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Alentejo Blue
by Monica Ali
The author of "Brick Lane" returns with story set in a rural Portugese village.
Scribner, 240 pages
06/20/2006
$24.00
ISBN: 0743293037
Fiction
General Literature & Fiction
All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...
Entertainment Weekly Jennifer Reese
Even in the last chapter, when all her lost souls come together at a fiesta, this scrapbook of a novel never gathers much narrative force. But it is made of intriguingly beautiful bits and pieces.
Booklist Brad Hooper
A master of concision and suggestion, the author says volumes about characters and situations by what she does'nt say. [15 May 2006, p.21]
Library Journal Leigh Anne Vrabel
Though All assigns a new narrator to each chapter, sacrificing character development in favor of theme, the brief, tantalizing glimpses of private heartbreak each character reveals are both touching and compelling. [1 May 2006, p.74]
USA Today Susan Kelly
Ali proves that she isn't a one-hit wonder when it comes to writing. Her craftsmanship is superb and her descriptions rich with quirky, sad, funny and lovely details.
Sydney Morning Herald Andrew Riemer
A bright, frequently thoughtful novel in which the author of Brick Lane demonstrates an old but often forgotten truth: it's how well you write, not what you write about, that matters most.
Daily Telegraph Jane Shilling
Well, you have what you have in real life, which is to say, not a conclusion, nothing neat, nothing resolved, but a wise, graceful and (which is not, of course, the case in real life) supremely elegant lack of a conclusion.
Chicago Tribune Julia Livshin
And although in the end it doesn't quite distill broader meaning from its medley of voices, the voices are vivid and resonant, and there's no question that it's a more structurally ambitious, more nuanced, more interesting book.
The Nation Nell Freudenberger
As she demonstrated in Brick Lane, she has an unusual ability to write convincingly from the point of view of someone much less educated than herself, and she is particularly perceptive about the way the various social distinctions of village society make themselves felt.
TLS: The Times Literary Supplement James Campbell
Monica Ali is a patient observer of the world and its mysteries, but the mystery here is why a proven storyteller has written a story from which the interest appears to have been deliberately extracted.
London Review Of Books Elizabeth Lowry
The lingering question is why Ali has chosen this fragmentary, opaque approach over the traditional storytelling that made "Brick Lane" such a success, for in spite of its surface difference, Alentejo Blue shares the earlier novel’s concerns with belonging and assimilation.
Los Angeles Times Natasha S. Randall
Ali, whose acclaimed first novel, "Brick Lane," was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2003, is masterful in writing about her characters' lives but disappointing when she offers trite village wisdom.
New York Observer Celia McGee
It’s not a question of subject matter; it’s a question of pace. Let’s hope Ms. Ali will slow down on the road ahead.
The New York Times Book Review Liesl Schillinger
The novel isn't a failed experiment, but it is a self-conscious one. While her powers of projection have force and flavor, the territory she covers in this virtual Portugal could use less murky signposts.
The Spectator D.J. Taylor
While neatly written, it is, for the most part, rather desultory. [3 June 2006]
Publishers Weekly
The characters' lives generate little tension, much like the pinball machine in Vasco's cafe that Stanton plays badly. [24 Apr 2006, p.35]
Kirkus Reviews
The drastic change of scene, though maybe necessary for artistic growth, has left Ali oddly adrift. [15 Apr 2006, p.363]
Daily Telegraph Lionel Shriver
A frustrating novel, for page by page it is well written and often entertaining. But the book is structurally more akin to the linked short-story collections recently in vogue than a fully fledged novel.
The Observer Alex Clark
Ali's pen portraits are often temptingly elusive, her half-stories suggestive of what might have proceeded had she given any one strand greater breathing space. But they remain, nonetheless, fragments, less satisfying than Ali's fans might have hoped for, and, quite probably, less than she is capable of delivering.
The Independent Sean O'Brien
It is a series of adjacent episodes rather than a fully orchestrated novel. It has themes but not much development, opportunities galore but little inclination to take them.
The Independent Catherine Taylor
As Joao notes at the beginning of the novel: "The tomatoes too would come early and turn a quick, deceiving red. They would not taste of anything." The same can unfortunately be said of this frustratingly diluted novel.
Washington Post Ron Charles
Searching for this title online, don't be surprised if you get a pop-up ad for Prozac...Again and again, Alentejo Blue laments the failure of these people to connect with anyone, but ultimately the stories offer us little more than a series of heavy sighs.
 The average user rating for this book is 7.3 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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