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| Brick Lane | 
 enlarge | Author: Monica Ali
Publisher: Black Swan
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy Used: £0.01
You Save: £7.98 (100%)
New (31) Collectible (10) from £0.01
Avg. Customer Rating:  107 reviews
Sales Rank: 6025
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Pages: 496
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5 x 1.2
ISBN: 0552771155
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780552771153
ASIN: 0552771155
Publication Date: May 1, 2004
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Spine ribbed and a few crinkles and creases on cover. Dispatched from the UK, usually within 24 hours.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Absolute genius! July 19, 2008
What a marvellous first novel by this truly talented author. It takes a couple of chapters to get into, but after that, one just can't put it down! Monica Ali has ventured into a world and an experience that few have managed to portray with so much sensitivity, acuteness and genius. The many facets of Bangladeshi culture, covering most angles, all generations and many of its struggles and issues, are described very convincingly. This book is poignant in places, funny in others and shows many aspects of a complex culture. Whether you are inside or outside that culture is irrelevant, as much of the content, such as the hardships suffered by Hasina who struggles through life in Bangladesh but shows her resilience throughout, or the dwindling aspirations of Chanu as he tries to reconcile his intellectual ambitions with the reality of life as an immigrant in a different country, or the sense of disillusion faced by many, is something that most readers can identify with. Definitely a good read.
 It isn't good. It isn't bad. It's just boring. June 24, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Given this as part of a book club and this is the only reason I struggled my way through it. I can't say its a bad book, its not poorly written or with a horrendous storyline but it's definitely not a good book. It's just boring and tedious. You don't feel any connection with any of the characters, they have no redeeming points and the main character just comes across as so pathetic that it begins to get annoying.
The most grating thing about this book is the absolutely pointless letters written by her sister, all are in terrible broken English, add nothing to the story and just succeed in making you want to rip the spine out of the book. The huge leaps in time confused me, I couldn't picture the characters at all and the frequent jumps back to her childhood seemed pointless. She does develop well as a character and that is the only good thing I can really say about this book, but because you find yourself not caring about the characters it doesn't redeem the book even slightly.
 Can't see what the fuss was about June 5, 2008
I had this given to me as a book club selection from our local library and just the description on the back was enough to make me groan.
Yet another book about'issues', 'worthy', 'prize-winning' etc but is all so hackneyed, all been done before and better in book, tv, film etc.
I just couldn't read it, it said nothing to me all this outsiders view of British-which seems today to mean LONDON-culture and how we assimilate into the country we live in our defend our religious/cultural/societal origins.
At the end of the day we none of us belong anywhere, we make our home wherever we are and try to make the best of things.
Or don't.
I really didn't care about the characters and didn't finish it and was glad I wasn't the only one to think so in the group.
Heavy going April 13, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
I bought all the books that had been nominated for the 2003 MAN Booker Prize, Brick Lane being one of them so I had reasonably high expectations. I'm a little relieved, judging by the other reviews on Amazon, to find out that I'm not the only one who couldn't wait to finish it (some gave up). It was interesting at first, but it seemed interminably long and by the time I was crying out for it to end, I was barely halfway through! Perhaps people from that part of London will find it more appealing, or those from Bangladesh. But this was one of those rare occasions when I thought I could use my time more usefully than read a book. All I can say is that it must be aimed at a niche market, those in that group will doubtless sing its praises but for the mass-market....I'm not so sure. Sometimes, the best people to write observations of specific cultures are those who live outside of those cultures rather than those who live within them. Maybe an 'outsider' can do it in a way that a wider audience will understand and appreciate.
 Don't let the [negative] reviews put you off! April 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Although I was obviously attracted to the 'blurb' on the back of the book enough to buy it, 'Brick Lane' then sat on my book case for about a year waiting to be read purely because the reviews put me off. However, I'm glad I got around to it because I enjoyed it.
The first few days of Nazneen's life were touch and go and left her with a story that her children would request again and again. The story of 'How You Were Left To Your Fate'. Brick Lane is the story of how Nazneen grows as a person and is able to take her fate into her own hands.
Nazneen and her sister Hasina were both born in a Bangladeshi village but where Nazneen comes to London after an arranged marriage to Chanu, Hasina at sixteen, elopes to the city of Khulna to marry for love. The story is really about Nazneen but we discover what is happening to Hasina through the letter's she sends from Bangladesh which whilst showing us the parallels in their lives it also creates an excellent way in which the author can move time on a few years.
All the characters were brilliantly described, and really brought the book to life. Even the minor characters weren't skimped on. "...Son Number One wore a round necked peach jumper and a collar of chest hair. The distance between his nostrils and his upper lip were unusually small. As a result he appeared constantly offended. He looked like he was making up insults. And failing."
Surely I wasn't the only reader to try and recreate that face?!! ;-)
Although fictional, real events such as the riots in Oldham and the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon are touched on and it was interesting to see how they effected the Muslim people in Nazneens neighbourhood.
If you are interested in people, how they live and what effects and shapes them...then you'll enjoy this novel.
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