Nell Freudenberger
The Newlyweds
Fiction
Entertainment Weekly Top 10 Fiction 2012
Washington Post's 50 Notable Works of Fiction 2012
From one of America's most dazzling talents ("Young writers as ambitious--and as good--as Freudenberger give us reason for hope"
The New York Times Book Review) comes a cross-continental love story: a brilliantly observed, warmly engaging novel about the exhilarations—and complications—of getting, and staying, wed.Amina Mazid is 24 when she leaves Bangladesh for Rochester, New York, and for George Stillman, the husband who met and wooed her online. It's a 21st century romance that echoes ancient traditions--the arranged marriages of her home country. And though George falls for Amina because she is "straightforward" and doesn't "play games," each is hiding something from the other. Amina struggles to find her place in America--as a Muslim woman; an aspiring teacher; a wife with her own desires. But it is only when they put an ocean between them that Amina and George discover if they have a future—or if their secrets will tear them apart.
Traveling from American suburbs to the cities of South Asia, The Newlyweds is a tour de force—a novel as rich with misunderstandings as it is unlikely connections.
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A delicately observed second novel.
Publishers Weekly
Full Review
Writers as ambitious—and as good—as Nell Freudenberger give us reason for hope.
The New Times Book Review
Remarkable... a truly prodigious talent.
Richard Ford
Beguiling... One rich motherlode of writing talent.
The Seattle Times
A powerful sense of empathy, of being able to imagine what it is to be someone else, to feel what someone else feels; an effective writing style that avoids drawing attention to itself; and an international sensibility.
Moshin Hamid
The New York Times Book Review
Full Review
From Bangladesh to Rochester, With a Missed Connection
Freudenberger demonstrates her assurance as a novelist and her knowledge of the complicated arithmetic of familial love and the mathematics of romantic passion.
Michiko Kakutani
The New York Times Book Review
Full Review
Dazzling... [a] rich, wise, bighearted novel.
Lisa Schwartzbaum
Entertainment Weekly
Full Review
In this modern romance, 24-year-old Amina Mazid moves from Bangladesh to New York after falling in love with an engineer over the Internet. The cultural adjustments that follow—and the truths revealed—drive this honest tale.
People Stylewatch
Perfectly pitched, piercingly funny, and exquisitely heartbreaking.
Donna Seaman
Booklist (starred review)
Full Review
A winning novel.
Sara Nelson
The Oprah Magazine
Full Review
A densely beautiful novel.
Louisa Kamps
Elle
Full Review
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
Nell Freudenberger is a startlingly talented writer
Eleanor Barkhorn
The Atlantic
Full Review
“Freudenberger has rare humanity, and talent great enough to command not only a vast landscape of imbalance and misunderstanding, but also a tender sphere of tiny intimacy, hidden yearning...a marvelous book.”
Kiran Desai, author of The Inheritance of Loss
Full Review
“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
“Wise, timely, ripe with humor and complexity, The Newlyweds is one of the most believable love stories of our young century.”
Gary Shytengart, author of Super Sad True Love Story
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
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
Once in a while, you come across a novel with characters so rich and nuanced, and situations so pitch-perfect, that you forget you're reading fiction. The Newlyweds is that sort of novel. I was floored by it—captivated from beginning to end. And now that I'm done, I can't stop thinking about it.
J. Courtney Sullivan
Impressive... Freudenberger is the real thing.
The Boston Globe
With her penetrating understanding of and respect for her subjects, both foreign and domestic, [Freudenberger is] an international writer of stature for the 21st century.
Yiyun Li
Elle
Richly entertaining... her brisk, buoyant humanism will make you feel at home in the world.
USA Today
Newlyweds is an unambiguous success
Meg Wolitzer
More
Full Review
Captivating
The Boston Globe
Full Review
[A] luscious and intelligent novel that will stick with you
Maureen Corrigan
NPR
Full Review
A true triumph...Freudenberger's most successful book yet.
The New York Observer
Full Review
Fluid and utterly confident.
Allison Williams
Time Out New York
Full Review
The Newlyweds crosses continents, cultures and generations. . . . It’s funny, gracefully written and full of loneliness and yearning. It’s also a candid, recognizable story about love — the real-life kind, which is often hard and sustained by hope, kindness, and pure effort.
Carmela Ciuraru
USA Today
Full Review
Freudenberger does an especially lovely job
Agnes Torres Al-Shibibi
The Seattle Times
Full Review
Surprising . . . riveting.
Jane Ciabattari
Los Angeles Times
Full Review
Freudenberger has...created an unforgettable character
Marie Claire
Full Review
A modern-day variety of arranged marriage
Sam Sacks
The Wall Street Journal
Full Review
Quietly compelling
Vogue
Full Review
A delight, one of the easiest book recommendations of the year.
Ron Charles
The Washington Post
Full Review
"An engaging look at cultural transplantation...undeniably enjoyable and beautifully written."
Lucy Atkins
The Sunday Times
An accomplished [...] piece of literary naturalism
Laura Miller
The Guardian
Full Review