<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">Although Brick Lane was published in 2003, I have only just got round to reading it.&nbsp; In the novel, Monica Ali tells the story of Nazneen, a Bangladeshi woman who moves to London as a result of her arranged marriage to a man twenty years older than she is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>She accepts her fate without complaining, and is a dutiful wife to the tragi-comic Chanu, who though pretentious and authoritarian, treats her relatively well. He is less kind to his two daughters, forcing them to learn long passages of Bangladeshi literature, punishing them cruelly if they fail. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">As the novel progresses, Nazneen grows to realize that she is in charge of her own destiny, and begins to rebel, first with subtle acts like putting chillis in her husband&rsquo;s sandwiches, or leaving her community area and walking in the streets, and later, much more dramatically, by having an affair, and finally with a dramatic decision that changes her life.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>With humour and attention to detail, Ali skillfully introduces her small London world and its vivid cast of characters: Dr Azad, Chanu&rsquo;s unlikely friend trapped in a miserable marriage, Mrs Islam, the hypochondriac moneylender who ends up being far more dangerous than you would expect, Razia, Nazneen&rsquo;s anglicized friend who struggles with her son&rsquo;s drug addiction and introduced Nazneen to sewing, and Karim, Nazneen&rsquo;s revolutionary activist lover.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Her affair draws her to a different world, a world in which tradition and fate can be questioned.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">The novel gives us a clear picture of&nbsp;how a Bangladeshi community in London lives; their joys and&nbsp;sorrows, and also shows us life in Bangladesh through the regular letters Nazneen&rsquo;s sister Hasina writes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>An unfortunately, although the letters are colourful and written straight from the heart, describing in detail Hasina's struggle to make a living through her various jobs, they are also the book&rsquo;s main stumbling block.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Hasina writes in broken English with perfect spelling: &lsquo;The girls are pride to you. Tell them auntie send love and never forget.&rsquo; At one point these letters go on for thirty pages without a break, and it is taxing and irritating to read them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>One wonders why Ali chose to write them in this way: since the sister would have written in Bangla, rather than English, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>is she trying to portray her sister&rsquo;s lack of education?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">But overall, this is an excellent d<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">&eacute;</span>but novel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>I picked it up hoping to learn something about Bangladeshis, their country, and their culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Brick Lane by far exceeded my expectations.</span></p>