When Cultures Collide – A Review of ‘Straightening Ali’

Filed Under Books | August 27th, 2007 

Straightening Ali by Amjeed KabilI just pulled an ‘all nighter’ reading a first time novel by Amjeed Kabil called “Straightening Ali” and I can still smell and taste the curry, see the beautiful clothing and feel the pain. From the very first chapter to the last, “Straightening Ali” struck me as a very rich story.

The story itself takes place in Birmingham, England and is about Ali Mirza, a British born Pakistani man of twenty-four who is without warning thrust into an arranged marriage by his family (who are basically Muslim) in order to ’straighten’ him out.

For the longest time I’ve been interested and curious as to how gay men of such cultures and traditions in this day and age handle and cope with being gay, how their families regard their situation and what happens when it’s time to think about marriage.

As I read the book, it occurred to me that although modern Western non-Asian men aren’t saddled with the burden of an arranged marriage (at least not for the most part) it still is generally expected that one will marry a woman. And so, the trials and the arguments that Ali goes through are not too dissimilar.

To further complicate matters for Ali, he has a white boyfriend who’s moved from England to study in France and is starting to sound a little cool towards their relationship. To run off to be with the love of his life or stay with his bride and do his duty, that is the question that Ali must face and do so quickly before things get even stickier.

Through most of the story Ali’s friend Haseena, an outcast in the Birmingham Pakistani community herself helps to guide Ali through the nightmare that has been thrust upon him. But in the end it’s Ali who has to choose how to proceed with his life and all within a very short matter of time.

On the one hand, I would love to be able to say that “Straightening Ali” is a humorous story with a cheesy feel-good ending; but it’s not. There are definitely brief moments of wry humour but for the most part it’s a sober tale of one gay man’s anguish and how he manages to struggle through it. And that I think is a most welcome true-to-life story that many can both identify with and learn from.