Monica Ali: Brick Lane

[Ell]

I just finished reading Brick Lane, Monica Ali, and would like to talk about it as I have read several comments related to the book last year (when it was a 'must not read' within all my friends and this is one of the reasons why I had not touched until now) but...I don't think is such a bad, offensive book. What do you think?

Please stop me if I'm wrong. I have read a lot of comments about Brick Lane being racist but I just don't see it that way -not until now at least-

Where did you see comments that this book is racist? I think you misread Geoff's comments (correct me if I'm wrong, Geoff). He was merely stating that the book portrays non-white characters making racist comments.

Showing that non-white people are just as prone to prejudice as white people doesn't make 'the book' racist. It merely shows us that any group can have preconceived, ugly notions about those outside the group.

ell

 

[mojo]

I read this book recently and just couldn't take to it. I just couldn't shake the feeling that the range of themes it dealt with were a contrivance to win book awards, because the book should have given me important questions to consider in terms of racism, religion, arranged marriage etc, but the main character just didn't seem to have enough depth to make me care, and the handling of themes was cliched and has been done better elsewhere. She may have been frustrated with her marriage from the start, but she put up with it for years due to her beliefs and then one day she just changes her mind and has an affair, I thought there should have been a bigger build-up or emotional struggle. I felt sorry for her husband at the end too, because he spent his whole life trying to fufil his dreams and then has them all dashed at the last minute. And he had no way of knowing he was a terrible husband because nobody ever told him!!!

 

[Shade]

I've just begun reading Brick Lane, which has been sitting on my shelves since I bought it two years ago - finally prompted by all the publicity around the shooting of the film, with a small number of Brick Lane residents protesting against the portrayal of the Sylhetis in the book.

I've only read the first chapter but I'm impressed so far. The writing is very good indeed, lots of colourful detail and vivid language, up there with Andrea Levy's Small Island and Hari Kunzru's The Impressionist as stories of immigrants in Britain. Whether it holds up to the mighty Small Island is doubtful, of course, but Monica Ali can certainly write. I just hope she can equally certainly keep it up.

 

[kirsty]

There was a bit of controversy about this book in terms of how the Bangladeshi people were portrayed and in particular how this portrayal was presented by a member of this ethnic group.

Not many people seem to like this book but I thought it was very powerful and would like to read it again in the future.

 

[Shade]

Yes, from what I've read around the subject -

They say Ms Ali portrays Bangladeshis as uneducated and unsophisticated, and repeatedly mention a passage which they say has Bangladeshis coming over to England in the hold of a ship and with lice in their hair.

- and now in the book itself, this seems to be one of the lines which caused most controversy:

"These people here didn't know the difference between me, who stepped off an aeroplane with a degree certificate, and the peasants who jumped off the boat possessing only the lice on their heads."

This line is spoken by Chanu, Nazneen's husband, who is portrayed as a snob and a fool in the book. If the small number of Brick Lane residents and traders who protested, really think this means that Monica Ali believes Sylhetis to be lice-infested, then they really do need to grow up and get a life. Oh, and stop making themselves look far more unsophisticated and uneducated than the book ever does.

People are entitled to be unsophisticated in their comprehension of books, but it's a bit embarrassing when they bring it out in public. Or as Natasha Walter puts it in today's Guardian:

Some readers may think less of a novel because it has a more tenuous relationship to reality than they would like. Those readers like novels to bring them "news"; the imaginative, playful aspect of the novel that has sustained it from its beginnings in folk tales is a mystery to them. This is a matter of taste, and it may be your taste to wish Ali had used more research and less imagination in creating her Bengali family. But there can be no justification for trying to suppress fiction because it has not measured up against some irrelevant yardstick.

 

[beer good]

To furher confuse matters, Germaine Greer has come out in support of the book-burners, claiming that Ali is far too English and shouldn't "dare" write about Bangladeshis. This in turn has prompted Salman Rushdie to slam her as a "double racis(t)". We could be looking at fisticuffs here.

Here's the article Shade quoted from, which is pretty good. "The book burners do not speak for all of Brick Lane" - I never assumed they did. Censorship advocates very rarely do.

All in all, I'm getting really curious about this book.

 

[Shade]

All in all, I'm getting really curious about this book.

As did I, which is why I finally plucked it off my shelves this week. I'm only on page 60 but already I'm glad I did. Mission accomplished, eh, protestors? Oh and now we all know there's a film to look forward to as well, thanks to you guys.

 

[PaulaQ]

I read this book recently and found it quite interesting and enjoyable. I like reading about different cultures and seeing what makes people think and behave the way they do.

I do have to agree, however, with some of the comments here that have said that perhaps there wasn't enough explanation for some of Nazneen's behavior, such as the affair. I would have liked hearing a little more thought process from her to understand her motivation.

 

[Gem]

I read this about a couple hundred books ago, so my memory of it is limited. I was impressed with it as I was reading it - she handled things with the right amount of lightness - so that things like (as far as I can remember) politics aren't preached about but rather blend in with the story and characters. After I had finished reading it though, I had a feeling of disappointment, not sure why and this'll sound flimsy but it felt like Monica Ali had missed something out, but I don't know what that something is.

PaulaQ

I would have liked hearing a little more thought process from her to understand her motivation.

Me too, fair enough that they had this great attraction for each other - but I would have liked a little more understanding on why she acted on that attraction.

beer_good

Greer..Ali is far too English and shouldn't "dare" write about Bangladeshis.

I find this fascinating, so English authors musn't write about people from other cultures, and people from other cultures musn't write about the English?
At dinner last night, something along these lines came up, and one person commented that most of the books by ethnic minority writers he had read, were about their experiences as ethnic minorities and dealt with issues like culture, rascism and the immigrant experience. He'd never come across a straight horror or fantasy for example. We were sure they must be out there, but to our shame couldn't think of any.

 

[beer good]

Right, so I finally finished "Brick Lane". Have to say I wasn't all THAT impressed; the first 150 pages or so really had me floored, but after that the book seemed to sink more and more into a comfortable walking pace that rarely went anywhere. Most characters seemed fairly one-dimensional - Chanu was the most interesting of the bunch, well-read and often spot-on with his rants but for all his knowledge an impotent fool - but overall I found it... meh.

She may have been frustrated with her marriage from the start, but she put up with it for years due to her beliefs and then one day she just changes her mind and has an affair, I thought there should have been a bigger build-up or emotional struggle.

What he (she?) said. It never surprised me, it never made me angry, it never made me go "Awww", it never really did anything. But it did it well. 3/5 I guess.

 

[Daisy-Boo]

I got about halfway through the book and put it back on the shelf, intending to finish it at a later date. That was several months ago and I still don't feel the urge to finish it.

I simply couldn't connect with Nazneen. I wanted to care about her but struggled to find something about her that I could identify with. Even her innermost thoughts didn't interest me. She seemed to drift through life, not really making an impact in any meaningful way.

 

[Not a Jellyfish]

I have seen the film, but was actually unaware of its print status until reading this thread. I enjoyed the film greatly. It was very paced and nuanced, but enjoyable and well directed. I did not feel that the film was racist in any way, merely showing things from the perspective of a different culture. Though I did feel that Nazneen was a bit immature in her taking on of an affair, I liked the way her dishonesty, yet honesty with herself, was portrayed in the film. I may pick up the book and check it out.