Book 156: Qatar (English) – Love comes Later (Mohanalakshmi RAJAKUMAR)

            “We need to bring up our own teams in advance of the Cup,” someone is saying, echoing Chairman Ahmed, who wags his head up and down with such enthusiasm his ghutra [male head covering] wobbles.

            Abdulla swallows, his breath constricted by his starched collar. He drinks more and more water as the discussion swirls around him. The world’s fattest nation, planning to integrate sports into society? he thinks. Why not get rid of McDonald’s first?

            “You want to say something?”  Uncle Ahmed’s eyebrows draw together, a ripple of creases rising on his forehead.

            In the growing silence, all eyes turn in the direction of the chairman’s gaze. Abdulla raises his shoulders to shrug but the glowing red light at the base of the microphone in front of him makes him realize he has spoken his criticism out loud.

This one was a bit of a slow burn at first but I came to love it! I was thinking, not another Arab novel about the sad lot of women (perhaps more a comment on what Western publishers think Western readers will expect – I’d be surprised if untranslated fiction from that part of the world isn’t much more diverse than what we get to read). Though I have to admit all these Arabic novels I’ve read have been great, and not as same-ish as I would have expected.

Another thing I love about this one is that it’s not so much about the predictable relationship between the Arab and Western worlds, as between the former and the Indian subcontinent, like some of the novels of Amitabh Ghosh (one of my favourite writers). The similarities and (surprisingly few) differences between the lives and marriage customs of Muslim and Indian women were fascinating. It was great to see the Muslim woman’s lot portrayed as not all negative and unbearable as many Westerners think. Quite a few stereotypes get broken. Qatari women wearing sexy clothes under their abayas?

Qatar is obviously one of those stultifying small countries, which will become increasingly common from now on, where everyone knows everyone else and everyone else’s business. Let’s call it the small country effect. I can’t imagine what it’s like to live in such a large family. And living in one of the world’s richest countries obviously doesn’t make life a bed of roses for everyone.

The plot was far from predictable (for me at least), with lots of surprising twists and turns – even the title (from which I inferred that an arranged marriage eventually would warm into true love). The symmetrical conclusion I was hoping for doesn’t eventuate – and, on reflection, would have been impossible. And everyone seems to like those they’re not supposed to.

It’s difficult to discuss the plot without giving anything away. Abdulla’s wife Fatima is killed in a car accident driven by his uncle Ahmed. Fatima’s vivacious sister Luluwa is rejected by her parents and goes to live with Abdulla’s family. He doesn’t want to re-marry despite unrelentingly heavy familial pressure. Eventually he has to get engaged to Hind (’India’) despite the reluctance both of them – he takes little persuading to let her go to the UK for a year to finish MA before the marriage. There Hind makes friends with fellow Indian-American student Sangita in London, and spontaneously goes on a secret trip to India with Sangita’s brother Ravi – this can’t end well? The imbroglio takes place against the background of the London Olympics and of Qatar gearing up to host the soccer World Cup.

The author is herself a South Asian American who has lived in Qatar since 2005. For a self-published book, the quality is high, the main slip-up being that sometimes a line of dialogue is joined with the next character’s reaction, along with some indentation problems, which sometimes confused me momentarily. Romance fiction isn’t usually my thing, but if you like it, or just a fascinating insight into two cultures, I can wholeheartedly recommend this intricate, surprising and often funny novel.

Rajakumar, Mohanalakshmi, Love comes Later, 2012, ISBN 978-0-615-91683-5