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)

Good story, great performance!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I really enjoyed listening to this book! The story was really good, and the performance was excellent!

What other book might you compare The Newlyweds to and why?

The Namesake, Kabul Beauty School

What does Mozhan Marno bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The accents and mannerisms of each character!

Surprisingly captivating!

I got this because it had good reviews in the press in general but wasn't in a hurry to listen to it. Once I started I was hooked. I liked the characters and the whole idea of the different cultures. I think the narrator did an excellent job with the various voices and accents.

Unexpected ending.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. The book describes the differences between the two cultures very well.
Easy to understand why it works and doesn't work.

You run into yourself in the darndest places

I am a middle class white lady with a most ordinary middle class white life behind me, and yet I found myself utterly landed in the experience of this young Bengaladeshi woman uprooted to an American marriage in Rochester New York. Almost nothing that happens in this book has ever happened to me, and yet it all seemed startlingly recognizable. I have not read Nell Freudenberger before but now I will seek out more of her books.
I liked the reading by Mozhan Marno: she kept it straightforward and simple and slipped easily into the gentle lilt of Bengaladeshi accents when called for.

Thoughtful Writing

The Newlyweds is a truly thoughtful novel. Freudenberger hasn't written some simple "they lived happily every after" love story. Instead, she delves into the cultural differences inherit in a marriage between people with different nationalities. She's also not afraid to deal with some of the more complex/difficult issues that could arise in any marriage. What's interesting about this novel is the fact that she's chosen to do this through the lens of international internet dating.

Ironically, it is that very thoughtfulness which sometimes makes this a difficult novel to get through. In an effort to explain cultural differences and how these issues play out in the main character's mind and life, the author sometimes comes close to losing her audience.

The narration is good. Marno's interpretation of the various voices and their coinciding accents is pretty much perfect. However, since so much of the story is in the narrator's, rather than the characters', voice it can sometimes come across as a bit monotone.

Overall, I think this is a worthwhile listen. It's not exactly a light read, but still something you can listen to on a road-trip or while doing stuff around the house.

Cultural Kick in the Pants

I was often irritated by choices the characters made, by their apparent flaws and expectations. At the same time the story made me think how much our cultural and family background influences those thoughts and responses. Best of all, I liked how the characters, in the end, sacrificed and changed to create a different (better?) life for themselves.

Rich in character development

If you could sum up The Newlyweds in three words, what would they be?

This book was deeply engaging. The concept of finding your mate through correspondence on the internet was of great interest to me. I was interested to see how the characters developed and how the two cultures would mesh. It pointed out, in interesting ways, how the expectations of Americans differ with people in many parts of the world. Having Amina choose the path she did and watching her struggles made for an interesting listen. The narrator did a very good job of distinguishing the characters.

Warning: may contain extended detours

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I'd only recommend this book to someone interested in immigration, and in the cultural features of North America as compared to the characteristics of family life in Bangladesh and growing up "Deshi". This book is NOT about being newlyweds, nor even being newlyweds from different cultures and backgrounds. It's more of a sociological study of the immigration process and the importance of family. The characters were representatives of their respective cultures, rather than relatable and interactive.The cover poses two birds facing each other, as if to symbolize the character disconnect between George and Amina - I haven't yet divined what species the yellow bird is - mostly because I lost my initial interest and temporarily stopped reading - but it would seem to connote a solid, play-by-the-rules guy (George) pitted against a flamboyant, and intuitive free spirit like Amina.This is what I initially thought the book would be about, but instead it's more about the interplay of Asian/Eastern vs. North American cultures.

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

No, it has not, but I would want to consider more carefully books relating to cultural fusion, and I'd want to make sure the stories are character-driven and not simply sociological studies where it's difficult to establish one or two compelling plot lines. I'd prefer that a small selection of characters take central stage, with the cultural ambience as a backdrop, as a context, rather than the other way around. The long diversions and detours in the central plot line leaves very little time/space to develop the characters as relatable and as individuals to whom the reader wants to return after putting the book down.

What does Mozhan Marno bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Her narration is excellent. She brings a Bangladeshi lilt to the conversations, where appropriate, and gradually Americanizes Amina's accent and idiomatic expressions as Amina spends more time in Rochester. She also manages the speech tones and patterns of George, Amina's fiancé/husband, whose flat, unadorned and by implication pragmatic tones are a perfect contrast to the voice of Amina.

Could you see The Newlyweds being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

I think this would sell as a movie; the planet is expanding daily, and cross-cultural stories are popular now. Penelope Cruz or even Kate Winslet would work for Amina, and Matt Damon would be perfect as George, though I'd love to see what irony and poker-faced humor Kevin Spacey would bring to the George character. Frances McDormand (with dark hair) would be ideal as Amina's Bangladeshi mom

Any additional comments?

Just more of the same as above: the cultural digressions (at least I see the immigration stories of Amina's parents as a digression) crowded out the character development and portrayal of the conflicts in the "main" relationship between Amina and George.Added note: I usually write unstructured reviews, but decided to try the guided version for this book.

You run into yourself in the darndest places

I am a middle class white lady with a most ordinary middle class white life behind me, and yet I found myself utterly landed in the experience of this young Bengaladeshi woman uprooted to an American marriage in Rochester New York. Almost nothing that happens in this book has ever happened to me, and yet it all seemed startlingly recognizable. I have not read Nell Freudenberger before but now I will seek out more of her books.
I liked the reading by Mozhan Marno: she kept it straightforward and simple and slipped easily into the gentle lilt of Bengaladeshi accents when called for.

Hard to relate to the story

The Newlyweds is the story of a mail order bride who meets her husband online and ends up in the U.S., where she has a difficult time adjusting to the culture. All in all, it was an OK experience but it was hard to relate to Amina and her decisions at the end.