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The Newlyweds

The Newlyweds

by Nell Freudenberger

4.50 out of 5 (8 ratings)

Format:
Paperback 
Pages:
352 
Publisher:
Penguin Books Ltd 
Publication Date:
02 August 2012 
Category:
Modern & Contemporary 
ISBN:
9780670921843 

Description

From Nell Freudenberger, one of America's most dazzling talents, comes "The Newlyweds", an utterly captivating cross-continental love story Amina Mazid is twenty-four when she leaves Bangladesh for Rochester, New York, and for George Stillman, the husband who met and wooed her online. It's a twenty-first-century romance that echoes ancient traditions - the arranged marriages of her home country. And though George falls for Amina because she doesn't 'play games', they will both hide a secret, and vital, part of their lives from each other. A brilliantly observed, wry and yet deeply moving novel about the exhilerations - and complications - of getting, and staying, wed. Reminiscent of Anne Tyler, Curtis Sittenfeld's "The American Wife" and "Jennifer Egan", "The Newlyweds" is a tour de force - a novel as rich with misunderstandings as it is with unlikely connections. 'Every minute I was away from this book I was longing to be back in the world she created', Ann Patchett, author of "State of Wonder" 'A marvellous book', Kiran Desai, winner of the MAN Booker Prize for "The Inheritance of Loss". Nell Freudenberger is the author of the novel "The Dissident", (longlisted for the Orange Prize) and the story collection "Lucky Girls", winner of the PEN/Malamud Award and shortlisted for the Orange New Writers' Prize and a "New York Times" Book Review Notable Book. She was named a New Yorker '20 Under 40' writer and one of Granta's "Best Young American Novelists". She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Showing 1-4 out of 9 reviews. Previous | Next

  • Wonderfully imagined and realized story of a young Bangladeshi woman who meets an American man online and marries him. The novels peels back so many interesting layers of misunderstandings, cultural differences, varying intentions, but as we read on and our perspectives on the characters keep changing, they're always deeper and more human. A marvelous read.

    5.00 out of 5

    NancyKay_Shapiro

  • Loved this book. The courtship and relationship between an American man and a Bangladeshi woman is explored through a cross-cultural lens. The book is divided into 4 major parts. In the first part, the reader gets to know Munni as a woman in an online relationship. The second and third part was most engrossing as it details the trials of Munni attempting to adjust to life in Rochester. The last part of the book where Munni goes to Bangladesh to bring her parents back dragged on and it contained too many subplots.All in all, I was surprised to read that the author managed to convey the immigrant acculturation experience with such depth. Will recommend it to my book club.

    5.00 out of 5

    kdhanda

  • This is such an intelligent and beautifully written book. Nell Freudenberger has an incredibly smooth and controlled prose style and such empathy for all her finely drawn characters. One of the best studies of cultural misunderstandings I have read.

    5.00 out of 5

    twopairsofglasses

  • I was amazed at how real this novel seemed and I totally agree with Ann Patchett's description----that she could hardly wait to get back to reading it! It's as if Nell stepped right into the shoes of Amina and she was writing her very own memoir. The descriptions were developed that you couldn't help but see them in your mind---a really lovely book---a story that makes you take a small gasp at the end for the future ahead for all of the characters---could it have been a different ending? Not sure how....

    5.00 out of 5

    nyiper

Reviews provided by Librarything.

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