Beauty - Softcover

Selbourne, Raphael

  • 3.56 out of 5 stars
    288 ratings by Goodreads
 
9780955647673: Beauty
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0955647673 ISBN 13: 9780955647673
Publisher: Tindal st Pr Ltd, 2010

Synopsis

Beauty - in both name and appearance - is a twenty-year-old Bangladeshi, back in England having shocked her family by fleeing an abusive arranged marriage. Now she is forced onto the jobseekers' treadmill.
Her fractious encounters with officialdom, fellow claimants, strangers and passers-by in the city streets, exacerbated by the restrictions (and comfort) of her language and culture, place her at the mercy of such unlikely helpers as Mark, a friendly, dog-owning ex-offender, and Peter, the middle-class underachiever on the rebound from a bitter relationship.
Such 'white' influences conflict with the pressure to toe the family religious line, enforced by her older brother, but enable Beauty to understand better how free will and parental care affect her personal destiny in fragmented inner-city England today.

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About the Author

Raphael Selbourne studied politics before moving to Italy where he was a translator.

Reviews

*Starred Review* On the run from her family in the rough city streets of Wolverhampton, England, for refusing to stay in an arranged marriage with the 45-year-old village mullah back in Bangladesh, Beauty Begum, 19, finds prejudice, kindness, cruelty, work, and love. And duty. Winner of the 2009 Costa First Novel Award, the story uses multiple twists to blend the traditional and the contemporary with aching realism. “Who else is going to marry you?” her older brother yells. “You’re ugly, dark, and dumb.” She finds refuge with a white, rough dog-breeder. He knew some Asians in prison so isn’t put off by her skin, but is he a hooligan? She gets work in a retirement home but is baffled by how kids can dump their parents into such places. Her neighbor—atheist, intellectual Peter—on the run from his smart girlfriend, is hooked on Internet porn, confusing Beauty further about whom to trust. The prejudice portrayed in the novel is rife: against blacks, Pakistanis, Muslims, everyone foreign, all of them seen as “perverts and thieves.” Told in a stream of street patois with constantly switching viewpoints (how she sees him, how he sees her), the book seems at first to be a daunting read. But for those who go with it, the surprise comes with the realization that the changing voices are the story: hilarious, heartbreaking, and honest, always revealing new twists and turns. A compelling read right up to the astonishing end. --Hazel Rochman

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Publisher
Tindal st Pr Ltd
Publication date
2010
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0955647673
ISBN 13 
9780955647673
Binding
Paperback
Number of pages
320
Rating
  • 3.56 out of 5 stars
    288 ratings by Goodreads