Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin: A Muslim Pride and Prejudice

I picked this book up because I'm a sucker for Austen adaptations, and I wasn't disappointed. It's a fun and thoughtful read. As I've pointed out elsewhere, there have been many recent adaptations that shift Pride and Prejudice to the perspective of diverse ethnic, class, or gender identities. When done well, adapting Austen's stories in these ways shows something new about Austen's stories and the communities they inhabit.

Ayesha at Last offers a very loose adaptation of P&P and is playing just as much with the romantic/screwball comedy genre reaching back both to Shakespeare and early twentieth century films. In fact, Shakespeare is threaded throughout the novel, primarily through Ayesha's Nana who loves quoting him, and elsewhere, such as when Ayesha quotes the "tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace" speech from Macbeth at a Muslim youth conference. It's surprising that none of the blurb materials that I've seen mention the Shakespeare angle because that's just as strong, and the novel ends with an index of the sources for all of the quotes.

The novel begins with a romantic pair - Ayesha and Khalid - who take an instant dislike to one another. They are both committed to their Muslim faith, but in very different ways. Ayesha sees Khalid as a "fundy," or judgmental fundamentalist, and Khalid thinks that Ayesha is not pious enough because he first meets her in a bar (or, rather, lounge). They are forced to work together organizing a conference for their financially troubled mosque, and an abundance of subplots ensue, some following the P&P formula and some not. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that you can probably imagine how it ends. Their romance emerges through conversations where they come to understand one another and take themselves a little less seriously.

I've always thought that the Olivier film version of P&P highlighted the similarities between Austen's story and screwball comedies from the 1930s, like His Girl Friday, Bringing up Baby, and The Lady Eve. There's a close connection between the formula of two characters initially hating each other but ultimately falling in love (which is part of what makes P&P so enduring) and a comedic version that involves smart alec-y conversations and eventual courtship. Ayesha at Last fits comfortably in the tradition of Austen, as well as of Shakespeare and Howard Hawkes.

I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.