The Newlyweds

Summary (from the publisher): A powerful, funny, richly observed tour de force by one of America’s most acclaimed young writers: a story of love and marriage, secrets and betrayals, that takes us from the backyards of America to the back alleys and villages of Bangladesh.

In The Newlyweds, we follow the story of Amina Mazid, who at age twenty-four 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 an arranged marriage for the twenty-first century: Amina is wooed by—and woos—George Stillman online. 

For Amina, George offers a chance for a new life and 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 they put an ocean between them—and 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.

The Newlyweds is a surprising, suspenseful story about the exhilarations—and real-life complications—of getting, and staying, married. It stretches across continents, generations, and plains of emotion. What has always set Nell Freudenberger apart is the sly, gimlet eye she turns on collisions of all kinds—sexual, cultural, familial. With The Newlyweds, she has found her perfect subject for that vision, and characters to match. She reveals Amina’s heart and mind, capturing both her new American reality and the home she cannot forget, with seamless authenticity, empathy, and grace. At once revelatory and affecting, The Newlyweds is a stunning achievement.

 

Review: Amina Mazid was raised as an only child in Bangledesh, under uncertain financial circumstances and constant schemes for success from her father. When it comes time for her to marry, her family agrees that she should try to meet someone online so she can leave the country and find greater success. So Amina courts and is courted by an American, George Stillman and eventually moves to America to marry George. This is a twenty-first century marriage of convience; Amina wants a chance at a new life and a different type of happiness and George wants a straightforward, practical woman who doesn't play games. Although relatively happy, their marriage is strained by their individual secrets. When Amina travels home to bring her parents back to America, the marriage's problems come to a head and Amina and George must determine whether they can move forward together or will part.

 

The first half of this book was moving and engrossing as the reader follows Amina as she adjusts to her new country and her new husband. Some of the culture clash between Amina and George comically highlights the vast difference in their backgrounds, such as when Amina shares a painful story from her childhood in a third world country and George responds by telling her that "her story had made him cry. He could not remember crying since his hamster had died in second grade, and he thought that it meant their connection was getting stronger" (10). Yet beyond moments of humor, it's clear that Amina feels isolated and as if she is disappointing her parents, who wish to follow her to America; "there was no one in Rochester who'd known that past-Munni, and no one back at home who knew the present one. Sometimes she wondered whether the two girls would simply grow farther and farther apart, until one day they didn't even recognize each other" (59). And when the tension rises between Amina and George, he cruelly uses her less than perfect English against her: "'I know. It's my fault - I screwed up.' He looked at her. 'Hey, do you even know that word? 'Screw'?" (180).

 

The second half of the book, when Amina travels back to Bangladesh, was less successful. The relationship between Amina and George is overshadowed by larger logistical issues in her home country. I was disappointed by how out of character Amina acts when she goes home. Despite always appearing dutiful and concerned with what is right, she acts against these values when away from her husband. Furthermore, the plot becomes more convoluted as the story progresses: her parents are blackmailed, her relationship with Nasir grows murky, and George and Kim, previously major characters, recede into the background.

 

Additionally, it was an interesting choice to make the narrator an individual from Bangladesh who is adjusting to America. I wonder how this depiction of culture and feelings towards American life would hold up with someone who is a non-American. In particular, I found it difficult to believe that Amina would totally abandon her faith and not seek out other Muslims as she had planned and promised her parents she would do. Furthermore, I questioned whether she would suddenly become so honest and vocal about her problems with her relatives at home, since they seemed to greatly value putting up a good front and boasting of their accomplishments. Finally, Amina's questionable interactions with Nasir seemed more like something an American woman would do and not someone raised in Bangledesh with its more strict sense of morals and religious beliefs.

 

Stars: 3