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Mar. 4th, 2006 09:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
decemberthirtyI finished Monica Ali's Brick Lane a night or two or three ago. Not bad. Not great, but not bad. It's definitely the best out of all the book club selections that I've read so far (and I'm not just saying that because I was the one who suggested it.) Its biggest strength was its plot; the story managed to keep me engaged enough that the book's flaws were only minor annoyances. Ali is also very good at creating a sense of place. This is particularly evident in her treatment of the crowded and cluttered flat where Nazneen and her husband live. I could really feel what it was like to live in that restrictive and chaotic space. She also did a good job with the London neighborhood where the Bangladeshi community is located, but I was disappointed that she wasn't as good at creating that same concrete and realistic sense of place in the parts of her book that were actually set in Bangladesh.
Unfortunately, Ali does not seem to have the talent with people that she has with places. I noted in my last post that she has a tendency to rely on caricature and stereotype, and this became only more evident as the book went on. I think the issue here is that she's only able to attain a surface-level emotional engagement with her characters, a problem that prevented from really and truly identifying with anyone in the book. I kept wanting to feel more as I was reading. I mean, if a character is having an affair, and she wants to stop but can't because she's so caught up in the overwhelming passion, shouldn't I be able to feel some of that passion? Shouldn't there be some palpable sexual tension between them? I don't know; maybe Michael Chabon has forever spoiled me in terms of sexual tension, but Monica Ali's attempts really didn't do it for me.
And maybe Rushdie has forever spoiled me in terms of using fate as a major theme in one's book, but I could have done with a bit more subtlety from Ali on this point. Nazneen talked SO much about fate and the importance of not trying to fight against fate that you knew from the very first pages what lesson she was going to learn.
All in all, I think the problems in this book can be summed up with the old saw about showing rather than telling. It's been said a zillion times but it really is true, and the reason that the book didn't quite work is because Ali comes down too far on the 'telling' side of the equation.
This is not to say that Brick Lane is a complete flop. In some ways it was quite enjoyable. In Chanu, Nazneen's husband, Ali managed to create a character that grew on me, something I find very hard to do. And, despite my inability to really feel much for the characters, I was caught up in the ethical dilemma that faces Nazneen in the last quarter of the book. My opinion was jerked back and forth in a way that surprised me -- "You must do what's right for your family!" "No, you must do what's right for yourself!" "How can you think of going with this man?" "How could you possibly abandon this man?" -- it made me more invested in her eventual choice than I was in anything else in the book. I also really liked the ending, although I won't say anymore about it than that. It was a decently enjoyable read, and, as I said, certainly the best book club book so far. Perhaps things are looking up in that department.
Next up is Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett, on loan from the lovely Ms. N. I've started it, but I'm not far enough along to make any observations beyond the fact that Patchett seems to have a pleasantly engaging voice.
Also, I am sick. Bleh. I feel like this entry is a bit disjointed, and perhaps not up to my usual quality. If this is so, please blame my illness.
Sick or not, I can't sign off today without saying RAH RAH, CAROLINA, 'LINA!! Go Heels! BEAT DUKE!!!
Unfortunately, Ali does not seem to have the talent with people that she has with places. I noted in my last post that she has a tendency to rely on caricature and stereotype, and this became only more evident as the book went on. I think the issue here is that she's only able to attain a surface-level emotional engagement with her characters, a problem that prevented from really and truly identifying with anyone in the book. I kept wanting to feel more as I was reading. I mean, if a character is having an affair, and she wants to stop but can't because she's so caught up in the overwhelming passion, shouldn't I be able to feel some of that passion? Shouldn't there be some palpable sexual tension between them? I don't know; maybe Michael Chabon has forever spoiled me in terms of sexual tension, but Monica Ali's attempts really didn't do it for me.
And maybe Rushdie has forever spoiled me in terms of using fate as a major theme in one's book, but I could have done with a bit more subtlety from Ali on this point. Nazneen talked SO much about fate and the importance of not trying to fight against fate that you knew from the very first pages what lesson she was going to learn.
All in all, I think the problems in this book can be summed up with the old saw about showing rather than telling. It's been said a zillion times but it really is true, and the reason that the book didn't quite work is because Ali comes down too far on the 'telling' side of the equation.
This is not to say that Brick Lane is a complete flop. In some ways it was quite enjoyable. In Chanu, Nazneen's husband, Ali managed to create a character that grew on me, something I find very hard to do. And, despite my inability to really feel much for the characters, I was caught up in the ethical dilemma that faces Nazneen in the last quarter of the book. My opinion was jerked back and forth in a way that surprised me -- "You must do what's right for your family!" "No, you must do what's right for yourself!" "How can you think of going with this man?" "How could you possibly abandon this man?" -- it made me more invested in her eventual choice than I was in anything else in the book. I also really liked the ending, although I won't say anymore about it than that. It was a decently enjoyable read, and, as I said, certainly the best book club book so far. Perhaps things are looking up in that department.
Next up is Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett, on loan from the lovely Ms. N. I've started it, but I'm not far enough along to make any observations beyond the fact that Patchett seems to have a pleasantly engaging voice.
Also, I am sick. Bleh. I feel like this entry is a bit disjointed, and perhaps not up to my usual quality. If this is so, please blame my illness.
Sick or not, I can't sign off today without saying RAH RAH, CAROLINA, 'LINA!! Go Heels! BEAT DUKE!!!
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Date: 2006-03-04 05:07 pm (UTC)Drink lots of water. Rest.
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Date: 2006-03-04 05:53 pm (UTC)(Also, my sickness is pretty minor. Just very stuffed up in the head is all.)