I received an arc from Netgalley. I love that the story mimics the theme from Pride and Prejudice but I found myself skimming past all of the details. I did enjoy the whimsical responses and details of the book and will read this author again.

A difficult read. I expected a lot out of this book, but it didn't really deliver. Plus some parts of it i just cannot tolerate -fat is ugly and undesirable? What are we teaching our youth?
Thank you NetGalley for free advance reading copy!

I was really looking forward to this book and was soooo excited when I got an advanced reader's copy of it. I love Pride and Prejudice but am no where near a purist—I'll take any version or sequel I can get my hands on.

However, this one didn't fully deliver for me.

For starters, Lizzy in this version (Alys) felt more like Kat in 10 Things I Hate About You. Feminist with an ultra edge. The whole book she was very much against marriage. That in and of itself obviously isn't bad, especially considering the society she was in (which really is very similar to Jane Austen's day. Women get married or are burdens to their families for the rest of their lives). However, because that was her character, it made the speed at which she fell for the Darcy character (Darsee) not terribly believable. Honestly, I was expecting her to confess to just liking him and she said she full out loved him and that just didn't seem quite in character. I felt like I didn't get to see their relationship develop hardly at all. (I know that's how P&P is, but it just didn't feel right for this character in a more modern setting.)

On a personal preference note, I do like it when the author changes the story a little bit or adds some personal flair when writing a retelling. You may know the story, but it takes an additional turn you weren't necessarily expecting. (Jane of Austin and Bride and Prejudice come immediately to mind.) This one however stayed pretty religiously close to the book in terms of events and the course of the story. Pretty much only locations and names were changed. A gay character and an abortion added. And a party instead of a ball and the whole Lucas (Loocus) family going to visit Charlotte (Sherry) instead of just Dad and a sister, but that's about it.

Overall, I didn't dislike the book, but it didn't leave me satisfied. Looking forward to reading Pride and seeing if that one is more of what I'm looking for in a retelling of this classic tale.

Soniah Kamal’s Unmarriageable is an warm story about sisterhood and friendship, as well as a love letter to Pride and Prejudice. The five Binat sisters live in Dilipabad, a small Pakistani town just across the Indian border from Amritsar (the setting of the Bollywood spinoff Bride and Prejudice. Is that not how everyone learns geography?). A family estrangement has left their branch struggling, unable to live as they used to, so the older girls teach English, while Mrs. Binat schemes about beautification to catch wealthy husbands. Teenage Lady flirts with everyone, Mari is a pedantic Quran reader, and youngest sister Qitty is chubby and forgotten. This has everything we love in P&P, with a distinctly Pakistani style.

Jena and Alys are both over 30, a successful updating of the Bennet sisters’ impoverished gentry background, especially since handsome Bungles is only 25. This is exactly what Bingley sisters and gossipy aunties will turn into a massive mismatch and social disaster, when it’s really a tiny obstacle for a loving marriage. The Binat sisters are English teachers at the local girls’ school, which is respectable if not impressive employment, even if Alys keeps getting scolded for running her mouth in class and leading her students to question their roles as wives-to-be.

Alys and her friends have discussions about literature in translation and colonialism. (So yes, I immediately requested all the books that Alys buys in Lahore from my library. Naturally.) There are also some comments on the joys of rereading Pride and Prejudice, which make this feel like a real love letter to Jane Austen, and Unmarriageable characters discuss their favorite Austen characters and Jane’s view of marriage. I particularly enjoyed when Annie, a chronically ill former model with a secret Nigerian boyfriend, talks about how mild and silent Anne de Burgh is. But, if you’ve read P&P, though, how do you trust a Jeorgeullah Wickaam? Alys, don’t be distracted by a handsome face!

The question of marriage and finances is a central part of Austen’s work, but I’m not sure how well the impoverished-family works as a plot device or character background right now. Current American morality sees poverty as a temporary setback to be overcome with hard work, and also considers laziness is an unforgivable personality failing. So, a poor young woman is no longer an unfortunate victim of circumstance, but a lazy taker. BOOTSTRAPS, BENNETS! Ugh. I kind of hate everything right now, and I double hate that our miserable news cycle leaks into my fiction reading.

Sherry Looclus, Alys’ coworker and friend, is even older and even more worried about money than the Binat girls. (OH! And Sir Lucas becomes Haji Looclus, a clever reimagining which took me a while to get. I just figured Haji was his first name, I didn’t realize he’d claimed the title of a Muslim who’s completed the Mecca pilgrimage.) Although it’s easy to see Mr. Collins as a ridiculous figure, we can also see how happy Sherry is to get out of her parents’ house (to fly the pigeon coop, maybe?), to mother her lovely step-children, and to have enough money that she can quit the girls’ school and work on her own projects. Of course she doesn’t have a love match, and Kaleen is still no Darsee, but you can see a partnership here.

Unmarriageable was such a great story that I forced myself to slow down reading it. I loved the revisions of familiar characters in a new setting. This novel is full of Pakistani flavor, but it’s still quite accessible to anyone with a gossipy auntie or a handsome crush.

As a fan of the Pride & Prejudice novel, I felt this was a decent Pakistani retelling. However, it felt more like a direct copy playing to PP with all the references to the original and explaining the original. Those of us who are fans already know it so we don’t need the reminders. It would have been better to just aim to be a true retelling.

I enjoy learning new cultures and enjoyed the detailed descriptions of the author. I am not familiar with Muslim-Pakistani culture so there were some items I struggled with namely how cruel Mrs. Binat and most of the daughters were to each other and others. The same characters from the original PP were cruel/harsh but this novel took it to a new level. Perhaps that is the culture but I did not like it at all.

It is never made clear why the author chose to set the novel in 2000 & 2001 either. Alys’s opinions about many things seemed to be better suited to topics that are hot button issues today, even if they were years ago as well.

The biggest problem for me was that I did not like Alys at all. Lizzie Bennett is an iconic character and Alys could not fill those shoes. Most of the time I did not like Alys at all and found her self-righteous and annoying.

Novel provided for free by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW

I love retellings of Pride and Prejudice, and Kamal's retelling is one set in modern-day Pakistan. The character development is wonderful in this book, and it is a winning and imaginative retelling of a beloved classic.

AUTHOR

Soniah Kamal is an award winning essayist and fiction writer. Her debut novel, An Isolated Incident, was a finalist for the Townsend Prize for Fiction and the KLF French Fiction Prize. Her TEDx talk, “Redreaming Your Dream,” is about regrets and second chances. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, Catapult,The Normal School, The Chicago Quarterly Review, The Missing Slate, BuzzFeed, The James Dickey Review, Scroll.in and Literary Hub.She is a literacy ambassador for the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation.

I really loved this adaptation of Pride & Prejudice. While many retellings have simply moved the tale to modern times, the new location and not-quite-modern time period add layers that work really well with this story, keeping similar societal rules in place (like chaperones and the need for marriage) without forcing them to work in the story. At times I did feel that the references to P&P were too heavy-handed because many people know the story, but they also don't need to know the story to enjoy this one.

Soniah Kamal has created a retelling of Pride and Prejudice, set in early-21st-century Pakistan, where parents are still very much concerned about pairing off their children to eligible mates. I enjoyed all of the parallels to Austen's England, with the addition of different cultural traditions and deliciously-described Pakistani food. I also liked how the names of Austen's characters have been translated into Pakistani equivalents: Elizabeth Bennet becomes Alysba Binat, etc.

I did think it was at times a bit too literal of an interpretation, following the original beat-for-beat without a lot of change; I think it would have been better if it had strayed a bit more from its source material.

There was far too much fatphobia in this for me to continue reading. Very disappointing, because it started out great. I just don't need to read book in which fat is equated to ugly and unmarriagable or whatever. Boo.

Kamal has done the amazing job of translating Jane Austin into Pakistani culture flawlessly. Alys Binat plays the classical role of Elizabeth Bennett flowing into a colorful cast of characters mimicking those of their Austen counterparts with a Pakistani flair.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this retelling. I appreciated the wit and humor that Kamal uses as well as the cultural reflections that tie the stories together in ways that I couldn't have imagined otherwise.

This was a fun read and I think that any Austen lover, especially those that appreciate Pride and Prejudice, would enjoy reading this title as well.

I love Jane Austen book retellings especially Pride and Prejudice and this one is very good because it is told thought different culture and time but in the end similar results. My only dislike is that's it's too much like Pride and Prejudice.