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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
A fun Austen-inspired romance with all the yearning and strict social rules of a Regency-era story (zero spice here) and all the drama of a telenovela (it was actually a little *too* silly/dramatic/unbelievable for me at some points). The wide spectrum of Muslim characters represented made for a rich, complex cast that educated me on some things about the faith and culture. I’d say this is a must-read for fans of Pride & Prejudice as well as for habitual contemporary rom com readers looking for more diverse love stories.
What a fun retelling of Pride and Prejudice! In Ayesha At Last’s best moments the P&P parallels are gentle nods, but in a few places the plots are too forcefully aligned, sacrificing the story’s natural pacing for an overly faithful adaptation. But despite this I loved the modernized version of this story. Nothing compares to Jane Austen, of course, but Jalaluddin did a good job with developing interesting, complex characters.
2.5
Good story but it’s YA which just isn’t my vibe (because I’m old lol)
Good story but it’s YA which just isn’t my vibe (because I’m old lol)
Ayesha at Last has been on my to-read list for what seems like an age, and I finally picked it up from the library after a wave of Valentine's Day sentimentality got the better of me. I am an absolute nut for Austen's P&P, and after a dear friend read a Hindu revamp of P&P, I figured it was time to give this Muslim retelling a go.
Ayesha at Last is certainly well-written. This version and Austen's P&P are very loosely related plot-wise, and so many of the parallels that Jalaluddin draws between the two books come from her absolutely astute character analysis and translation of Darcy and Lizzie's personalities onto Khalid and Ayesha. The author clearly groks Austen's characters deeply, as though they are placed in different situations than the OG P&P crew, each action and decision made by the characters reflects onto the "true" nature of Austen's classic menagerie. I was also pleasantly surprised to realize that Ayesha at Last was penned by a Canadian author and set in Toronto. Particularly for a book so heavily focused on life in a multiculturalist setting, it was reaffirming to see Canada as the backdrop for this novel.
Despite Ayesha at Last's many strengths, I only found it to be "okay", and thus rated it two stars. As mentioned earlier, Ayesha at Last and Austen's P&P share little plot wise, and though I admire the author's stylistic choice to keep the plot of the two seperate (keeping it from feeling Xeroxed onto a Muslim background), at times it felt so loosely related that I felt more like I was rereading a general romance or fiction novel. Additionally, perhaps my most favourite part of Austen's P&P is the unique humour she weaves with her characters and plot. Ayesha at Last certainly lacked the humorous component of the original classic, and thus I was not attracted to it as a novel as I am to P&P. I am not one to typically enjoy general fiction novels with romance plots, which I suppose this one truly was. Finally, I cannot honestly rate this novel higher than two stars as there was NO Mr Bingley character. As he is far superior to Mr Darcy in every way, the lack of his presence in this novel leaves a glaring empty hole. I hate to be such a Jane Bennett about this, but come on.
That being said, I would recommend Ayesha at Last to lovers of general romance driven fiction, and to fans of Jane Austen's work simply for a genuinely new perspective on her most beloved classic. I think people who are interested in the lived experience of being a visible minority or life in a multiculturalist setting would also enjoy this novel. Two stars.
Ayesha at Last is certainly well-written. This version and Austen's P&P are very loosely related plot-wise, and so many of the parallels that Jalaluddin draws between the two books come from her absolutely astute character analysis and translation of Darcy and Lizzie's personalities onto Khalid and Ayesha. The author clearly groks Austen's characters deeply, as though they are placed in different situations than the OG P&P crew, each action and decision made by the characters reflects onto the "true" nature of Austen's classic menagerie. I was also pleasantly surprised to realize that Ayesha at Last was penned by a Canadian author and set in Toronto. Particularly for a book so heavily focused on life in a multiculturalist setting, it was reaffirming to see Canada as the backdrop for this novel.
Despite Ayesha at Last's many strengths, I only found it to be "okay", and thus rated it two stars. As mentioned earlier, Ayesha at Last and Austen's P&P share little plot wise, and though I admire the author's stylistic choice to keep the plot of the two seperate (keeping it from feeling Xeroxed onto a Muslim background), at times it felt so loosely related that I felt more like I was rereading a general romance or fiction novel. Additionally, perhaps my most favourite part of Austen's P&P is the unique humour she weaves with her characters and plot. Ayesha at Last certainly lacked the humorous component of the original classic, and thus I was not attracted to it as a novel as I am to P&P. I am not one to typically enjoy general fiction novels with romance plots, which I suppose this one truly was. Finally, I cannot honestly rate this novel higher than two stars as there was NO Mr Bingley character. As he is far superior to Mr Darcy in every way, the lack of his presence in this novel leaves a glaring empty hole. I hate to be such a Jane Bennett about this, but come on.
That being said, I would recommend Ayesha at Last to lovers of general romance driven fiction, and to fans of Jane Austen's work simply for a genuinely new perspective on her most beloved classic. I think people who are interested in the lived experience of being a visible minority or life in a multiculturalist setting would also enjoy this novel. Two stars.
A fun Pride and Prejudice retelling, generally I stay away from P&P retelling since there are so damn many but this one was a fresh take for me and stayed true to the heart of the story.
I really enjoyed it. It had the modern-retelling-of-a-Jane-Austen-novel feel but from a muslim-Canadian perspective and was a great mix. Plus all the Shakespeare quotes (and Shakespeare-like story lines as well)!
i want SO BAD to rate this higher but i cant.
i started off really liking the book, it was nice to see good representation of how religious muslims act and are like but there was a few issues here and there.
overall, yes it is really good muslim representation! but a lot of the characters just weren’t really doing it for me. i didn’t like any character in particular and partly because there was so many characters a lot of them end up kinda falling flat? in a way they are 3D but characters like clara, sheila, and khalid’s mom, are not. especially during the middle part of the story i ended up growing kinda tired of everything since it was mainly very predictable family drama. and i understand that it’s not supposed to be unpredictable but i didnt really care for the characters enough to care about their families. and i especially could not STAND hafsa’s problems and everything. and i know she apologizes and everything for what shes done but i just cant forgive her for what shes done?? she frustrates me so much AstaghfirAllah. and the way that she acts! i cannot stand.
the miscommunication.. between khalid and ayesha… oh God i want to SCREAM. the whole name mix up thing… i dont know what to stay about these two. ayesha is a hypocrite while calling khalid a judgemental jerk who bases people on assumptions. she only admits it once but never stops herself from doing it again. ayesha always ALWAYS thinks the worst of khalid and i cannot stand it. she immediately believes tarek after he slanders khalid and then hurts khalids feelings because of that instead of asking him personally what happened. khalid is too passive. he spends too much time wandering about, too scared to reject his mothers demands of him. like bro, youre 26. youre an adult. i think you can tell your mommy that you dont want to be forced into something that you dont like. they clash a little too much for me to remember all the cute scenes between them.
khalids mom and khalids sisters whole conflict just never really got resolved?? in my opinion, zareena was the character i wanted to know most about, but got the least time for it. in the last third of the book, she travels back to canada and she says she wants to show her mother how much shes changed but that doesnt really happen? its just left up in the air, which kinda bothers me. also i was kinda curious to see zareena’s husband as well and maybe they couldve shown khalids mother how much things have changed, that wouldve been kinda nice. but unfortunately… nothing much.
i think that since i went into this book knowing that it was a pride and prejudice retelling all i could think about while reading it is: how the events are gonna play out like the book? and how this scene is gonna lead to like the original? it’s so annoying that thats all i can think about! and i know its my fault for thinking wayy too much about it, but i feel like many enemies to lovers romance books just slap the ‘pride and prejudice retelling’ card to make people to read it. its an effective technique, i must admit. but i feel like since its a retelling, many authors focus on keeping the major events from the original story in their books when it could be different if that title was not advertised like that. im probably just thinking too much about it but i feel like this story could’ve been much different and be more enjoyable if it wasn’t advertised as a p&p retelling.
despite all the negative stuff, im happy to see muslims being represented properly Alhamdulilah. InshAllah this can be a start for more halal romances with diversity.
i started off really liking the book, it was nice to see good representation of how religious muslims act and are like but there was a few issues here and there.
overall, yes it is really good muslim representation! but a lot of the characters just weren’t really doing it for me. i didn’t like any character in particular and partly because there was so many characters a lot of them end up kinda falling flat? in a way they are 3D but characters like clara, sheila, and khalid’s mom, are not. especially during the middle part of the story i ended up growing kinda tired of everything since it was mainly very predictable family drama. and i understand that it’s not supposed to be unpredictable but i didnt really care for the characters enough to care about their families. and i especially could not STAND hafsa’s problems and everything. and i know she apologizes and everything for what shes done but i just cant forgive her for what shes done?? she frustrates me so much AstaghfirAllah. and the way that she acts! i cannot stand.
the miscommunication.. between khalid and ayesha… oh God i want to SCREAM. the whole name mix up thing… i dont know what to stay about these two. ayesha is a hypocrite while calling khalid a judgemental jerk who bases people on assumptions. she only admits it once but never stops herself from doing it again. ayesha always ALWAYS thinks the worst of khalid and i cannot stand it. she immediately believes tarek after he slanders khalid and then hurts khalids feelings because of that instead of asking him personally what happened. khalid is too passive. he spends too much time wandering about, too scared to reject his mothers demands of him. like bro, youre 26. youre an adult. i think you can tell your mommy that you dont want to be forced into something that you dont like. they clash a little too much for me to remember all the cute scenes between them.
khalids mom and khalids sisters whole conflict just never really got resolved?? in my opinion, zareena was the character i wanted to know most about, but got the least time for it. in the last third of the book, she travels back to canada and she says she wants to show her mother how much shes changed but that doesnt really happen? its just left up in the air, which kinda bothers me. also i was kinda curious to see zareena’s husband as well and maybe they couldve shown khalids mother how much things have changed, that wouldve been kinda nice. but unfortunately… nothing much.
i think that since i went into this book knowing that it was a pride and prejudice retelling all i could think about while reading it is: how the events are gonna play out like the book? and how this scene is gonna lead to like the original? it’s so annoying that thats all i can think about! and i know its my fault for thinking wayy too much about it, but i feel like many enemies to lovers romance books just slap the ‘pride and prejudice retelling’ card to make people to read it. its an effective technique, i must admit. but i feel like since its a retelling, many authors focus on keeping the major events from the original story in their books when it could be different if that title was not advertised like that. im probably just thinking too much about it but i feel like this story could’ve been much different and be more enjoyable if it wasn’t advertised as a p&p retelling.
despite all the negative stuff, im happy to see muslims being represented properly Alhamdulilah. InshAllah this can be a start for more halal romances with diversity.
3.5 rounded up. Very charming despite an overstuffed plot. Worth reading.
They say it’s a retelling of pride and prejudice but I find it different then the acclaimed one.
But this story is amazing in its own way and I had such a great time knowing Ayesha and Khalid’s stories.
But this story is amazing in its own way and I had such a great time knowing Ayesha and Khalid’s stories.
I picked up this book because it was marketed as a retelling of "pride and prejudice" from a different perspective. While it does have echoes of the classic, I think marketing the book with Austen's shadow hanging over it does the narrative a disservice in the end. The characters in Ayesha at Last are well written, and the plot unfolds naturally. There are definite, recognizable, echoes of Austen's characters and plot (Khalid is a great Mr. Darcy and Tarek can easily be identified as Mr. Wickham) but the novel doesn't need to be that closely aligned with Austen. It's well written, enjoyable and fun and I recommend it highly, regardless of whether you're a fan of Austen or not.