 |
| Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin |
Book title:
Ayesha at Last
Author:
Uzma Jalaluddin
Genre:
Contemporary romance
Published: June
12, 2018
368 pages
“Because while it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single Muslim man must be in want of a wife, there’s an even greater truth: To his Indian mother, his own inclinations are of secondary importance.”
Ayesha Shamsi dreams of becoming a poet but has to take a job as a substitute teacher so she can pay off her debt to her uncle. Her flighty younger cousin Hafsa, about to reject her one hundredth marriage proposal, is a constant reminder that Ayesha is still single. But Ayesha doesn’t want marriage, especially not an arranged marriage. But then she meets Khalid and is irritatingly attracted to him, no matter how conservative and judgemental he is. As for Khalid, he is perfectly fine letting his mother find him a suitable bride, and outspoken Ayesha certainly isn’t the modest wife his mother would approve.
Ayesha at last is a contemporary romance and a debut novel by the Canadian author Uzma Jalaluddin. I read her second novel, Much Ado about Nada, last year and wanted to read her debut for this year’s Jane Austen July.
Ayesha at Last is marketed as a Pride and Prejudice retelling, but it’s a very loose retelling. There’s no overbearing match-making mother ready to marry her five daughters to the two eligible bachelors coming to town. Instead, Ayesha is twenty-seven, which makes her akin to Charlotte Lucas. She also has a job and a younger brother – and no need or interest in getting married. It is Khalid who has a match-making mother, but he isn’t really the eligible bachelor in the vein of Mr. Darcy, as the family fortune is owned by his mother. Ayesha’s twenty-year-old cousin Hafsa fills the role of Lydia Bennet, eager to receive one hundred marriage proposals before she settles down.
As such, calling this book a retelling feels like a marketing gimmick, and the book could easily stand on its own without the label. The similarities to the source material only come to the fore in a few scenes where the dialogue is almost directly lifted from Pride and Prejudice. Honestly, I thought those scenes rather detracted from the story than added anything to it – for example, Ayesha’s answer to Khalid’s disastrous proposal doesn’t even fit what he says, as he doesn’t insult her family. I had the same problem with Much Ado about Nada, where the Persuasion references felt intrusive.
However, I enjoyed the positive and varied Muslim representation, and this was a fun story with its Shakespearean “mistaken identity” plot line. As someone who doesn’t care for sex scenes in books, I appreciated the completely spiceless (not even a kiss) romance. If spice is what you require, be warned that the only spice in this book is in the food they cook.
Besides questionable marketing, the story has other problems as well. Some of the awkwardness can probably be chalked up to this being a debut novel. The first half of the book is narrated from three points of view: Ayesha’s, Khalid’s, and Clara’s (who is Ayesha’s friend and Khalid’s colleague). At midpoint, however, new points of view are introduced, some from characters we never see again. There is also a scene that is written from an omniscient third-person point of view, and inevitably some head hopping.
There are also too many plot lines. Besides Khalid’s and Ayesha’s relationship and Hafsa’s ploys to get married, there are work problems for both the main characters, the mystery of what happened to Ayesha’s father and Khalid’s sister, Khalid’s attempts to help a friend, a Muslim conference and problems with the mosque, and Clara’s attempts to gets her boyfriend to propose to her, just to name a few. Majority of the book is spent setting up all these plot lines, which means that the resolution for them is rushed, and some are left hanging (What happened to Ayesha’s goal of paying off her debt to her uncle? Did Khalid’s sister and mother ever meet again? What happened with the gardening competition that is mentioned twice?).
The infamous first proposal, which in Pride and Prejudice takes place at the midpoint, is in this book relegated toward the end of the book, where it makes little sense in terms of character arc. Khalid should have already known better at that point in the story, as is clear from how fast he comes to terms with Ayesha’s rejection. There is no soul-searching needed here, and instead the narrative dashes ahead in a rush to wrap up the story.
I’m not a huge contemporary romance reader, and this book definitely had some flaws. I’m giving it three and a half stars. However, I would recommend this book to fans of contemporary romance who want mostly light and fluffy read inspired by Jane Austen and William Shakespeare.
No comments:
Post a Comment