But why should I nitpick? Who knows why we do anything in this world?īack to being unfair (because I was so bored by this book). And her decision to stand up to her husband and stay in the UK with the kids? Little murky. But how she moved from that passivity into an affair with a younger man? Kind of muddy. Her own mother left Nazneen's entrance into the world up to Fate and that fatalism is what she was raised on.

OK, to be fair, Nazneen is supposed to be a woman who is passive. Really, is that all it took? This woman is an interest-charging money lender (which, apparently, is a big NO-NO as a Muslim) who runs a religious school for girls and raises her sons to be repo-man thugs but she's afraid to swear on the Qu'ran because of an accounting discrepancy? Score one for Nazneen and her growing independence! The most ridiculous part (and because of that, maybe the most enjoyable?) of Nazneen's story is when she stops this evil money lender Mafia-like woman in the story by asking her to swear on the Qu'ran. It's a wonder that lifeless Nazneen even moves into an affair with a younger man. Compare Nazneen's character to that of her sister, aunt, and friends. Don't buy into the crap about 'what it must be like to live a suppressed/oppressed life as a Muslim woman.' That's not what's going on. It wasn't until page 152, I believe, when Nazneen giggles. The protaganist moves around in the book like she's had a lobotomy. WHO IS THIS CRAZY NUT? You need to read a book like Brick Lane to understand 'besieged humanity' or what it's like to live a 'hard, little-known' life?

'Ali succeeds brilliantly in presenting the besieged humanity of people living hard, little-known lives on the margins of a rich, self-absorbed society.' Look at what the NY Review of Books said: Could it take me longer to read a book? I made myself read this book everyday so I could be done with it and properly hate it.

Brick lane book