The Newlyweds

By: Nell Freudenberger

Narrated by: Mozhan Marnò

Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2012 Nell Freudenberger (P)2012 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Freudenberger draws women's complex lives as brilliantly as Austen or Wharton or Woolf, and, with The Newlyweds, has given a performance of beauty and grace.” (Andrew Sean Greer, author of The Story of a Marriage)

“A big, complicated portrait of marriage, culture, family, and love. Freudenberger never settles for an easy answer, and what she delivers is a story that feels absolutely true. Every minute I was away from this book I was longing to be back in the world she created.” (Ann Patchett, author of State of Wonder)

“Exceptional... Here is an honest depiction of life as most people actually live it: Americans and Asians, Christians and Muslims, liberals and conservatives. Freudenberger writes with a cultural fluency that is remarkable and in a prose that is clean, intelligent, and very witty.” (David Bezmozgis, author of The Free World)

The Gap Between New Beginings and Fresh Starts

A passage from the book "The Little Minister" by James Matthew Barrie (best known as the author of Peter Pan) reads:

"“The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it.”

I can only wonder if Nell Freudenberger is a fan of Mr. Barrie's works.

Amina and George both have dreams and goals, but it's not entirely clear (to either the reader or the characters) if they have set their goals based on their dreams, or if they built their dreams based off their goals. The stark difference between these two possibilities is the bedrock of the novel.

Did Amina move to America because she wanted to marry George, or did she want to marry George to move to America? Does George want to have children with Amina, or did he propose to Amina because he wanted children? The story will resonate with a lot of people; because for many of us, life is much like the snow that piles up outside George and Amina's Rochester home. Each individual flake - and decision - seem small and inconsequential; but they soon pile up, freeze together, and take on a form and shape that may be unanticipated and difficult to move.

People often wish for a "Fresh start" or a "Clean slate"; but beginning a new chapter in one's life doesn't erase what's come before it. This novel spans the first three years of the couple's marriage, and examines how George, Amina, and their loved ones react to this realization.

Highly recommended.

It's a small world after all!

I loved this. It is a good reminder that despite cultural differences, people are basically the same. We are human.

Amina Comes to America

The title and cover page picture seem utterly unrelated to the actual content of this story. This is a story about Amina - a young woman from Bangladesh. Her American husband, George, is just a prop to tell Amina's story. A thoughtful, beautifully written, and insightful story, as a reader you are swept up in Amina's sense of hope, her naivete, and, ultimately, her simplicity. She is not a woman of guile or deceit. Just a poor woman looking for a better life who ends up on the other side of the world.

To the extent that you are looking for something big or exciting to happen, this is not the book for you. It is a simple story about relatively simple characters. Although I confess to wishing there was a little more depth to the story and more exploration of Amina's and George's cross cultural experiment, I was never disappointed by the wonderful writing and the excellent narration.

New Take on Tradition

My Review:
The only reason this one is getting docked a star is due to the pacing. At times I found myself wanting the next plot point to show up. I also didn’t buy the suspense – George’s secret was a little obvious, in my opinion. When the big reveal occurred, I wasn’t satisfied and felt irritated that the mystery was so easy to guess. Amina’s past resurrects itself with more subtlety and nuance.

Freudenberger has written a brilliantly complex and driven heroine with Amina. Her past, present, and future are multi-dimensional entities in which we, the reader, operate. Initially, I chalked her up to a “fish out of water” housewife – the language and cultural barriers were cute, but they were just a soft introduction. Amina is a little out of her element in America, but don’t mistake modesty for meekness. When she returns to Bangladesh, we see her really operate with confidence and cunning.

The Newlyweds also provides an opportunity to see what happens when the traditions of two cultures must coexist. Amina’s “fish out of water” moments provide some comic relief, but there’s a much deeper current. Both George and Amina made the ultimate commitment, each expecting the other to compromise certain elements of their lives together. For Amina, this expectation is more an unintentional awareness of American values and norms; George seems inconsiderate in his expectation or disregard.


The Bottom Line:
The Newlyweds offers a new take on an old institution.

Decent- not great.

The insights to another culture were great. the characters well defined and distinguishable. Great narration. don't look for any "oh wow!" moments. there are none however, for the telling of a tale, the conveyance of the experiences of the characters, well done

Interesting!

Won't keep you up all night reading but I liked it.
The most interesting part for me was learning something of the culture of Bangaladesh. The reader was convincing as a person from that country speaking English.

Kept waiting for something to happen

The entire book seems like it is setting up for a big event or turn in the storyline. It never happens. Right until the end I held out hope. There was never any payoff after investing so much time listening to the story. The narrator was very good, but the srory just dragged on.

So many unlikable characters

What disappointed you about The Newlyweds?

The characters were, at the same time, dishonest and self-righteous. I kept waiting for them to change, but they got worse.

Has The Newlyweds turned you off from other books in this genre?

Not at all.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Mozhan Marno?

Yes, she did a good job switching from American to Bangladesh characters.

What character would you cut from The Newlyweds?

The husband, the father, the cousin....most of them!