Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #90

It's Friday . . . time to share book excerpts with:

• Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.  
• The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an ebook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

Today I'm featuring Bright Lines by Tanwi Nandini Islam.  My copy is an advance uncorrected proof, which was provided by the publisher, Penguin.  

 

 

 

Beginning:  Part I

GIRLS ON THE MOVE

Brooklyn

1

 

Girls, everywhere.  Anwar Saleem stared brazenly at the flock that strode down Atlantic Avenue.  He wondered if they noticed him sucking in his paunch, as he stroked the last ribbon of lavender paint across the awning of his apothecary.

 

 

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Page 56:  "'She had a similar relationship with the book.  She'd kept it until it was several months overdue.  The library fine had gone up to ninety dollars, the maximum amount before they made students buy the book.  She ended up paying twenty-five to keep it."

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My thoughts: Although I'm only a few chapters in, this debut novel is an interesting look into the lives of Bangladeshi families living in Brooklyn, New York.

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From Goodreads:  For as long as she can remember, Ella has longed to feel at home. Orphaned as a child after her parents’ murder, and afflicted with hallucinations at dusk, she’s always felt more at ease in nature than with people. She traveled from Bangladesh to Brooklyn to live with the Saleems: her uncle Anwar, aunt Hashi, and their beautiful daughter, Charu, her complete opposite. One summer, when Ella returns home from college, she discovers Charu’s friend Maya—an Islamic cleric’s runaway daughter—asleep in her bedroom. 

As the girls have a summer of clandestine adventure and sexual awakenings, Anwar—owner of a popular botanical apothecary—has his own secrets, threatening his thirty-year marriage. But when tragedy strikes, the Saleems find themselves blamed. To keep his family from unraveling, Anwar takes them on a fated trip to Bangladesh, to reckon with the past, their extended family, and each other.

 

 

Which book are you reading now or about to start?

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #90 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are encouraged and appreciated.