Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Monica Ali's 2003 debut novel, Brick Lane, would be a hard act for anyone to follow. While the book was still in manuscript form, Ali was hailed as one of the best novelists of her generation.
Reviewers praised the compassion and insight that Ali, born in Bangladesh and raised in England, brought to her tale about a Bangladeshi family in London.
She leaves the confines of that community for a village in the Alentejo region of Portugal.
While the Brick Lane characters are strangers in a strange land, the people in tiny Mamarrosa are often strangers in their own land, estranged from one another and from their dreams of what life should offer them.
Alentejo Blue is a solid successor to Ali's debut, but not one that is likely to make her the literary "it" girl this time.
Where Brick Lane is anchored by a central protagonist, Alentejo Blue takes a broader approach, introducing villagers, British expatriates and tourists in snapshots that give them equal weight in the narrative.
Though done effectively, with overlapping characters providing a unifying thread, it dilutes the impact and level of investment in the novel as a whole.
But Ali proves that she isn't a one-hit wonder when it comes to writing.
Her craftsmanship is superb and her descriptions rich with quirky, sad, funny and lovely details.
For example, an old widow, who was somewhat scandalous as a girl, comes to a festa "dressed up for the occasion in a gown of shocking pink that gaped fearfully at the front, where her chest had once been, revealing thermals and multiple strings of beads."
Alentejo Blue begins with a suicide by hanging, the death of an old radical who finally comes to rest in the arms of the man who loves and survives him.
Lost loves and disappointments are dominant themes throughout, but there is also an undercurrent of resilience and cautious hope.
Ali describes a sunset as "blushing over our necks like the first taste of wine." This is an apt description of the beauty of her writing, which alone gives her a starring role in this literary generation.
*Read an excerpt at
books.usatoday.com.
Alentejo Blue
By Monica Ali
Scribner, 226 pp., $24
To see more of USAToday.com, or to subscribe, go to http://www.usatoday.com
© Copyright 2006 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
