitz, US
hobbit, US (ship intl)
fio-dagua, Portugal (eu/intl)
nypon, Portugal

Released 18 yrs ago (3/13/2006 UTC) at To the next participant in Bookring/Bookray, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- Canada

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

I send this book this morning to ruzena. Have a safe journey!:)

Journal Entry 6 by wingruzenawing on Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Arrived today, safe and healthy. One more thankyou , katyan!

Journal Entry 7 by wingruzenawing on Saturday, April 1, 2006
(BCA 2003, paperback, 413 p.)

Praise Bookcrossing, once more. This book, in Finnish, had been my Wish since it had been translated last year; yet the original was superior! Especially I loved the way the author "transliterated" Hasina's modest Bengali language to "bad" English. Hasina's story was most touching and this was a superior way to represent it.

The moderate realism in which the author paints the pictures of the immigrants' life in Bangla Town is most believable. The fatalism of the young Nazneen, the social frustration of the Islam people, the useless university studies of the taxi driver Chanu...
I don't see any problem in the ending either; it is just in line.

Monica Ali knows how to create splendid characters, like that good-natured bore Chanu with his English literature knowledge, his corns and his nostril hairs... She also has good sense of drama, e.g. when describing Nazneen hesitating to return to Bangladesh and, at the same time, the begging drug addict Tariq locked in his room as an act of motherly rehab.

Ali's first work is not any Great Literature, nor Great Pageturner, and in places the text should have been compressed. But it is an important visit to the world of Muslim immigrants. I have Asian Muslim refugees as friends in Finland. When reading the book, I smelled their garlic and ginger, and I could see the teenagers pouring tomato ketchup as well.

- ruzena

The book will travel to suefitz to US.

Journal Entry 8 by Suefitz from Saratoga, California USA on Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Thanks for passing this on. It was great to see the review of the book. What a great idea to add into the book if you can find it.

Will move up to top of MT. TBR

Journal Entry 9 by Suefitz from Saratoga, California USA on Thursday, September 14, 2006
Had a hard time getting into the book, but did finish it.

Journal Entry 10 by Suefitz at BookRing in Bookring, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Thursday, September 14, 2006

Released 17 yrs ago (9/16/2006 UTC) at BookRing in Bookring, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

Releasing to hobbit who's next in the ring.

Journal Entry 11 by hobbit from Poughkeepsie, New York USA on Monday, September 25, 2006
This arrived in today's mail. I have another ring book ahead of it, but I will do my best to read it and send it on in a reasonable amount of time.

Journal Entry 12 by hobbit from Poughkeepsie, New York USA on Saturday, October 7, 2006
I had trouble getting interested in this book in the beginning but I thought that after a slow start, it picked up. I found it interesting to see all the characters struggle with their roles as immigrants, their ambitions, and their changing expectations of each other. Thanks for sharing this with us in a ring! I also enjoyed the perspective that the newspaper review gave, so thanks to whomever included it.

Although this author now lives in the UK, she was born in Bangladesh and I will be counting this as a work from a Bangladeshi author in my attempt at
Olympic Challenge.

I have fio-dagua's address and will send this on Monday.

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