The Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger

The Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger
Published May 2012 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Read by Mozhan Marno
Source: purchased audiobook at my local library sale

Publisher's Summary:
Amina Mazid is twenty-four when she moves from Bangladesh to Rochester, New York, for love. A hundred years ago, Amina would have been called a mail-order bride. But this is the twenty-first century: she is wooed by—and woos—George Stillman online.

For Amina, George offers a chance for a new life for her and her parents, as well as a different kind of happiness than she might find back home. For George, Amina is a woman who doesn't play games. But each of them is hiding something: someone from the past they thought they could leave behind. It is only when Amina returns to Bangladesh that she and George find out if their secrets will tear them apart, or if they can build a future together.

My Thoughts:
Of The Newlyweds Ann Patchett said "Every minute I was away from this book I was longing to be back in the world she created." You all well know how I feel about Ann Patchett; when I grow up, I want to be Ann Patchett. So I feel like I missed something in this book when I say that I have very mixed feelings about it.

What I Liked:
Mozhan Marno's reading: Although she is American-born she perfectly captures the accents and speech patterns (well, at least I think she does - it sounded great to me) and manages quite a number of characters, each with a distinct voice.

Learning more about Bangladesh and it's culture: Four years ago, I read and very much enjoyed Tahmima Anam's A Golden Age about Bangladesh's war for independence from Pakistan. I referenced there the Concert for Bangladesh (George Harrison's and Ravi Shankar's first ever benefit concert). I got a kick, here, of hearing a character refer to that concert when he joked that he had been to Bangladesh, anyway to the Concert for Bangladesh. Like that character, that concert was my first awareness of this country and its very complicated history. Set where it is, much of the culture is similar to that of India and Pakistan. But for the Mazid family, their Islamic religion and village home add an entirely new layer to my understanding of the region. A good part of the book is set in Bangladesh which allowed me to learn about life for villagers, life in the city, and the complications when long traditions run into modern ways.

The way Freudenberger wealth with the Muslim religion: This book is set post-9/11 so Amina's Muslim religion plays a role in her relationship with George, what her family expects of her, and comes into play in the story of another character. But it never hijacks the story; it simply serves as another way to demonstrate the difficulties that relationships such as George's and Amina's face.

Seeing marriage through these characters' eyes: The publisher's summary says that Amina moved to America for love. But she didn't, not really. Their relationship begins more as a way to heal from other relationships but it's not like the usual rebound love kind of story. Amina likes George well enough but it's more about the opportunity to make a better life for her parents. And George likes Amina well enough. But because of the way that they met, because of the secrets that they are both keeping, and because of their very different backgrounds, there are well more than the usual number of adjustments that have to be made. Mostly by Amina who necessarily has to adjust to living in another country.

What I Didn't Like:
George's cousin: Kim plays a big role in the story but I just didn't care for her and couldn't understand the attraction that any of the characters had for her.

George, for that matter: Seriously, this guy seems like he's trying to be accommodating but he really doesn't make any changes in his life other than the occasional ride for Amina and learning to enjoy her cooking. How, I wondered, had he given the impression that he was someone she could learn to love and spend the rest of her life with?

Too much thinking: Sometimes it felt like we were spending much too much time in Amina's head, rehashing the same thoughts over and over.

I can't help but wonder, despite Marno's excellent reading, if I wouldn't have like this book more if I had read it rather than listened to it, if I had spent more than a couple of 25 minute blocks a day "reading" it.

A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam

A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam
Published January 2009 by HarperCollins Publishers
Source: I bought both the paperback and the audiobook

Publisher's Summary:
As Rehana Haque awakes one March morning, she may be forgiven for feeling happy. Today she will throw a party for her son and daughter. In the garden of the house she has built, her roses are blooming; her children are almost grown up; and beyond their doorstep, the city is buzzing with excitement after recent elections. Change is in the air. But none of the guests at Rehana's party can foresee what will happen in the days and months that follow. For this is East Pakistan in 1971, a country on the brink of war. And this family's life is about to change for ever.

My Thoughts:
I first heard of this book years ago on NPR and bought it before I started blogging. Then, like so many books, it never seemed to make it off the bookshelf and into my hands. Recently I was browsing the audiobooks at the library sale and found it on audio; even though I already owned the book, for $2 I picked it up, knowing I would finally be able to find the chance to "read" this one.

What a wonderful decision - Madhur Jaffrey's narration is marvelous, her voice capturing the beauty of the prose perfectly. I was captured by this novel from the first sentence:

"Dear Husband,
I lost our children today."

When Rehana's husband, Iqbal, died, leaving her with limited means, she was powerless to prevent her powerful, childless brother-in-law and his wife from winning custody of them in court. Without money, there is little hope she will ever be able to win them back. Set against the backdrop of the Bangladesh civil war to earn independence from Pakistan, A Golden Age is, at it's core, the story of a mother's love and the length's a mother will go to for her children. It is Rehana's story, a story of sadness, hope, courage, love and sacrifice.

Anam has crafted a story the blends the reality of everyday life with the terror of war (although on an intimate scale; it lacks the grittiness of a true war story) in a way that focuses primarily on the relationships between the characters. The writing made the time, the place, and the characters come alive for me.

"The city slowly adjusted to occupied life. I t adjusted to the stiff-backed soldiers who manned the streets, their uniforms starched, their pale faces grimacing. It adjusted to the tanks sitting fatly in the middle of roads, and to checkpoints where soldier leaned into car windows and barked orders at drivers who held up their hands and shook their heads, protesting their innocence. And it adjusted to the silence, because there were no more speeches, or marches, or processions, just an eerie, still quietness, interrupted twice a day by the wail of the curfew siren; but otherwise all was ghostly, only the rustle of trees and the sizzle of the April sun to draw the line between day and night."

Here's what I knew about Bangladesh going into this book: it is a small country by India. And, when I was very young, my favorite Beatle George Harrison put together a concert for Bangladesh. I was too young to understand why then; by the time I was old enough to understand, Bangladesh was off my radar. A Golden Age gave me a jumping off place to learn more about what drove Harrison to pull together some of the biggest names in music for two Madison Square Garden concerts in 1971. Anam's book is a peek into the war; the reality was, as you would expect, much more horrific. Eight to ten million people fled then East Pakistan into India as the West Pakistani troops escalated the war. Figures for the number of dead vary between 300,000 to three million. All of this followed on the heels of a massive cyclone, torrential rains and floods in 1970 that killed up to a half million people. It's easy to see why Bengali native Ravi Shankar turned to his friend Harrison to help his people. The concerts themselves raised nearly $250,000; sales of the album of the concert raised millions more.

George Harrison performing at The Concert For Bang