172 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 21:3

Brick Lane
Monica Ali

London: Doubleday, 2003. 369 pages.

Monica Ali’s debut novel Brick Lane has been met with critical acclaim.
Not only was Ali selected as one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists,
her novel was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. Brick Lane centers on
the life of a young Bengali Muslim woman, Nazneen, who moves to
London in order to live with her new husband, Chanu. At the beginning of
the novel, Nazneen is a devout but docile and uninspiring character. By the
end of the novel, she has journeyed “towards self-realisation,” had an affair,
separated from her husband, and decided to bring up her two daughters
alone. 

Much of the praise that Brick Lane has elicited focuses on its “authen-
ticity.” Reputable critics have praised Ali for her “timely insights,” and her
novel has been judged to offer a “terrifically subtle portrait” of a Muslim
marriage and provide “an insight into a religion that people often find con-
fusing.” Articles that commend Ali for her “honest” and “precisely
observed” descriptions of Muslims attest to her perceived status as a “native
informant.” Although literary critics frequently warn that texts should not be
read as transparent mediums through which you can drag “the real,” this is
frequently forgotten when the author is someone from an ethnic or religious
minority. Those critical of the current trend to read Brick Lane as a “win-
dow” through which to view the Muslim “Other” have been dismissed with
alarming efficiency. Despite recent concurrent developments in literary the-
ory, challenges to this assumed “transparency” have been dismissed as the
opinions of “mullahs,” “Islamic fundamentalists,” or people who have
“probably never read the book.”

Unfortunately, cliché-ridden characterization and clumsy stylistic
weaknesses have been overlooked in the rush to applaud Ali for her “fasci-
nating” depiction of what has been referred to as a hitherto “invisible”
Muslim community. So why should we be concerned that her Muslim char-
acters have been judged to be authentic? One could look at the dark hole
that is Bangladesh, in which, according to the novel, Muslim men do little
else but beat, pimp, or rape women. Or, one could focus on the central
female character’s journey toward “self-realisation.” This journey panders
to a 1960s style of western feminism. The fatalistic and passive Nazneen,
having spent years praying in a “drugged”-like fashion and tending to her



Book Reviews 173

husband’s corns and nasal hair, eventually becomes strong and indepen-
dent. In order to do so, she has an affair, listens to a bit of pop music, and
goes ice-skating. 

If only the plot had been more daring and provocative. Nazneen could
have insisted on learning English at college with Razia before heading off
into a glittering teaching career. She could have helped one of her daugh-
ters become the first “hijabed” bus driver or car mechanic in Tower
Hamlets. Or, she could have just found out what her rights as a Muslim
woman actually were. Having discovered that the Prophet Muhammad
helped with the housework, mended his own shoes, and defended women’s
rights, Nazneen could at least have avoided her corn-duties. 

Brick Lane has been welcomed precisely because it fails to challenge
established prejudices about Muslims. The women are mostly bullied by
their husbands and consider their marriages to be “good” if they are not
“beaten.” Brick Lane perpetuates the myth that Muslim women can become
assertive and confident only by becoming more westernized and less
Muslim. Regrettably, many would consider the story of a Muslim woman
who discovers and starts exercizing her Islamic rights as “unconvincing.”
That Nazneen, a passive and weak character who is infuriatingly unwilling
to challenge her husband in matters of trivia, is happy to engage in an illic it
sexual relationship that she believes will risk not only her husband’s anger
but eternal damnation is considered far more convincing. Although many
feminist critics congratulate Ali for writing the story of a Muslim woman
who finds “her proper place in the world,” it is a shame that none question
the assumption that a Muslim woman’s “proper place” can only be found
in the full embrace of western liberalism. 

Ali’s “Muslim meetings” constitute another area that has been com-
mended for its accuracy. These meetings are full of stock Muslim charac-
ters that owe much to the unflattering portrayal of the “Arabs” populating
Disney and Hollywood productions. For example, the Bengali Islamist
character (who rivals Nazneen’s lover at these meetings) is “Arabised” in
Hollywood fashion due to his political stance. This character, who is
referred to only as “the Questioner,” has the “dangerous face of an enthusi-
ast” and is a deathly skeletal figure. “Consumed by passion,” his clothes
hang from his body like an “unnecessary extravagance.” His “flesh” is also
“unnecessary,” and the “only extravagance” is “his nose, which was large.”
Serious points made about suffering in the Muslim world are undermined
by the fact that they are voiced by this unsavory caricature. 



174 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 21:3

The Questioner is far from being the only figure of ridicule at these
meetings. The “recently imported” imam hardly inspires respect. The nar-
rative voice centers on his hypocrisy: He does not let his “little conference
on sharia interfere with his consumption of a very large, lavishly glazed
pastry.” His physical presence is equally unimpressive: wearing a pair of
women’s shoes, he repeatedly wets and licks his lips, “has no idea what is
going on,” and is “duly elected as Spiritual Leader.” Unfortunately these
passages, clearly loaded with caricature, melodrama, and satire, have been
read as “realist” in style and “authentic” in content. 

Muslim concerns about representation cannot be dismissed by the
argument that Brick Lane “is only a fiction” while critics continue to praise
Ali for her “social observations” and “private insights.” That reviewers
have been so quick to judge her unsympathetic “Muslim” characters as
“precisely observed” tells us more about the existing prejudices than about
the novel’s literary worth. Ali does not “capture” the “experience” of
Muslim women in Britain; she just mobilizes familiar clichés that many are
tired of hearing. 

Wendy O’Shea Meddour
Tutor and Fellow, Dept. of English Literature

St. Hilda’s College, Oxford University
Oxford, United Kindgom