Much Ado About Nada
by Uzma Jalaluddin
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: June 13, 2023
Reviewed by Hellie
Nada Syed is stuck. On the cusp of thirty, she’s
still living at home with her brothers and parents in the Golden Crescent
neighbourhood of Toronto, resolutely ignoring her mother’s unsubtle pleas to
get married already. While Nada has a good job as an engineer, it’s a far cry
from realizing her start-up dreams for her tech baby, Ask Apa, the app that
launched with a whimper instead of a bang because of a double-crossing business
partner. Nothing in her life has turned out the way it was supposed to, and
Nada feels like a failure. Something needs to change, but the past is holding
on too tightly to let her move forward.
Nada’s best friend Haleema is determined to pry
her from her shell…and what better place than at the giant annual Muslim
conference held downtown, where Nada can finally meet Haleema’s fiancé, Zayn.
And did Haleema mention Zayn’s brother Baz will be there?
What Haleema doesn’t know is that Nada and Baz
have a past—some of it good, some of it bad and all of it secret. At the
conference, that past all comes hurtling at Nada, bringing new complications
and a moment of reckoning. Can Nada truly say goodbye to once was or should she
hold tight to her dreams and find their new beginnings?
Hellie’s Heeds
I love this book, and I love this author. I
cannot stop talking about this book to people who catch me reading it; and even
if they didn’t catch me, I will start talking about it and say, “You really
need to read Uzma’s books. They are fantastic.” I have adored Ms. Jalaluddin’s
books from the get-go: Ayesha at Last, the book that was inspired by
Pride & Prejudice, and her sophomore hit, Hana Khan Carries On, that
was gritty as well as funny, taking on the classic, You’ve Got Mail. This one
takes on my favorite of the Austen books, Persuasion. Mainly because I totally
relate to being hung up on The Guy even after you think every one of your
chances have passed because you were dealing with family drama at the time or
you were too scared…or just bad advice–and well, I love a good pining book. This
was an excellent pining book.
But it was much more than a
pining-yearning-longing book–and I mean, didn’t we all get tired of Wuthering
Heights and that amount of pining and carrying on? Exactly. There needs to be a
balance; and we are given a very relatable heroine who has been dealt a number
of hard blows and now feels stuck in her life, unable to figure out where to go
now. The heroine, Nada, is a good South Asian Muslim woman…and part of that is
living with her parents as is expected of the cultural norms, even as she’s
approaching thirty. And also putting up with her mother’s designs to set her up
with any man with a pulse (so long as he’s Muslim) so she’ll finally get
married and have kids. But Nada wants more for herself–a fact she also
struggles with in a world where the men prefer the women to stay home and take
care of the house but she wants to have something wholly her own. (This may
sound a little 1950s flashback, but it’s not, because I read a lot of Amish
romance–which has a similar struggle many times; and well, I used to be a
Southern Baptist before all the therapy–so really, this is still a pretty
modern issue. How does one balance one’s faith and societal norms with the
longings in one’s heart?)
In stalking–um, researching for more information about
Ms. Jalaluddin, I saw her FAQ about why she became a writer. It was so she
could see more representation of her lived experience as a South Asian Muslim
woman in story form, something she did not have when she first started reading.
Of course, we know reading stories is one of the best ways to develop empathy
for other people, especially those not like us (or actually, who we
THINK are not like us.) What I’ve discovered–and I imagine most people also
have–is that other people are like us and were the whole time. I
am curious about how other people live, especially those who live in other
countries or cultures or faiths–these are all interesting to me. What I enjoyed
most is how feminist this book felt, in how Nada was portrayed–and how this
story showed the many ways one can be a feminist.
Okay, enough about that–I’m sure you are more
curious about the writing, the story, the characters. The writing was superb.
You will not be surprised to note that our intrepid author is also an English
Ed teacher. She is funny and sarcastic but also emotional and handles scenes
with sensitivity. There was lots of smoldering tension for a couple who lives
in a culture where unrelated men and women do not touch each other or even
spend alone time together, and there was so much romantic sweetness and respect
that can sometimes feel missing in more secular stories. I think of her heroes,
Baz is my favorite. (Granted I might have said that about each of the heroes in
the subsequent reviews…but yes, definitely it’s Baz.) He’s so serious and
sweet, but also flirty and passionate. Nada is smart and loving–and I think
easy to relate to as a woman who is trying to break free of some of the norms
her parents have not outgrown (as is the problem with every parent-child
generation, yes?) while still honoring her parents and her faith and herself.
Oh, and the surprises she gave me at every turn! I would be like, “What is
happening? I did not expect that! OMG, how is she ever going to tell her
parents!?” like at the end of every other chapter. Or it’d be, “OMG, these two
are never getting together. How can they overcome this? They can’t. They just
can’t.”
I read this book so fast–and I barely was able to put
it down. I lingered over lunch with it; I stayed up hours past my bedtime
reading it…once I started, it was just like a Netflix series that I pushed PLAY
and didn’t stop until the story ended. (In fact, these books should totally be
Netflix series…we have a precedent of Never Have I Ever and Bridgerton–this
story could carry a series.) And once I finished, I logged on here to write up
the review. I mean, the book may be called Much Ado About Nada–but this
story is actually everything. Come for the belly laughs and family shenanigans,
stay for the smoldering romance. Ms. Austen would be proud.
