September book review: 'The Newlyweds', by Nell Freudenberger

Book: The Newlyweds, Nell Freudenberger


Publication date: 2012


WCRG Meeting: 23 September, 2015


Group rating: 5



The Reading Group met on Wednesday 23rd September to discuss The Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger. Everyone present agreed that this was a novel where tendrils of a good to great novel were being offered, but never really taken up. There was a sense that something would happen but it never did. Characterisation was flat and the writing style was a little bland, even slightly confusing. It never really became ‘gritty’.

Many felt that the scenes in Bangladesh were more interesting than the American scenes. Different expectations of behaviour because of cultural differences were also found to be interesting; such as Kim expecting her apology to be instantly accepted by Amina because that was the American way of doing things. Or the linguistic trifles when George alarms Amina by calling the local teenagers who knock over their mailbox "thugs", a word she associates with violent bandits.

Amina and her family were looking for freedom from economic hardship by searching for an American husband via internet dating. Some felt this initial premise was slightly unbelievable and were confused as to why Amina and her family did not choose a candidate of their own nationality and religious upbringing. Was Amina being pushed into this by her parents, who viewed the American dream as their only possibility of improving their own position?

Amina desperately wants an education, but upon her return to Bangladesh, she discovers that her true love is for her cousin Nasir, whose earlier religious extremism made a union between them impossible. George, the American husband, is running away from a broken heart; disappointed in love by his cousin Kim, who aborted his child.

At the end of the novel, as Amina brings her parents to the USA (and it did appear to be a relatively easy passage to get their visas in the end) one felt that there was probably a more interesting story to tell of how they all survive in a two-bedroom house in a world very different from that to which Amina's parents are accustomed. Perhaps there is a sequel in the works?

Overall, people were disappointed with the follow-through of this novel and this was reflected in the middling mark of 5 out of 10.