Brick Lane Synopsis
At the tender age of eighteen, Nazneen’s life is turned upside down. After an arranged marriage to a man twenty years her elder she exchanges her Bangladeshi village for a block of flats in London’s East End. In this new world, where poor people can be fat and even dogs go on diets, she struggles to make sense of her existence – and to do her duty to her husband. A man of inflated ideas (and stomach), he sorely tests her compliance.
But Nazneen submits, as she must, to Fate and devotes her life to raising her family and slapping down her demons of discontent. Until she becomes aware of a young radical, Karim.
Against a background of escalating racial and gang conflict, they embark on an affair that finally forces Nazneen to take control of her life...
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9780552771153 |
| Publication date: |
1st May 2004 |
| Author: |
Monica Ali |
| Publisher: |
Black Swan |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
491 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Modern and Contemporary Fiction
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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Monica Ali Press Reviews
SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2003
SHORTLISTED FOR THE GUARDIAN FIRST BOOK AWARD 2003
SHORTLISTED FOR THE GUARDIAN FICTION PRIZE 2003
GRANTA BEST OF YOUNG BRITISH NOVELISTS 2003
'Ali has an impressive command of her story, but her real gift is in the richness of the lives she has created, populating Nazneen's London with a very entertaining cast of comic characters' The Times
'So uplifting as well as so important' Daily Telegraph
'This highly evolved, accomplished book is a reminder of how exhilarating novels can be: it opened up a world whose contours I could recognize, but which I needed Monica Ali to make me understand' Observer
'The author's powers of observation are magnificent, placing Ali among Britain's greatest writers, never mind young or old' Spectator
‘Written with a wisdom and skill that few authors attain in a lifetime’ The Sunday Times
‘The kind of novel that surprises one with its depth and dash; it is a novel that will last’ Guardian
'I was totally gripped by Brick Lane. A brilliant evocation of sensuality which might occur anywhere' Daily Telegraph
‘The joy of this book is its marriage of a wonderful writer with a fresh, rich and hidden world. Her achievement is huge. This is a book written with love and compassion’ Evening Standard
About Monica Ali
Monica Ali was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and grew up in England. She is one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists of the decade, Newcomer of the Year at the 2004 British Book Awards and has been nominated for most of the major literary prizes in Britain. Brick Lane was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the George Orwell Prize for political writing and the prestigious Commonwealth Writers' Prize.
Internationally there has been similar recognition including, in the United States, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times ‘First Fiction’ Prize where the book was shortlisted.
Monica Ali lives in London with her husband and two children, and is working on her next novel.
More About Monica Ali
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