Just by their very existence, the characters in these novels make a statement: the Pakistani woman is not one thing - she is everything at once. Have a look at some novels you should read that are by women and about women...
books
Avid reader or not, we all want to pick up a book when we’re waiting at the airport, bored with a long car ride, or when we want to avoid an awkward conversation. Reading doesn’t only entertain us, but it also builds new worlds for us while capturing ones that have been lost. Most importantly, books can capture and present cultural ideologies - and books can revolutionise them. So, what should you read?
Pakistani Anglophone literature is often looked down upon by critics for being too ‘Western’ in its characterisation and approach, but its value and contribution to cultural change cannot be discounted. With more and more women writers arriving on the scene, we have seen a welcome diversity in characters and narratives.
Just by their very existence, the characters in these novels make a statement: the Pakistani woman is not one thing - she is everything at once. Have a look at some novels you should read that are by women and about women...
Unmarriageable - Soniah Kamal
"...but the issue is that women don't seem to have a choice that is free from judgement."
A retelling of the Jane Austen classic 'Pride and Prejudice', Unmarriageable presents some uncanny similarities between 19th century England and 21st century Pakistan. Unsurprisingly, Austen's story and plot fit right in with Pakistani tropes and customs of today.
The author criticises in depth everything from the critique of the culture-wide obsession with marriage to the misogyny of arranged-marriages. The idea that the value of a woman comes only from her being married or engaged is condemned over and over until the reader starts noticing the absurdity of it. Throughout the novel, the iconic opening sentence from Pride and Prejudice is rephrased and adapted sardonically. "It is a truth universally acknowledged that..." followed by a different cultural critique every time. Instead of presenting her heroine and other female characters as helpless individuals, the author depicts them standing up for themselves and fighting for their right to choose.
This novel is a great attempt at intersectionality as it tries to bring in the idea of independent women not from western feminist theory but from Muslim culture itself.
The Upstairs Wife - Rafia Zakaria
Successful newspaper columnist Rafia Zakaria touches a sensitive but extremely important topic in her debut novel - that of second marriages. Amina's husband, Sohail, marries for a second time without her approval. Because Amina has nowhere to go, she is forced to live upstairs in the newly renovated floor while the other woman lives downstairs. The novel recounts how she copes with her husband's betrayal while living in the same house as the new couple.
This heartbreaking story is peppered with a narrative history of Karachi city, where thousands of women are unhappy in their domestic lives; some with stories similar to Amina's. Read this one for the lovely prose, but also to learn how many women around us suffer with sealed lips.
Rafina - Shandana Minhas
This story revolves around a girl from a working class background, Rafina, who lives in a rundown old apartment building near Shahrah-e-Faisal. Rafina looks every day at the glamorous woman on the billboard and aspires to be like her until one day she comes across a real chance.
Employed alongside her aunt at a prestigious Karachi salon, Rafina sees a door that leads to the world of glamour she had always dreamed of- but it comes at a cost.
Rafina's tale may seem like a coming of age novella that ends with her on the billboard, but Minhas shows instead the dark and bitter reality of poverty and exploitation.
Read this for some inter-class feminism, and to learn how the smog of patriarchy diffuses through socioeconomic lines.
The Writing on My Forehead - Nafisa Haji
Haji writes a light-hearted family drama that also deals with second marriages and their effects on generations to come. Told from 14-year-old Saira's point of view, this story is about her life-changing trip to her parents' hometown for a family wedding. Before she even reaches Pakistan, Saira discovers the reason that kept her mother and sister from joining her on this trip: her maternal grandfather had abandoned his simple wife for a modern British woman.
Her grandmother's sister is also featured in the story; a woman who never married and instead chose to pursue her career. The story encapsulates what it's like to be a woman who is never good enough for her family and the society. It tells us whoever we may be, as women, we are always at a disadvantage.
Broken Verses - Kamila Shamsie
Although admittedly larger than life, Shamsie's Samina Akram gives us insight into the anti-establishment feminist movement from the '80s that is often excluded from conventional history books. The struggles of women that stood up against Zia's oppressive regime, the effect it had on their personal lives, and what all of it means for the modern generation of women today.
Whether you choose it for the interesting historical insight it provides into a world long gone or for the lovely prose, this book is worth picking up. You wouldn't want to put it down until the last page is turned!
A Pair of Jeans and Other Stories - Qaisra Shahraz
Shahraz's novels may be soppy and dripping with victimised descriptions of women's lives, but her short story 'A Pair of Jeans' presents a different picture with a fun twist at the end. The story starts when Mirium returns from a hiking trip with her friends at the exact same moment as her future in-laws arrive at her place. Upon seeing their prospective daughter-in-law wearing a pair of jeans, the family returns home scandalised.
Following this incident, the fiance's family decides to call off the engagement; their only contention being the inappropriateness of jeans. Reading how Mirium deals with this incident can teach women an important lesson in self-determination.
If you're tired of watching the same ol' Pakistani dramas on screen that only show you one kind of Pakistani woman, the one that is helpless at her circumstance and cannot do anything to get out of it, then these novels will come either as a breath of fresh air, or a breeze of realisation.
