An
only child and now approaching her mid-twenties, Amina lives with her parents
in Bangladesh. Her father has been on a
downwardly mobile spiral for years.
Money wasn’t available for her to go to school beyond the age of
thirteen. However, an avid scholar, she
has studied alone and actually passed the high school exams and found work
tutoring English. When Nasir, who once
might have been considered a suitable match, returns from working in England
changed by the experience into a very religious man, Amina begins to explore
Internet dating. She meets George, an engineer
from Rochester NY, and moves to the States to marry him and begin a new
life. There she also meets George’s
cousin Kim (who was adopted and is not a blood relation), a wild child who has
a failed marriage to a handsome, wealthy Indian man in her past. Still childless three years after her
marriage, Amina returns to Bangladesh to bring her aging parents back to
Rochester. But both George and Amina
have secrets that may threaten their lives and doom their relationship which
come to a head during her trip home. Written
by an American but primarily from Amina’s point of view, I was taken by the way
the author was able to enter the inner world of an immigrant in America and also
convincingly depict the lives of her family, only just a few steps removed from
village life in Bangladesh.
Recommended. 337 pp.
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