Brick Lane: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Black Book Lover TOP 10 of 2004!!
Review: AS THE NEW YEAR IS UPON US, I OFFICIALLY OFFER YOU MY LIST OF THE 10 BEST BOOKS THAT I'VE READ IN 2004. THIS IS OUT OF ABOUT 84 BOOKS THAT I'VE READ THIS YEAR. EVERY SINGLE BOOK ON THIS LIST IS A MASTERPIECE WORTH BUYING. YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED WITH GREAT LITERATURE LIKE THE FOLLOWING:

"THE DARKEST CHILD"--Delores Phillips

The finest, most dramatic debut I've read in years. Top notch and gut-wrenching. This is by far the best book of 2004.

"BRICK LANE"--Monica Ali

Superb entry into a world foreign yet all too familiar. Flawless, beautiful writing.

"HOTTENTOT VENUS"--Barbara Chase Riboud

A True Story. Which makes this book all the more shocking and tragic. By now you've heard of the kidnapped and dehumanized South African woman paraded in the 1800's Europe as a "freak" because of her huge posterior and the apron over her genitals. Chase Riboud chronicles the tale perfectly and makes it far more interesting than just history. The fact that "Sarah" was like a Pop Superstar of her day makes it all the more chilling in my opinion. A definite Must-Read.

"FLESH AND THE DEVIL"--Kola Boof

Totally original, unexpected black love story. Chock full of African history, U.S. black history, fantastic plot twists, pulsating sex, equally dazzling "lovemaking", brilliant observations about race, color and sexism and plenty of risk-taking by the sensational Sudanese-born Kola Boof, truly a NEW STAR in the "epic" sense. Fabulous!

"ERASURE"---Percival Everett

I know. I'm late reading this one. But it's classic, fantastic, the greatest book ever written about being a "black" writer today. SUPERB. 10 Stars.

"A DISTANT SHORE"--Caryl Phillips

Great novel about "human beings" ripped apart in their own world and then thrown together in new equally dreadful surroundings. A black man and a white woman are juxtaposed in England with terribly beautiful insight by the writer. It's a hard book to explain, except that it's about human beings finding their real true minds. Superb!!!! I give this one 10 stars.

"DRINKING COFFEE ELSEWHERE"--Z.Z. Packer

The breakout debut of the new Alice Walker and Toni Morrison rolled into one. Z.Z. Packer is outrageously talented and brilliant. These sparse, witty, intelligent, insightful short stories will bring you to tears, make you laugh and truly astonish you.

"THE KNOWN WORLD"--Edward P. Jones

This book starts off kind of "slow", but once you get into it, it's quite shocking, easily one of the most important stories told in a decade. Jones deserves all the accolades and awards he's received for this masterful masterpiece of the new century.

"LOVE"--Toni Morrison

Still the undisputable greatest writer writing. Toni Morrison offers up one of her very best novels, the most underrated and overlooked novel of the year. Absolutely meszmerizing, a bute.

Rating:
Summary: Culture Clash
Review: For the first 200 pages, Brick Lane is absolutely fascinating and the story of Nazneen, her childhood in Bangladesh and how he she is married off to London really grabs. But from then on, the story starts to drag a bit (like some other reviewers, I couldn't get into the 40 pages of Hasina's letters, written in broken English).
Still, all in all I think the hype for this book is deserved: The alienation of Bangladeshis in London is very well described, the characters in the book are multilayered and believable (for example, Chanu, Nazneen's husband, is a gem and Mrs Islam adds some color, too) and there is enough substance, inelligence and feeling to fill half a dozen of lesser books. With a bit of pruning, Brick Lane could have been a perfect 350 page novel.

Rating:
Summary: Is it thought provoking? Um, yes.
Review:
I got through maybe half of the book and put it down for a week. I thought it might not apply to me, that maybe I was too different or too far from that culture for it to feel relevant.

In that week, I realized that she was struggling with almost exactly the same questions I was. She was coming to the same unacceptable, or desireable, answers. And she was getting there by a completely different route.

I started reading it again.

I keep thinking about it even though I finished it a month ago. Perhaps it's a slow-acting book. At least it's working that way on me. Every now and then I get a glimmer of the wisdom that's there.

It's a good book. It's well written. I suppose I'm disappointed because what I'm seeing in it isn't magical, cure-all wisdom. It's the wisdom that people gain and use, almost only when it's not easy.