An unmarried woman advocating pursuits outside the home might as well be a witch spreading anarchy and licentiousness.

UNMARRIAGEABLE

The book:

In 2016, it was my boyfriend’s turn to plan our Valentine’s Day activities. He made reservations at a local restaurant and bought tickets to see a romantic movie. Yes, Nicholas Sparks’ The Choice was in theaters, but not for us. My wonderful boyfriend chose Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Three years later, I saw Unmarriageable listed on “2019 Romance Books by Authors of Color”. I jumped at the chance to diversify my romantic reading.

However, I have still not read the original Austen novel, but I’ve seen the Keira Knightley movie as well as read the Jane Austen Book Club and watched the movie version. Maybe someday I’ll get around to the original…but this one updated the famous story while staying true to its spirit. Five daughters in an impoverished family, one of them beautiful, the other fiercely independent, are all unmarried. Instead of England, we get to travel around Pakistan attending mehndi, drinking chai, and shopping for saris.

One of the reasons I have avoided reading Jane Austen’s most famous work is because of the dense level of detail. Yes, the book is lauded for its drawing room banter and wit, but it takes SO LONG to say anything in Regency English writing. (Unless it’s a modernized romance, but that’s a different type of blog.) I have enjoyed art around the Pride and Prejudice tale because the foundational story and its characters is timeless and very relatable.

Spoiler: As I stated above, this version stays true to the original P&P, in most every respect. The Bennets are now the Binats, Kitty is Qitty, Fitzwilliam Darcy=Valentine Darsee, and so on. As well, the various situations bringing the prettiest Binat/Bennet sister Jane/Jena and Bungles/Bingley together and apart still happen, just in a different setting. Lady/Lydia still runs off with the charming scoundrel Wickaam/Wickham and Alysba/Elizabeth ends up happily married to Darsee/Darcy—though this time she keeps her own last name.

The author:

Soniah Kamal was born in Pakistan and grew up in England and Saudi Arabia and currently lives in the US. From reading Unmarriageable, it’s apparent where from where she devised the Binat family’s transitory lifestyle. In addition to her two novels, Kamal is an award-winning essayist. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, Catapult, Buzzfeed, The Normal School, The Missing Slate, Literary Hub, and in critically acclaimed anthologies. 

Translation:

As noted a few times in the novel, English is one of the national languages of Pakistan (the other being Urdu), due entirely to its British colonial past. Kamal does a wonderful job of weaving in lingual commentary alongside cultural discussions. Urdu phrases (Who cared log kya kahenge—what people said) as well as British-isms (babes) are sprinkled throughout, mainly from Bungles’ sisters.

I particularly enjoyed following along as Mrs. Binat struggled with her accent when speaking English words, to her children’s amusement.

Mrs. Binat sighed. “Okay. Gifit is done.”

“Gift,” Lady said. “Gift.”

“That’s what I’m saying. Gifit. Gifit.” Mrs. Binat shook her head. “Oof, I’m so sick of tyranny of English and accent in this country.”

UNMARRIAGEABLE

What I loved:

The feminism. I have not yet traveled to South Asia, just China, but I have done a bit of research over the years. The Punjab region of Pakistan is a particularly fascinating region defined by political divisions, religious mandate and geographic location. Analogous to Austen’s commentary on British mores, Kamal commented on the cultural divisions between traditions and modern influences, especially regarding women’s rights.

“But how about the daughter earn a good income of her own and secure this freedom for herself?” Alys asked.

Rose-Nama said, “It’s Western conditioning to think independent women are better than homemakers.”

“No one said anything about East, West, better, or worse,” Alys said. “Being financially independent is not a Western idea. The Prophet’s wife, Hazrat Khadijah, ran her own successful business back in the day and he was, to begin with, her employee.”

UNMARRIAGEABLE

“A truth universally acknowledged”—Alys cleared her throat—“because without marriage our culture and religion do not permit sexual intimacy.”

All the girls tittered.

“Miss,” Rose-Nama said, “everyone knows that abstinence until marriage is the secret to societies where nothing bad happens.”

UNMARRIAGEABLE

The humor. Fans of Jane Austen’s work—including our lead character Alysba, in a meta twist—are quick to point out her use of humor and wit. Following in the great woman’s footsteps, though a bit updated, Kamal brings the chuckles as well. I only listed one, but there are so many more, especially between Alys and Darsee.

“Anyway, this is Pakistan. You’ve got very religious, religious, not so religious, and nonreligious, though no one will admit the last out loud, since atheism is a crime punishable by death.”

UNMARRIAGEABLE

The family dynamics. Unmarriageable is correctly categorized as “domestic fiction” on Goodreads. Though Alys eschews marriage, she is a devoted domestic in every other aspect of family life. She supports and encourages her sisters, partners her father in the garden, balances the family budget and attends all the functions her mother drags her to. As in the original, weddings and outings abound in the Pakistani update! I do not have sisters, but I greatly enjoyed the banter between Qitty and Lady, even Mari’s religious approbations.

What I liked:

The food. As mentioned in a previous blog, I have become an increasingly passionate fan of Indian cuisine in the past few years. With its Indian cultural roots, Pakistani Punjab has more than a few recognizable dishes. In true Austen style, Kamal teased my stomach with a long buffet listing. Though my favorite variation, keema naan, was missing, I was still hungry at the end of the first wedding scene.

Alys, Jena, Mari, and Mr. Binat helped themselves to the Pakistani buffet, their plates soon full of biryani, grilled seekh kebabs, tikkas, and buttered naan.

UNMARRIAGEABLE

The meta Easter eggs. In the written equivalent, Kamal took a dare and directly referenced not only Jane Austen and her most famous work, but also the title of her own book. In the afterword, Kamal mentions that she was worried about reader reception, but I thought it was delightfully clever.

Fazool’s eyes narrowed as she took in Mari’s local garb, so out of place at such a happening event as her New Year’s bash, at Qitty in a crushed-velvet black tent, at Lady in white jeans and a T-shirt that said UNMARRIAGEABLE in glitter and showed off her ample cleavage.

UNMARRIAGEABLE

*SPOILER*

Next Qitty knew, she’d been offered a weekly column on self-acceptance and talks all over the place. How she’d reveled in Lady’s stunned shriek: “What! You’ve become famous for being fat. A fashion and beauty blogger.”

But it had been a dream of Qitty’s to pen a graphic novel about a fat sister surrounded by four not-fat sisters and how the fat sister was the one who triumphed. And dreams came true, Qitty knew, as she inked in the final panel for Unmarriageable.

UNMARRIAGEABLE

What I could do without:

I really enjoyed every aspect of this book. As repeatedly pointed out, I have not read the source material. However, that did not lessen my enjoyment of this homage. Yes, the characters were slightly hyperbolic, but that derives from the original. Yes, the descriptions were detailed, see previous sentence.

The recommendation:

One of the benefits to well-written literature is that it can still be relevant nearly 200 years later and 5,000 miles away. I’m excited to read original Asian literature, but I would never discount the claiming of a famous story for another culture. As noted by Alys, how can Pakistani readers excise their English past?

As for the book, it’s not necessarily a quick read, but it is very engaging. I would love to know how the book fares if you consider yourself an Austen fan. If you just like good dialogue and romance, it should suit you just fine. Check out the India Currents‘ review and (author interview) if you don’t trust me!

I gave this 5/5* on Amazon. Do you think the book stands up to the original as Pakistan’s Pride & Prejudice? Let me know in the comments!