Ep. 1: Classic Retellings (Ayesha At Last + The Wife Upstairs)

Summary: Welcome to our first episode! Holly and Devin come together to discuss modern retellings of classic stories. They compare and contrast each book with the original text, and evaluate how the authors wove the classic plot lines and characters into a modern retelling. Holly and Devin share books they’re excited to read next, and then dive into pop culture spiciness to wrap things up. 

Topics Discussed:

• The Heart (1:47): Devin shares her thoughts on Ayesha and Last by Uzma Jalaluddin, a retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Her key takeaways included: 
• • The structures of Austen-era society aligned almost perfectly with Muslim modern society including family involvement in love and marriage.
  • Jalaluddin went further than Austen with harsh critiques of modern society’s racism, sexism, fatphobia and xenophobia. 

 

• Ayesha at Last takes a plotline folks have read and watched a million times and uses it as a gateway into a culture and ideologies with which some might be unfamiliar.

 

• The Dagger (13:13): Holly shares her perspective on The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins, a retelling of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Her key takeaways included:
• • The Southern Gothic rendering of the haunting classic featuring transgressive thoughts, desires, and impulses was a fresh but resonant take on Jane Eyre.
  • Hawkins leveraged a “Desperate Housewives” dynamic with women in the neighborhood to explore the fragile social order and Jane’s desperation to belong.
  • Jane becomes intrigued by Bea (the deceased wife) and her rags-to-riches tale even as she remains haunted by her own past, finding herself working to, in some ways, become Bea. 
• Hot Off the Shelf (31:30):
• • Holly: Scarlet, book two of The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
  • Devin: A Better Man, book 15 of the Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny
• What’s Making Our Hearts Race (34:27):
• • Holly: “The Vow”, series on HBO about cult NXIVM and leader Keith Raniere
  • Devin: “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” the most recent Marvel film released

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