56 pages • 1 hour read
Monica AliBrick Lane
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2003A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 16-18Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 16 Summary
Razia is waiting for Nazneen when she arrives home, telling her that her son sold her furniture. She admits that her son has been a drug user for two years and supports his addiction with dealing. Nazneen now reveals the truth about her love affair with Karim. They visit Dr. Azad who says he can only heal the boy if he wants to be cured.
The girls make crafts in preparation for the mela. Chanu places his hopes in the Poetry Committee, preparing songs about going home. In a letter, Hasina writes of the beauty competition between her boss Lovely and her best friend Betty and relates how she snuck into Lovely’s bedroom and put on her makeup at her dressing table and spied Zaid, the cook, watching her from the doorway.
As Nazneen convalesces, Shahana threatens to run away if her father even tries to put her on an airplane. Nazneen continues her affair with Karim. She struggles with depression when she is forced to face the truth; there is no future for her sister because the money she was saving for Hasina all went to 
