Reviews

Brick Lane by Monica Ali

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lindseyzank's review against another edition

3.0

Not a bad book. The premise of a Bangladeshi migrant narrative is quite intriguing, but this novel leaves a lot to desire. The ending is quite frankly, corny and disappointing. The issues of feminine identity and agency are dealt with well. Random political commentary and events are thrown in and not for very good measure. Overall: eh.

gemjar321's review against another edition

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1.0

I hated this book and the only reason I actually finished it is because it was for my reading group. Extremely dull. The blurb mentions Karim, the love interest... He's not even introduced until PAGE 209!!! Please do not waste your time reading this book.

carrieliza's review against another edition

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3.0

It took me about 200 pages to actually get into this book. I did not like the use of Hasina's letters over an extended period of time to signal a time change, there are definitely better ways to do that. The tone seemed different depending on where in the book I was--by that, I mostly mean that some of it was well-written, and some of it was just...not. Also, the narrative voice changed a few times. I'm not sure if that was a typo, but it bugged me.

Overall, an interesting novel about the immigrant experience, but it wasn't a very good read, and most of the outcome was predictable.

sallyan's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

koranmc's review against another edition

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2.0

This was overlong and I found the characters uncompelling. I'm not one to complain about characters being unlikeable, indeed the most interesting ones often aren't, but they should at least have depth. For the most part, I thought that was lacking in this book, though I did enjoy Hasina - though of course the nature of the presentation of that part of the story necessitated two-dimensionality there, perhaps that's why I could forgive it. I found Ali redeemed herself a little in the end though.

This isn't a great book, it's not even an enjoyable-but-trashy read, but, call be a sop if you will, I think the last few pages may have made it worth putting up with the rest.