Worth a Read Yes
Length 352
Quick Review Pride and Prejudice is set in modern day Pakistan in the Binat home. Kamal fills Unmarriageable with all the wonderful judgements one would expect from a Jane Austen novel.
I’m not necessarily a fan of love stories, but Jane Austen tells far more than how two people fell in love. She had a sharp eye and a quick wit. Pride and Prejudice is beloved by the world for so many reasons. Soniah Kamal brings the plot and characters into the world by setting it in a world not so different from Victorian England: Pakistan. Unmarriageable is a beautiful retelling.
Alysba Binat is the second oldest Binat Sister. At 30, she is all but unmarriageable. She helps support her family as an English Lit teacher alongside her older sister Jena.
I’m not going to give the plot line because you are probably familiar with it anyways. Unmarriageable does a good job sticking to the plot while making it modern and global.
I love well Kamal does at bringing this classic story into the modern era while also making it relatable to a completely different demographic. Muslim girls in Pakistan face similar life choices as the Bennet girls did in Victorian England. As much as times have changed, for so many women and girls life has not progressed that much. Unmarriageable is able to point this out to the demographic who do have choices. Kamal also makes the point that Pakistan was colonized by the British and taught to revere British Literature while looking down on their own cultural heritage. Through this novel, Kamal is able to combine a mixed literary heritage into something beautiful transcending religion, gender, and culture.
I love how Kamal uses Pakistani versions of the character’s names throughout Unmarriageable. It’s really interesting to see how that translates. The use of Urdu words and phrases is also a great way of blending Pakistani culture into the book while making it accessible to Western readers. Alysba teaches Pride and Prejudice to her class, so it comes up often throughout the book. It works within the novel, but I don’t particularly love this literary device. It feels a bit overdone and boring. What I do appreciate is how many books Kamal mentions of Pakistani heritage.
I never thought I could dislike Mr. Collins more than I already do. He’s an odious and boring character. Kamal out does herself with Mr. Kaleen when he says, “Alysba was lucky he was not the sort if man who’d respond to her insult of a refusal by throwing acid on her.” Oh how lucky she was. Ugh. This hurt me.
Unmarriageable is a lot more pointed than Austen’s original. Austen tells the story and lets the reader surmise. The satire, observations, critique, and sarcasm are left for the reader to take in. Kamal points out relationships, dynamics, hypocrisies, etc. There is a lack of nuance requiring much less analysis. The plot moves faster than the original work and is a much smaller book. I wouldn’t say this is better or worse; it just is. It does appeal to the modern reader more than the original would if published today.
I really enjoyed reading Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal. It is a wonderful retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. It has a lot to offer readers of all ages and backgrounds. Perfect for summer vacation.
Memorable Quotes
““But reading widely can lead to an appreciation of the universalities across cultures.””
“Perhaps you truly could not make someone disbelieve what they’d been so thoroughly conditioned to believe.”
“A woman is nothing and no one without virtue. Her virtue is the jewelry of her soul.”
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Title: Unmarriageable
Author: Soniah Kamal
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 978124799717
