With its gritty Tower Hamlets setting, this sharply observed contemporary novel about the life of an Asian immigrant girl deals cogently with issues of love, cultural difference and the human spirit. The pre-publicity hype about Brick Lane was precisely the kind to set alarm bells ringing (we've heard it so often before), but, for once, the excitement is fully justified: Monica Ali's debut novel demonstrates that there is a new voice in modern fiction to be reckoned with.

Nazneen is a teenager forced into an arranged marriage with a man considerably older than her--a man whose expectations of life are so low that misery seems to stretch ahead for her. Fearfully leaving the sultry oppression of her Bangladeshi village, Nazneen finds herself cloistered in a small flat in a high-rise block in the East End of London. Because she speaks no English, she is obliged to depend totally on her husband. But it becomes apparent that, of the two, she is the real survivor: more able to deal with the ways of the world, and a better judge of the vagaries of human behaviour. She makes friends with another Asian girl, Razia, who is the conduit to her understanding of the unsettling ways of her new homeland.

This is a novel of genuine insight, with the kind of characterisation that reminds the reader at every turn just what the novel form is capable of. Every character (Nazneen, her disappointed husband and her resourceful friend Razia) is drawn with the complexity that can really only be found in the novel these days. In some ways, the reader is given the same all-encompassing experience as in a Dickens novel: humour and tragedy rub shoulders in a narrative that inexorably grips the reader. Whether or not Monica Ali can follow up this achievement is a question for the future; it's enough to say right now that Brick Lane is an essential read for anyone interested in current British fiction. --Barry Forshaw

'Written with a wisdom and skill that few authors attain in a lifetime'

'Brick Lane has everything: richly complex characters, a gripping story and it's funny too'

'The kind of novel that surprises one with its depth and dash; it is a novel that will last'

'I was totally gripped by Brick Lane. A brilliant evocation of sensuality which might occur anywhere'

'As ambitious in scale as Smith's White Teeth ... a wonderful debut.'

'What makes this novel is its rich realism ... much in common with the early V.S. Naipaul.'

'What's so remarkable about BRICK LANE is its assurance: the writing is laudably unfussy, the tone incredibly tender.'

'Ali's mastery of her material is impressive ... as a first novel, it is exceptional.'

The literary debut of a huge storytelling talent

2008-08-21 Some moving parts

I was so looking forward to reading this book but overall I was slightly disappointed.

The first half of the story which describes Nazneen's arrival in Britain as a young bride, her difficult life in London and the tragedy of losing her first child, was gripping. However I found the account of her affair with Karim and the repetitive descriptions of her daughters' struggles with their father went on for much longer than was necessary. I was pleasantly surprised though when the final section of the novel, where Nazneen and her husband reach an understanding about whether to return to Bangladesh or not, actually moved me to tears.

In summary, this is a good book with some moving parts, but not a great work of literature.