Rebecca

Unmarriageable

The August prompt for the Canterbury Classics Jane Austen Reading Challenge was to read a modern retelling. With a prompt that broad, the possibilities were somewhat limitless, and I was spoiled for choice. I decided to dive deep into my Kindle archives and finally read one that’s been lingering on the TBR for years.

Yes, Jane is holding the crochet square for the book blanket.

Unmarriageable has the tagline “Pride and Prejudice in Pakistan” – and that’s exactly what you get in the reading. This reimagines P&P in 2000/2001 Pakistan, and while it is wholly a retelling, it also is “meta” in that Alys {our Elizabeth Bennet} is an English Literature teacher who regularly assigns her students the task of rewriting Jane’s classic first line. I enjoyed the numerous literary references and found the story to be a realistic-feeling retelling. While I can neither confirm nor deny the societal and cultural accuracy, it’s a story that reads possible. And I was surprised at how closely family and community dynamics in 2000 Pakistan and Regency England overlapped.

Some of the names were a bit of a stretch, but that also brought a little comedy to the story {whether that was the intent or not, I don’t know}. I thoroughly enjoyed Annie – a refreshing take on Anne de Bourgh, and liked that while it was obvious who all the modern characters were, they had their own personalities as well. Another thing I really liked: Darsee gave Alys his favorite book, after they sparred-bonded-bantered about books and reading in general.

While this was not my favorite retelling, I am glad that I finally picked it up to read. It reminded me of Austenistan, a collection of short stories published by the Jane Austen Society in Pakistan. And then I started thinking of other Austen retellings I’ve read, outside of “the Western world.” It just goes to prove how relevant and human Jane Austen’s novels are – they transcend geography and culture, and if we look, we see simply humanity.

Have you read any modern retellings of Jane’s novels?
Have you read any that were set in another culture and/or country?

11 comments

  1. I love how Jane’s holding your crotchet square and I’m glad you enjoyed a book that had been sitting on your Kindle for so long. It sounds like an interesting approach to P&P and I definitely agree that it’s wonderful how varied the settings for Austen retellings can be.

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    • I’m glad to make you curious! 😁 There are so many modern retellings it’s almost hard to pick. I feel like I might need to make a retellings list 🤔

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