Brick Lane of Monica Ali

Book Review
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Brick Lane by Monica Ali is a book that narrates the life story of Nazneen beginning when she was born in 1967 and then moving to year 2001. Nazneen was 34 years old when was a lover, mother and worker in London. The story is told exclusively from Nazneen’s life perspective. Everything is narrated in the third person, which is an indirect classic style narrative of the psychological novel. The book is about Nazneen’s changing from being a submissive woman to an independent woman.
Nazneen was married when she was 18 years old to a man (Chanu) who was 20 years older than her. The two migrated from a small Bangladesh village and moved to London. She experienced difficult time adapting the new life; though she tried to settle as a traditional mother and wife. Being that Chanu was irritated by his inability to lead a successful English life; he tried keeping and controlling his wife indoors. According to Chanu, Nazneen was part of his life and therefore he controlled her based on the values of the Bangladesh culture.
Nazneen tried to adapt new life in London, to be contented and obey her husband, although events surrounding her life compelled her to think about her life and therefore took more control of it. The first person to influence Nazneen’s thinking was Razia (Nazneen’s neighbor) who was also a Bangladesh, though she was much less traditional. Razia liked smoking, tried to cook English food, and allowed her children to wear English clothes. Secondly, Nazneen was greatly influenced by her two daughters who grew up to be very English people and were very critical to the lifestyle of their parents. Thirdly, Nazneen met Karim (who was a young man living in the nearby neighborhood). Karim was a religious and political activist and often took Nazneen to political meetings.
Hasina’s life was parallel to Nazneen’s life story and the two were both sisters. Hasina refused to marry the man proposed by her parents. She had an affair with somebody she loved, though she ended up being more miserable than Nazneen. As the lover abandoned her, Hasina tried to work in factories and even involved in doing prostitution and worked as a maid in order to earn a living. On the other side, Nazneen was always worried about Hasina’s life since she believed that Hasina had been tricking against fate. While Nazneen’s marriage was organized by her father, Hasina eloped with a man of her own choice without accepting her father’s proposal. Hasina’s life was worse than Nazneen because her husband us...