A vibrant read!
Unmarriageable: A Novel by Soniah Kamal
I so enjoyed this! Pride and Prejuidice reimagined in Pakistan! Could that be pulled off? Yes, Yes and Yes, most definately! The Binats and the Bennets are unbeatable!
To be brutally honest I quail before the plethora of Austen spin offs. I dislike them (and yet I have no problem with Holmsian off shoots Mmm!). I am so over them!
But "Unmarriageable" is just so different. Rich in cultural interactions, in social mores, in sharp questions beneath the surface of the story, and of characters and their behaviors that throw the original Austen directly into our world of today. So many comparisons of characters can be made, of social customs, of how the author has made the Austen concept work fabulously in this richly flavored novel.
These parallels between the Bennets and the Binats are brilliantly displayed, and to my mind given a new lease of life.
"Mr. Barkat “Bark” Binat and Mrs. Khushboo “Pinkie” Binat and their five daughters—Jenazba, Alysba, Marizba, Qittyara, and Lady—[temporarily] move from big-city Lahore to backwater Dilipabad" following a downturn of fortune. That was ten years ago. Alysba Binat (Elizabeth Bennet) is an incisive woman making her way as an English teacher of some talent, as is her sister Jena.
A society wedding is where the family are thrown into association with Fahad Bingla (Mr. Bingham), his sisters and his best friend and Darcy-like personage, Valentine Darsee.
I love the character of Sherry Looclus, Alys Binat's friend, loosely following the character of Elizabeth Bennet's best friend, Charlotte. Her reasons for marrying Farhat Kaleen, the Mr. Collins character are intelligently explained, and I could fully accept her reasoning.
The sharp exposé of Mr. Binat's fathering model in relationship to Mr. Bennet's is illuminating. As are the various, wives, daughters and the dastardly Wickaam. Indeed I could rave for pages with the various character comparisons. They are delightful and insightful. (I have to say I can see the movie playing out before my eyes.)
I particularly enjoyed Alys discovery of shared literary likes and discussions between herself and Darsee. The idea that Darsee puts forward that it's "up for debate whether it’s the nationality of the author or the geography of the book that determines its place in a country’s canon.” And Alys' reply, “a book and an author can belong to more than one country or culture. English came with the colonizers, but its literature is part of our heritage too, as is pre-partition writing.”
Another gem, “That book made me believe I could have a Pakistani identity inclusive of an English-speaking tongue. We’ve been forced to seek ourselves in the literature of others for too long.” Fascinating!
All this coupled with the vibrancy of a world most of us can only guess at, where the sense of color and smell is rampant and the social restrictions and practices as guarded as in Austen's day, perceptively written with a wonderfully understated sense of humor, makes for a brilliant read.
I must say I really think this would make a great book club addition.
A Ballantine Books ARC via NetGalley
*****
To be brutally honest I quail before the plethora of Austen spin offs. I dislike them (and yet I have no problem with Holmsian off shoots Mmm!). I am so over them!
But "Unmarriageable" is just so different. Rich in cultural interactions, in social mores, in sharp questions beneath the surface of the story, and of characters and their behaviors that throw the original Austen directly into our world of today. So many comparisons of characters can be made, of social customs, of how the author has made the Austen concept work fabulously in this richly flavored novel.
These parallels between the Bennets and the Binats are brilliantly displayed, and to my mind given a new lease of life.
"Mr. Barkat “Bark” Binat and Mrs. Khushboo “Pinkie” Binat and their five daughters—Jenazba, Alysba, Marizba, Qittyara, and Lady—[temporarily] move from big-city Lahore to backwater Dilipabad" following a downturn of fortune. That was ten years ago. Alysba Binat (Elizabeth Bennet) is an incisive woman making her way as an English teacher of some talent, as is her sister Jena.
A society wedding is where the family are thrown into association with Fahad Bingla (Mr. Bingham), his sisters and his best friend and Darcy-like personage, Valentine Darsee.
I love the character of Sherry Looclus, Alys Binat's friend, loosely following the character of Elizabeth Bennet's best friend, Charlotte. Her reasons for marrying Farhat Kaleen, the Mr. Collins character are intelligently explained, and I could fully accept her reasoning.
The sharp exposé of Mr. Binat's fathering model in relationship to Mr. Bennet's is illuminating. As are the various, wives, daughters and the dastardly Wickaam. Indeed I could rave for pages with the various character comparisons. They are delightful and insightful. (I have to say I can see the movie playing out before my eyes.)
I particularly enjoyed Alys discovery of shared literary likes and discussions between herself and Darsee. The idea that Darsee puts forward that it's "up for debate whether it’s the nationality of the author or the geography of the book that determines its place in a country’s canon.” And Alys' reply, “a book and an author can belong to more than one country or culture. English came with the colonizers, but its literature is part of our heritage too, as is pre-partition writing.”
Another gem, “That book made me believe I could have a Pakistani identity inclusive of an English-speaking tongue. We’ve been forced to seek ourselves in the literature of others for too long.” Fascinating!
All this coupled with the vibrancy of a world most of us can only guess at, where the sense of color and smell is rampant and the social restrictions and practices as guarded as in Austen's day, perceptively written with a wonderfully understated sense of humor, makes for a brilliant read.
I must say I really think this would make a great book club addition.
A Ballantine Books ARC via NetGalley
*****
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