That's the theory, of course. In practice, Nazneen finds it a bit trickier. While she willingly performs her duties as a wife and mother, attending, for example, to her husband's grooming needs (described by Ali in excruciating detail) and keeping her house in order, she bristles under her husband's control. She longs to go to school and learn to speak English, put her husband forbids it, and she is confined to the government-supported housing project where she and hundreds of other immigrants are warehoused. As she becomes more comfortable with her surroundings, she ventures out defiantly to explore London, and realizes there is a wider world that is exciting, but also frightening, one which beckons but also repels.

The novel deals with the dynamics between Muslim men and women, both in London, where Nazneen and her family live, and back in Bangladesh, where her sister lives, and sends letters detailing her difficult hand-to-mouth existence. While their religion tells them to mind their men and let them lead, the men in the novel are ill-equipped to deal with life's exigencies and become angry or confused, or both. Nazneen's husband, a feckless dreamer with intellectual pretensions, can't seem to succeed at anything he pursues, and longs to return to Bangladesh. Karim, the much younger man with whom Nazneen has a passionate affair, is caught between the demands of the modern world--in which he often feels adrift--and the certainties afforded by a strict interpretation of Islam. The young son of Nazeen's friend, Razia, becomes addicted to heroin and seems destined for an early demise. Other men in the book either die or disappear, and it is left to the women to pick up the pieces and get on with the quotidian business of life.

Verdict: Ali writes beautifully and, on many occasions her images and turns of phrase can be breathtaking. She is also excellent at detailing the immigrant experience, and the disconnect felt by those in this particular community, who perceive (or misperceive) themselves to be living in a hostile environment which disdains them and their religion. (It is easy to see why young men like Karim might fall prey to the blandishments of religious leaders offering self-esteem and self-empowerment through Islam.) There are times, though, especially in the middle, where the pace lags, and it becomes something of a slog to get through. And the ending is a bit of a fizzle, wrapping up loose ends much too neatly. Even so, if you're prepared to endure the dull patches, your efforts will ultimately be rewarded by Ali's finely-wrought characters, unique imagery and gorgeous prose.

The Wrap-up

Four books; four takes on the Muslim experience: adding up, finally, to a much bigger picture. Ironically, the book that paints the most positive portrait is the weakest and most unrealistic of the bunch. The Islam that emerges from the others is far from rosy, and, in the case of Reading Lolita in Teheran and The Kite Runner, both of which deal with its fascist incarnation, downright brutal. Women in these books are beaten down by their cultures, but manage to rise above the restrictions and limitations placed on them to find kinship with other women. The men use religion as a crutch to make themselves feel big and powerful, both in their countries of origin, and when they emigrate to new lands; the more religious they are, the likelier they are to express that power by oppressing women and seeking to control every aspect of their lives. Such oppression gives them an illusion of control in what often seems like a chaotic, threatening and uncongenial world.