Brick Lane

This is a challenging book: long but filled with small moments that add up to a compelling story. Nazneen is from Bangladesh and has an arranged marriage to a much-older Bengal man in London. The book covers 16 years of her marriage, with flashbacks to her childhood as well as letters from her sister, who is struggling to survive in Dhaka after running off for a “love marriage.” There is a lot going on in this book, but what I found most interesting was the process Nazneen goes through of figuring out if she loves her husband, what that even means, and who she is as a wife, mother, and person. I also really enjoyed getting a glimpse into a different part of London than I have previously been exposed to.

A book that asks about fate. The author states this very early in the read. A strange quirk of fate made me read this. I walked to the railway station and passed the neighbourhood swap library and could not resist that the front cover said that Brick Lane was a Booker nominee. Tucking it into my bag, I headed to the station and got on the train I catch to go 2 stations to my place of employment. Trouble was that no one told me that the train was to go along a spur line and head into inner city Brisbane because the signals were faulty on my line. I got the book out and began to read the first chapter. And I did not stop until I got to work 2 hours late. Fate (or maybe I just did not hear the PA announcement.)

Brick Lane has 34,500 plus ratings and over 2,300 reviews as I write so what can I add? Not much to explain the premise as many reviews do, but I can bump the rating up a little. This reader thought that this book had its faults, but by the same token the character driven story had me wanting to know the fate of the family of Nazneen and her arranged marriage husband Chanu.

Faults? A bit too long. There was also a scene towards the end when the eldest daughter, very much a youth of English background, ran away from home in reaction to the father's decision that the family should move. Her return back into the family fold by the heroic actions of her mother were far too contrived. The end was a touch saccharine as well.

Be that as it may this is not just about fate but also about how cultures react to each other, those that can except our differences, those that can't, how a young girl from a Bangladesh village is hurled into a life utterly alien to her and how she copes with such things she never imagined such as modernity and freedoms, the attitude of her peer group, a husband that meant well but was in between and in betwixt culturally. It was a hard book to put down.

I knew there was a film, so decided to watch that straight after finishing the read. It was very good, though it did not reach the depths of the book in terms of some of the characters. Where the film had a strength was the casting, the characters were as they should be in comparison to the book and Satish Chandra Kaushik who played the father Chanu was perfect. This is also that rare occasion I actually thought that the film offered a better outcome to the daughter running away from home. It was actually more realistic.

A good read and recommended to those that are interested in fate and the mixing of cultures.