‘If I Loved You Less’: A charming ‘Emma’ retelling with heart and culture

A retelling of Jane Austen’s iconic romance “Emma,” Aamna Qureshi’s novel is set in modern-day New York and stars Humaira Mirza — a 23-year-old hijabi, love lover and matchmaking extraordinaire. Just as with Austen’s titular character, Humaira is a little selfish and spoiled, but remains an incredibly heartwarming protagonist to root for. In some ways, with “Emma” retellings, getting the Emma character right is always the hardest thing to do. The author must maintain a very difficult balance, ensuring that their character is simultaneously self-centered and selfless, spoiled and generous. Qureshi hits the nail on the head with Humaira — she’s materialistic (dropping name brands all over the place) and sometimes shallow (caring more about status and perception than she should), but she grows and changes over the course of the book. She has deep self-esteem issues that inform all of her actions; she wonders whether people only like her for the personas she puts on, which in turn causes her to dig deeper into those personas and shy away from her own wants and needs at times. 

There are moments where readers will roll their eyes at Humaira — sometimes fondly, sometimes with annoyance — but she is, without a doubt, a good person. And that’s the most crucial part. Despite all her flaws (and, at times, her unapologetic, cringeworthy Gen Z behavior and vocabulary), she is charming, wholesome and kind. She is flawed and imperfect, but real. 

The other main component of any good Austen retelling is, of course, the romance. Fawad is this book’s Mr. Knightley, and he is endearingly kind, a perfect foil for our protagonist. He pushes her to be her best self, calling her out when she’s wrong and gently nudging her in the right direction when she needs it. The book’s title comes from Mr. Knightley’s iconic love declaration in “Emma” — “if I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more” — and that sentiment is deeply woven in Humaira and Fawad’s relationship. So much of their enemies-to-lovers-esque romance goes unspoken, a result of a long history between their two families and cultural norms that have them hesitant to make their feelings clear. And while some moments between the two characters toe the line between halal and a tiny bit scandalous to Islamic culture (he rolled her sleeves up once when she was cooking, and I have to admit that I gasped), it’s still heartfelt, deep and loving. Humaira is painfully aware of her own flaws and spends a good portion of the book worrying that whomever she marries will only see her as the perfect girl she tries to be — she doesn’t have to worry about that with Fawad, though, as he is also painfully aware of her flaws but loves her in spite of them.

The most pleasantly surprising part of the book was the attention to detail when regarding the other relationships in the story. In “Emma,” the titular heroine’s relationship with her father is key, as he is very attached to her, especially after her sister marries and leaves the house; but in “If I Loved You Less,” Humaira’s relationship with her father Mahmud is even more touching. In the Q&A/Reader’s Guide at the back of the book, Qureshi reveals that when writing Humaira and Mahmud she was heavily inspired by the 2020 adaptation of “Emma” and, in particular, the on-screen relationship between Emma (Anya Taylor-Joy, “The Menu”) and her father (Bill Nighy, “Love Actually”). Other parts of Mahmud’s character came straight from Qureshi’s own father, and it is those personal touches that make him seem truly three-dimensional. 

Similarly, Humaira’s relationship with her sister Naadia jumps off the page. There were so many moments when I had to stop reading and text my own sister, telling her what was going on between the two characters because Qureshi managed to portray such a realistic sister dynamic. With real sisters, in seconds teasing turns to laughter turns to fighting turns back to laughter, and such is the way between Humaira and Naadia. Also ingrained in the relationship between Humaira and her sister, and her family more broadly, is her relationship with her culture, and such moments crop up in small but meaningful ways. Whether it’s commenting on the fact that, growing up, she and Naadia were constantly wearing matching salwar kameez (which, yes, my sister and I also did) or making a spread of both American and desi food for Thanksgiving with the family, Humaira’s — and Qureshi’s — Pakistani roots are prominently highlighted in the book. These moments might be difficult to follow for non-Pakistani readers, especially since Qureshi refrains from translating every Urdu word or explaining every custom, but regardless, the book is easy to follow, especially since its plot is quintessentially “Emma.” 

The book rarely strays from the exact plot points of “Emma” — complete with a makeover for Harriet (or in this case Shanzay), Humaira trying to meddle in the love lives of those around her with good intentions and so many men falling for Humaira. In that way, it isn’t necessarily original — but as a retelling, it works. We get all the best parts of the classic novel but incorporated into the modern day (just like with “Clueless”!) and, this time, with some religious and cultural components that match the Regency Era story well. 

Daily Arts Writer Sabriya Imami can be reached at simami@umich.edu.

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