Reading and Realism

Abstract

We begin this chapter with a series of discrepant responses to the end of Monica Ali’s novel. To briefly locate these readings within what Alastair Cormack (above) calls the ‘developmental narrative of realism’: in the preceding pages, the protagonist Nazneen has been led blindfold through the streets of London on a surprise all-female outing to the skating rink. At this point Nazneen has left her husband and her lover, along with the domestic drudgery of a high rise flat in London’s Tower Hamlets. As the narrative progresses Nazneen has steadily taken control of her own destiny (fate), exploring the London beyond her claustrophobic flat, starting work in the garment industry, having an affair with a local activist (Karim), and by the end of the novel freeing herself from the marital home and setting up her own business in Brick Lane.