Finding Mr Perfectly Fine by Tasneem Abdur-Rashid (UK/Bengali)

7th Aug 2022 | Book Reviews | 0 comments

Finding Mr Perfectly Fine by Tasneem Abdur-Rashid is a newly-published romantic comedy that follows Zara Choudhury, a North Londoner of Bangladeshi origin, on her quest to find a husband before she turns 30. Having taken a quick look at a few reactions on Instagram, I can see that this book has been received positively by some British Bengali readers, among others, who were able to see their experiences in this story, along with Bangla phrases and traditions, and I really appreciate that the writer has provided that. It is thrilling when you see those subtle details and little moments from your specific social context being reflected in literature. While a lot of these references were only familiar to me at a secondary level, I did notice and cheer for the fact that all the unmarried adult characters lived with their parents and that this was portrayed as completely normal, which it is for most people outside the Western mainstream (although economic factors mean that is changing somewhat). I can also tell that the writer wanted to include elements of Islamic practice, such as reading Ayat ul-Kursi in a moment of fear, which was nice to see. Generally, I felt that the writer was successful in immersing the reader with a strong sense of place and sociocultural context – British, Bangladeshi, North London and extended family relationships. In terms of the plot, I thought that the struggle that Zara faces between prioritising having a spark with a potential husband or finding someone responsible and stable had potential and I was interested to see it unfold, but found it didn’t quite involve the character development I hoped for.

Personally, Zara and I didn’t really get on. I think we would probably have a bit of a clash of personalities if we were to meet in real life; I can imagine her finding me uptight and consider me judgemental for having no problem with the concept of sending a marriage questionnaire to someone before meeting up – not a good start for our fictional friendship! Our compatibility aside, I was happy to go along with her journey at first, including the mistakes that she started to make, which I assumed would turn out to be learning opportunities. Eventually, though, I could no longer dodge the feeling that she was generally an immature, self-centred person. She has led me to think a lot about flawed characters in literature, and specifically in the romantic comedy genre. While deeply flawed, even terrible, people can be tolerated in certain genres for the sake of a deeper message or with the aid of eloquent writing, when it comes to romantic comedies, I feel that we ultimately need to root for the protagonist. We are also guided very much by the writer who will give cues about how they expect us to view this character. A mainstream series in this genre that I enjoyed a lot (albeit over ten years ago) and that does this was the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella. Her protagonist, Becky Bloomwood, is nothing if not flawed; she constantly makes the wrong choices and causes trouble. The key point that makes you go along with it, apart from the witty writing, is that the author clearly agrees that she is a bit ridiculous. In the case of Zara, I didn’t get this impression; [spoiler: to skip, move to next paragraph] in fact, the conclusive scenes of the book didn’t seem to show any real remorse, although, to give her credit, she did show some remorse earlier in the book. I think the peak of my bewilderment at her self-centredness was when the man she had so badly mistreated expressed his hurt by accurately calling her “selfish, a narcissist and a cheat” and she felt justified in hanging up the phone on him so that her impression of him wouldn’t become “too tainted”, as if he was making it all up. By the end, it seemed like her mistakes eventually just turned into self-indulgence and the strange conclusion that marriage is indeed about holding out for a perfect husband. I was a little disappointed to find that, contrary to the title, this novel was not about discovering that nobody is perfect and marriage is about working on ourselves and our relationship together with the help of Allah. I have a feeling Zara would scoff at me for that idea too.

It didn’t help that I started this book with a very inaccurate idea of what the protagonist would be like, specifically in her relationship to Islam. The major cues that would have made it clear – such as the fact that she rarely prays – came quite far in, so it took me a good while to adjust my expectations. I do wonder, though, why, on the current literary scene where we now have practising Muslim predecessors, a Muslim writer would actively choose to make their Muslim character not pray regularly and not be particularly concerned about it. It seems like the writer was keen to include Islamic practice, as mentioned previously, so I’m curious about why she chose to eliminate one of the defining acts of a Muslim. Perhaps this is a case of me not being familiar with the context that inspired the novel. Of course, creative writing is not a calculated process but I was disappointed to find yet another case of a “Muslim” character who doesn’t really prioritise Islam in her life.

Writing a novel is hard. Getting it published is hard. Going through the editing process is hard. All of it involves putting your heart out there and knowing that some people are going to poke and stab at it. In this case, it seems I am one of the poking crowd, although I hope I have not gone so far as stabbing. I’m glad that this book has given some people a warm feeling of recognition and attempted to explore some of the challenges faced by certain sections of Muslim communities, and I hope that, despite the issues I mentioned above, it also offers readers a lesson in how not to go about finding (or treating) a prospective husband or compromising ourselves in the process!