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A review by candacesiegle_greedyreader
Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal
5.0
This witty, clever novel will delight you with every page. Soniah Kamal has reset "Pride and Prejudice" in the Pakistani town of Dilipabad (recently renamed in homage to a popular movie star) where the Binat family has had to move after a financial scandal in the capital. Mrs. Pinkie Binat is in a panic trying to find matches for her five daughters, Jena, Alysba, Mari, Quitty, and Lady, who, by living in a backwater, find their options greatly reduced. Fortunately, it's 2000 and not 1812, and the older Binat girls can get jobs, which they have, teaching English at a British School Group school. Their accents are excellent!
Kamal's choice of names for the characters is priceless--Joergeullah Wickaam, the inimitable Begum Beena dey Bagh for Lady Catherine de Burgh--there are so many. She's updated the story to include crazy rich Pakistanis and their insane expenditures on everything, especially weddings. The Binat sisters have modern personalities--Mari is a budding fundamentalist, Quitty a plus-sized comicbook artist, and Lady, that kid who won't shut up and has no impulse control whatsoever. Alys is the core of the family, the one who has managed to keep them all afloat, cutting her hair, and escaping her family mayhem by jogging.
I don't know why "Unmanageable" is set in 2000 as opposed to today (what has changed in Pakistan during that time--maybe social media?) We do get a hint of what happens to everyone after the final scenes, and it's perfect.
So, Soniah Kamal, what's next? I'm ready!
~~Candace Siegle, Greedy Reader
Kamal's choice of names for the characters is priceless--Joergeullah Wickaam, the inimitable Begum Beena dey Bagh for Lady Catherine de Burgh--there are so many. She's updated the story to include crazy rich Pakistanis and their insane expenditures on everything, especially weddings. The Binat sisters have modern personalities--Mari is a budding fundamentalist, Quitty a plus-sized comicbook artist, and Lady, that kid who won't shut up and has no impulse control whatsoever. Alys is the core of the family, the one who has managed to keep them all afloat, cutting her hair, and escaping her family mayhem by jogging.
I don't know why "Unmanageable" is set in 2000 as opposed to today (what has changed in Pakistan during that time--maybe social media?) We do get a hint of what happens to everyone after the final scenes, and it's perfect.
So, Soniah Kamal, what's next? I'm ready!
~~Candace Siegle, Greedy Reader