I thought one of the most interesting issues to come out of today’s discussion was the questions of authenticity and stereotyping, especially from within the Bengali community. Like I said this morning, it never really occurred to me that the novel might be criticized as relying too much on stereotypes. I felt like Ali’s descriptions of the culture helped me connect with the story. I wonder how much of her characterization was deliberately crafted to appeal to a western audience and how much came from her experiences and research. The lengthy acknolwgements text at the end of the novel gave me a sense that the novel had authencity, but Dr. McLeod explained how Ali did not have the lower-class immigrant experience, so it is a legitimate question.

I wonder where the line between describing a culture for outsiders and stereotyping falls, or if there even is a difference at the end of the day. I feel like any description of a culture must trip over stereotypes at some point, but at the same time reaching across cultural boundaries is important, especially to postcolonial writers like Ali.

As a sidebar, I wanted to add how much I appreciated the lovely descriptions of food in the novel and how just smelling the restaurants of Brick Lane was powerful to me. Smell is obviously a powerful emotion, and while reading I felt almost as if I could smell the food at times. Cuisine is so much a part of a culture, and I think Ali does a fantastic job of using descriptions of food to connect the readers to the culture of the novel. Now part of me wonders if the criticisms of stereotyping extends to the use of food or is that is given a pass.