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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm always a sucker for Pride and Prejudice remakes. I have read probably a dozen, and seen at least that many film versions as well. This is a good one. Ayesha is a little different because it starts off with a bit of mistaken identity, where Ayesha is covering for her cousin (let's just call her Lydia, as that's the Pride and Prejudice role). I listened to the audiobook, so my odds of getting character names spelled correctly are NOT GOOD. Audiobooks are awesome, but they do not help you spell characters names.
The cousin is young and beautiful and thinks collecting marriage proposals is a game, and marrying someone rich is "winning" even if you don't love the guy because divorce exists, and she'd get a bunch of his money. Gross.
Ayesha feels a sense of duty to her uncle for helping her whole family after her father's death, giving them a place to live, really, doing everything to make sure Ayesha and her brother and mom were okay. Props to the uncle, despite the terrible moral code that somehow his daughter picked up.
Then we have our Darcy, who is not fitting in at all, but somehow getting by. He's the dutiful son as his only sister was packed off to India in an arranged marriage while still a teen for defying their mom. Their mom - wow. She's Lady Catherine on blast. She's a force of nature. She has our Darcy scared to even think for himself. Which is too bad, because thinking is important.
It's a good adaptation. The changes were interesting. The carryovers to Pride and Prejudice paid homage to the classic. The characters were well-drawn and compelling. Well worth the read.
The cousin is young and beautiful and thinks collecting marriage proposals is a game, and marrying someone rich is "winning" even if you don't love the guy because divorce exists, and she'd get a bunch of his money. Gross.
Ayesha feels a sense of duty to her uncle for helping her whole family after her father's death, giving them a place to live, really, doing everything to make sure Ayesha and her brother and mom were okay. Props to the uncle, despite the terrible moral code that somehow his daughter picked up.
Then we have our Darcy, who is not fitting in at all, but somehow getting by. He's the dutiful son as his only sister was packed off to India in an arranged marriage while still a teen for defying their mom. Their mom - wow. She's Lady Catherine on blast. She's a force of nature. She has our Darcy scared to even think for himself. Which is too bad, because thinking is important.
It's a good adaptation. The changes were interesting. The carryovers to Pride and Prejudice paid homage to the classic. The characters were well-drawn and compelling. Well worth the read.
While this is another book inspired by Pride and Prejudice, I have to say it’s definitely high above most of the other ones I’ve read this year. I’ve also not read many books with Muslim protagonists and I thought the culture and different issues explored in the book were very well written. It just felt like a really different book, very well written, with complex, interesting characters
As a teen, I would often fantasise about how cool it would be to have Islamicized versions of my favourite books and characters. As an avid fan of fairytale retellings and reimagined stories, I was utterly ecstatic to hear of a Muslamic remake of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
My enthusiasm, however, waned almost instantly the moment I opened the book.
From the lack of coherent writing to the unnatural dialogue between characters, Ayesha at Last was messy, contrived and wholly unrealistic, which is quite an astounding feat considering this was supposed to be a retelling of an existing story. The protagonists, Khalid and Ayesha (26 and 27 respectively) were incredibly juvenile, acting like angsty children for the entirety of the novel. Not sure if this was down to poor writing or if they were intended to be this annoying. Khalid is portrayed as an emotionally repressed, borderline Muslim Twitter-incel man-child whose entire personality is his thobe – which he wears to work btw (#UnapologeticallyMuslim). Ayesha meanwhile is fiddling around with a career she loathes whilst trying to become the new Rumi. When she’s not ordering alcohol for her bestie, she’s trying to console her younger cousin, Hafsa, whose sole goal in life is to receive a hundred rishtas (aim high, girl!).
I really couldn’t tell if Ayesha was practicing or not. Khalid was portrayed as an orthodox, practicing Muslim man (albeit largely negatively in the narrative) but bar Ayesha’s donning of the hijab, there was no allusion to her performing other acts of ibadah. In fact, all religious association with her character was in a lacking manner; from literal identity theft and falling asleep in the masjid, to ordering alcohol and labelling Khalid as a ‘fundy’ (fundamentalist) for praying and limiting his contact with women – “a priest in a strip club”, “judgmental, sexist jerk”, she called him – there was nothing positive said about Ayesha’s religiosity or (evident lack thereof). Ayesha and Khalid’s “banter” was also very dry and artificial—kinda rom-com bar the com and the rom is just childish verbal abuse. I’m sorry but how do you at the big age of 27 think comparing Khalid’s thobe to bedsheets is a good comeback? My little cousins could diss harder than that. You’d think as an aspiring poet Ayesha would be a bit more articulate. But then again, her poems weren’t exactly stellar.
“My religion is not something I’m willing to compromise.” – Khalid. Except at the end he renounces the thobe and topi and shaves his beard to confront his Islamophobic boss. I didn’t get it. He also accepts Ayesha’s invitation to come to her HOUSE to learn how to cook with her nani. At this point I was ready to DNF because it was so unrealistic and contradictory. I did like nani though, I must admit. I understand that Ayesha and Khalid’s mutual dislike was intended to breed fondness, but the way the whole cooking scene and the invitation prior was written was difficult to read and I still don’t know how she got away with inviting a random man to her very Muslim desi home.
In an eager pursuit to address (seemingly all!) the common discriminatory/Islamophobic issues Western Muslims face, Jalaluddin sidetracks the reader by introducing a series of bizarre subplots. The overarching P&P storyline exits left whilst the plethora of splintered subplots (particularly in the second half of the book) are unnecessarily brought to centre stage. For instance, the subplots involving the explicit website, a couple eloping, the lingerie business, Khalid’s estranged sister, mosque politics and workplace discrimination got a bit much. Had Jalaluddin focused on the core storyline in earnest without yoking any and every issue under the sun into the narrative, this may have redeemed itself. She could’ve kept the story closer to Khalid and Ayesha, properly exploring their relationship and respective personal battles.
The ending was also very rushed and sloppy; there was no satisfactory resolution to a number of the aforementioned subplots. I was wildly taken aback by the lack of attention given to the one involving the Tareq and Hafsa.
On a personal note, I had an issue with the description of a particular character’s clothing—she was described as wearing “ugly orange cotton shalwar kameez”. I found this very offensive since I was, at the time, wearing orange shalwar kameez, so reading that felt like a bit of a shank.
All the above being said, I do appreciate that Jalaluddin intended to debunk popular myths about Muslims and marriage in this work. Ayesha was older than Khalid - we seldom find examples of this age dynamic in fiction (or indeed real life), so I’m glad that was woven into the narrative. I also think she does a good job of accurately representing South Asian culture and highlighting some of the taboos within the culture, especially around rishtas and standards. For the reasons stated here I am giving this book 2 stars as I believe the crux of the story would’ve been sound had the subplots not been as abundant and random as they were.
2/5
My enthusiasm, however, waned almost instantly the moment I opened the book.
From the lack of coherent writing to the unnatural dialogue between characters, Ayesha at Last was messy, contrived and wholly unrealistic, which is quite an astounding feat considering this was supposed to be a retelling of an existing story. The protagonists, Khalid and Ayesha (26 and 27 respectively) were incredibly juvenile, acting like angsty children for the entirety of the novel. Not sure if this was down to poor writing or if they were intended to be this annoying. Khalid is portrayed as an emotionally repressed, borderline Muslim Twitter-incel man-child whose entire personality is his thobe – which he wears to work btw (#UnapologeticallyMuslim). Ayesha meanwhile is fiddling around with a career she loathes whilst trying to become the new Rumi. When she’s not ordering alcohol for her bestie, she’s trying to console her younger cousin, Hafsa, whose sole goal in life is to receive a hundred rishtas (aim high, girl!).
I really couldn’t tell if Ayesha was practicing or not. Khalid was portrayed as an orthodox, practicing Muslim man (albeit largely negatively in the narrative) but bar Ayesha’s donning of the hijab, there was no allusion to her performing other acts of ibadah. In fact, all religious association with her character was in a lacking manner; from literal identity theft and falling asleep in the masjid, to ordering alcohol and labelling Khalid as a ‘fundy’ (fundamentalist) for praying and limiting his contact with women – “a priest in a strip club”, “judgmental, sexist jerk”, she called him – there was nothing positive said about Ayesha’s religiosity or (evident lack thereof). Ayesha and Khalid’s “banter” was also very dry and artificial—kinda rom-com bar the com and the rom is just childish verbal abuse. I’m sorry but how do you at the big age of 27 think comparing Khalid’s thobe to bedsheets is a good comeback? My little cousins could diss harder than that. You’d think as an aspiring poet Ayesha would be a bit more articulate. But then again, her poems weren’t exactly stellar.
“My religion is not something I’m willing to compromise.” – Khalid. Except at the end he renounces the thobe and topi and shaves his beard to confront his Islamophobic boss. I didn’t get it. He also accepts Ayesha’s invitation to come to her HOUSE to learn how to cook with her nani. At this point I was ready to DNF because it was so unrealistic and contradictory. I did like nani though, I must admit. I understand that Ayesha and Khalid’s mutual dislike was intended to breed fondness, but the way the whole cooking scene and the invitation prior was written was difficult to read and I still don’t know how she got away with inviting a random man to her very Muslim desi home.
In an eager pursuit to address (seemingly all!) the common discriminatory/Islamophobic issues Western Muslims face, Jalaluddin sidetracks the reader by introducing a series of bizarre subplots. The overarching P&P storyline exits left whilst the plethora of splintered subplots (particularly in the second half of the book) are unnecessarily brought to centre stage. For instance, the subplots involving the explicit website, a couple eloping, the lingerie business, Khalid’s estranged sister, mosque politics and workplace discrimination got a bit much. Had Jalaluddin focused on the core storyline in earnest without yoking any and every issue under the sun into the narrative, this may have redeemed itself. She could’ve kept the story closer to Khalid and Ayesha, properly exploring their relationship and respective personal battles.
The ending was also very rushed and sloppy; there was no satisfactory resolution to a number of the aforementioned subplots. I was wildly taken aback by the lack of attention given to the one involving the Tareq and Hafsa.
On a personal note, I had an issue with the description of a particular character’s clothing—she was described as wearing “ugly orange cotton shalwar kameez”. I found this very offensive since I was, at the time, wearing orange shalwar kameez, so reading that felt like a bit of a shank.
All the above being said, I do appreciate that Jalaluddin intended to debunk popular myths about Muslims and marriage in this work. Ayesha was older than Khalid - we seldom find examples of this age dynamic in fiction (or indeed real life), so I’m glad that was woven into the narrative. I also think she does a good job of accurately representing South Asian culture and highlighting some of the taboos within the culture, especially around rishtas and standards. For the reasons stated here I am giving this book 2 stars as I believe the crux of the story would’ve been sound had the subplots not been as abundant and random as they were.
2/5
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was a very sweet and engaging Pride and Prejudice retelling that also carved its own path, as well. I don’t have much more to say about it than that, but it was a great read.
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
so cute and heartwarming! this hit all the right beats for a p&p retelling — using it as a jumping-off point without trying too hard to fit in every element of the p&p narrative. the side characters are wonderfully complex and their family backgrounds feel richly detailed without being overwhelming. i didn’t like that khalid’s friends were mean to him :(
It feels like a mature tween read Pride and Prejudice and then decided to re-write it. It’s so banal. Can’t do it.
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5/5 stars. maybe I would have liked it better if I had actually read Pride and Prejudice. oh well.