"That Can Be Arranged: A Muslim Love Story" is an interesting read, with a great start, and some very good visual gags that, unfortunately, falls shorts in delivering on the high expectations the author creates in the first pages.
In this graphic novel, Huda Fahmy tells the story of how she met and married her husband. It all starts really well, with a short guide for people that need to know some concepts about Muslim culture and then jumping to the moment she met her husband.
But stop! We need first to see, understand and go with Fahmy through the rules of dating, of intergender relationships, of courtship, of suitors... etc., etc., before we can go back to the moment she got to meet her husband. Some of this is great, with a funny and relatable way to explain things and a couple of very funny moments (and also easy to understand for people who could come from a different background).
However, it all end ups being overly simplistic, with repetition of the same gags and ideas over and over... and over. The chaperone one is one of the few that keeps being funny, but a couple of the others, on to of becoming repetitive, could also make some readers raise their eyebrows (but here we enter into the topic of believes, ideas, etc...).
Also, for what is supposed to be a love story, there is little of love or character development here: look how I met that guy, let's go back to see how I understood relationships as a young Muslim woman; see, we meet this guy again. Married.
End.
It makes for a blunt, over-simplistic, character arc. It is good to see how the character (and her environment) understands relationships, etc., but the author just telling me her husband is funny, handsome and the perfect partner does not make for compelling storytelling or laugh out loud moments.
The best: it is a love story with heart; some visual gags; the start
The worst: but it is also a love story that doesn't exist, with pace problems all along the graphic novel, some of Fahmy's opinions are too far away from my own views to really enjoy a couple of situations
Further reading: no idea about something similar, right now, so, maybe Cabre's "Jo confesso" for family relationships (in a very different environment) or Atwood's "The Edible Woman" for another take on a woman that is thinking about marriage
6.5/10
(Original English)
*Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the copy*
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