Pride and Prejudice and Parathas: Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin

Author Origin: The Greater Toronto Area, Ontario

Page Count: 333

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Difficulty: Easy

Grade Level: 10+

Key Talking Points: Arranged marriage, Muslim beliefs, love, family, loyalty, jumping to conclusions, discrimination 

Sensitive Subject Matter: Instances of stereotyping and discrimination due to religious beliefs

This book was given to me as part of a wonderfully thoughtful Christmas gift which has been described as a "blind date with a book." The books were all wrapped, and only a little blurb on a post-it note hinted what was inside to help me choose what to unwrap first. So I was completely unaware of what I was about to read when I opened Ayesha at Last...

This is going to sound like a book jacket blurb, but this book was like a breath of fresh air, light and refreshing. The reading was the kind that flows over you, that kind that only an hour later do you look up to realize the time and how many chapters you just cleared. I don't normally turn to romance novels or romantic comedies for my own reading choices, but I am so grateful that I was given this book. While reading I found myself sneaking a book light under the covers when I really should have been sleeping. I would send silent prayers to my baby that she keep napping so I could just read a few pages more. It was enjoyable on so many levels: as a cultural mirror, an update on a classic, and as a story that is just the right amount of predictable, the right amount surprise.

Summary: Where Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice was written as a satire, this modern retelling is fully sincere. Set in the Muslim community of Toronto, Ontario, two young Muslims are struggling to find their true selves amidst the burdens of familial, religious, and community expectations. The story is delightful in the references it makes to Austen's text, some of which are subtle (like two marriage proposals) and some of which are more explicit: "Because while it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single Muslim man must be in want of a wife, there's an even greater truth: To his Indian mother, his own inclinations are of secondary importance" (Jalaluddin 4).

Khalid is a conservative man who unquestioningly follows his mother's wishes and is faithful in his Muslim beliefs. His traditional religious wardrobe and facial hair often have people labeling him as an extremist, and he is too shy or uncomfortable to confront these stereotypical beliefs. We meet him as he watches for the "young woman with the purple hijab" out of his window, although he has no real desire to meet her and doesn't at all expect that they would soon have their lives collide (1). After all, his mother will arrange his marriage. The young woman is Ayesha, who is starting the teaching career she thought she always wanted hiding from her class in the staff bathroom. She'd much rather be writing and performing poetry, but she believes teaching to be a more responsible career. She is past the prime age for marriage and resigned to be single the rest of her life. Throw in a chance meeting, mistaken identities, family secrets, scheming parents, a revenge plot, and a public scandal, and watch their relationship unfold.

I admit that sometimes I am overly critical of what I'm reading. I find typos or cliched turns of phrase and I get a little judgy. I can honestly say that this text was in no way distracting to me. The narrative was carried effortlessly by the prose, and despite rolling my eyes once when the movie Mean Girls was described as "Lindsay Lohan's high school jungle", even that can be easily forgiven (103).

  

Teacher Note: Despite being an updated adaptation, Ayesha at Last is fresh and unique enough that reading it as a companion text to Pride and Prejudice would not bore students with too much repeated content. It could be an interesting activity to juxtapose the two and discuss how Austen's text was brought into the modern day, as well as what changes were made to embrace the completely new demographic. You could also have students write modernized versions of their favourite texts while looking at the conventions of adaptations as a genre. Many other texts come to mind from recent years that retell archetypal stories, not to mention the wealth of modernized versions of Shakespeare's works.

Thematically, this text would work wonderfully in a course about identity, as both main characters are attempting to negotiate between what their hearts are telling them they want and what others are telling them they need. Also, just as with the original Pride and Prejudice, the text lends itself well to an application of literary theories, specifically Neo-Marxism, Feminism, and Psychoanalysis. 

 Final Thought: I have never been able to fall for Austen's Darcy the way my students do; they tend to read Pride and Prejudice as a true romance, rather than the satire it is intended as. It's not that I don't love a romantic lead that's a cocky asshole (who doesn't right?! at least in text form), but it's hard to understand what Elizabeth sees in him, even at the end when everyone comes clean. This is not the case with Khalid. Since Khalid holds an equal spot with Ayesha in terms of voicing the narrative of the story, we get to experience his side to each event. We get to understand the reasons behind his actions, which are mostly well intentioned, if misunderstood, and empathize with the struggles he faces against all of the forces working upon his life. Move over Darcy and make way.

📚 Ms. CAN Lit