Hana Khan Carries On by Uzma Jalaluddin

This thoroughly engaging second novel by author Uzma Jalaluddin channels "You’ve Got Mail" for the story of Hana Khan, a young woman pursuing her career in radio broadcasting while also anonymously producing a popular podcast about her own life as a South Asian Muslim woman called Ana’s Brown Girl Rambles.  As Ana BGR, she has an ongoing and interesting DM conversation with one of her listeners, only known to her as StanleyP.  Like their movie predecessors who hide in anonymity through AOL e-mail, their connection is very strong.  

In the real world of Hana’s Golden Crescent neighborhood in the east end of Toronto, things aren’t so rosy.  Hana’s father is still suffering from the effects of a car accident some years before, and Hana’s mother works long hours at their halal restaurant Three Sisters Biryani Poutine that is is now being threatened by a fancy new eatery being built across the road.  The owners are a wealthy entrepreneur and his handsome but conceited son Aydin, who gets off on the wrong foot with Hana when he compliments her mother’s cooking but criticizes the faded decor of Three Sisters.  Hana is having none of that, and the conflict begins.

In another part of Hana’s life, she is interning at a prominent Toronto radio station and trying to make a name for herself for her future career.  When a radio show about Muslims is proposed by her white supervisor and a station owner, she suggests some changes in the content that wouldn’t promote stereotyping and hate-filled responses.  She finds herself in a major dilemma as she is competing with another intern, dealing with the station managers’ ill-conceived ideas, and offering another path that would shed light on Muslim life in a series of compelling stories about family secrets.  

As Hana tries to wend her way through the various difficulties of her life, she creates some questionable ideas of her own, begins to see some circumstances in new ways, and relies on her online friendship with StanleyP to work a whole lot of her life out.  Through it all—good and bad—Hana Khan carries on!

The cast of characters is loads of fun and include Hana’s sister Fazeela and her husband Fahim and their little “cantaloupe” (Fazeela’s pregnancy), Hana’s irrepressible young cousin Rashid from India, Hana’s childhood friends Lily and Yusuf, Big J from the radio station who mentors her, her loving and supportive father, and her newly discovered and non-conformist aunt from India.

Uzma’s first novel, Ayesha at Last, inspired by Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, is one of my favorite adaptations because she captures the essence of the story while creating something completely new.  She has done the same thing here with her second book, and layered over the challenges and misunderstandings is some heartfelt and serious looks at community and neighborhoods, family secrets, Muslim life, and being true to yourself.  

Many thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for an advance copy.