

Bright Lines
Author: Tanwi Nandini Islam
Narrator: Soneela Nankani
Unabridged: 12 hr 26 min
Format: Digital Audiobook Download
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Published: 07/26/2016
Categories: Fiction, Women, Family Life, Cultural Fiction
Author: Tanwi Nandini Islam
Narrator: Soneela Nankani
Unabridged: 12 hr 26 min
Format: Digital Audiobook Download
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Published: 07/26/2016
Categories: Fiction, Women, Family Life, Cultural Fiction
Tanwi Nandini Islam, a writer, multimedia artist, and founder of Hi Wildflower Botanica, is a graduate of Vassar College and Brooklyn College’s MFA program. Her debut novel Bright Lines made the short list of finalists for the Center of Fiction’s First Novel Prize and is the inaugural pick of New York City’s Gracie Book Club.
Soneela Nankani is an award-winning narrator with over three hundred titles in many different genres including Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi, and Nonfiction. She has garnered sixteen Earphones Awards, nominations for Audie and SOVAS awards, and was recently awarded AudioFile magazine’s Golden Voice Lifetime Achievement Honor. Her audiobooks have been featured in Best Audiobooks lists by AudioFile magazine and the Washington Post, among others. In her spare time, she loves to read (yes, really), learn languages, try new recipes, and travel. She lives in the DC area with her husband and two mischievous daughters.
Everything I love // Brooklyn, Bangladesh, botany, sexuality, taboos In one home. I'm a tad partial, of course.......more
This debut novel is a kind of game-changer for me. I was interested to know what it must be like for Islamic immigrants settling in New York City, but came away thinking I was the one adjusting to life in a strange country. The experience of reading this debut is very New York but it is something el......more
It was a pretty good book that kept me more or less engaged throughout. Honestly, if I were not required to read this for a work training course, I probably would not have picked this one up; but it's good that I read something I normally wouldn't and I didn't think it was a waste of time. I learned......more
I really wanted to like this, but I just couldn't get that into it. This felt like a great first draft of a novel. The bones are there, but it needed some editing. Where this book really shines is with atmosphere. Nandini Islam makes Brooklyn and Bangladesh come to life. Setting is probably this books......more
“With great energy, Soneela Nankani performs this audiobook so beautifully that the listener is transported to the Saleem home in Brooklyn. This is a family story filled with complex relationships; Nankani makes all these clear with her vocal flexibility…Nankani balances the lyrical Bangladeshi accents of many of her characters with a perfectly paced narration that connects the lively conversations. This audiobook provides an excellent look at the lives of family members who are dealing with change, questions of identity, and conflicts large and small. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.” AudioFile
“A family, blended in unexpectedly compassionate ways, takes you on a tour of Brooklyn’s Atlantic Avenue, Bangladesh, and all the ways we make our lives more complicated than they ever had to be.” Elle
“Traverses from Bangladesh to Brooklyn exploring the secrets of three young women.” Time
“A Brooklyn-by-way-of-Bangladesh Royal Tenenbaums.” Denver Post
“An understated queer coming-of-age, a study of how much work it is to be a family, and a snapshot of a disappearing Brooklyn, set against the ghosts of the past and a search for home.” NPR
“Vivid and captivating….Spell binding and a page turner.” Bustle
“Perfectly merges fascinating narrative, honest characters, and the rich history and culture of Bangladesh with the juxtaposition of Bangladesh’s past and future and of that country with America, adding to the reading pleasure.” Library Journal (starred review)
“Islam depicts lush Bangladesh and a gritty Brooklyn very well, and she’s at her strongest when following the free-spirited young women.” Publishers Weekly
“An unusual, involving, and evocative rites-of-passage tale enriched by multicultural, intergenerational, and gender-role conflicts and questions.” Booklist
“Every detail in this rich novel is evocative of transformation…A sensitive and subtle exploration of the experience of gender nonconformity across cultures.” Kirkus Reviews